#the best i can do atm is set up a cooking pot on her head and clean off her shed spikes

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

Cherry Coke Special: Twelve

Bucky looked up from his books and looked towards the door. Beyond the office, he can hear you talking to Nova as the pup follows you from room to room. You’re cleaning and tidying and making sure that everything is set to rights.

It would sound like home, even if it had only been two days since he moved you across the hall to his apartment. It was bigger. It had a better view. And honestly, he wanted you in his bed at night when he came home. And you agreed that you’d probably do better spending less time by yourself. And that it would make it easier to coordinate security for you.

It takes Bucky a moment to realize it when it happened. It’s been what feels like ages, but when you start singing to yourself, or to Nova, he isn’t sure which, he feels his heart skip a beat. You sang when you were happy, content. When you felt safe. And it had been months since he’d heard your voice. 

It wasn’t loud. It was even a little absent-minded. But it sounded like heaven. It had been so long since he’d heard you he’d almost forgotten what it felt like to listen to your voice like that. He stopped, staying completely still and sighed. He wanted to go out there and watch, but he didn’t want to startle you into stopping.

“Baby steps,” he murmured. But even with that in mind, it was satisfying to know that you were healing. And that Nova had done what he needed her to do. The little dog was steadily chafing the life back into you. Giving you someone to cuddle and fuss over. It wasn’t the same as the baby would have been, he knew. But it helped. It gave you a way to get going and get traction in the morning. And Bucky worried a lot less about coming home to find you dead of an accidental overdose.

Slowly, careful not to make too much noise, he stood and loped towards the door, leaning on the door frame and watching Nova sit at your feet, listening in rapt attention, lit head tilted sideways as she listened to you explaining how you were making dinner.

“Smells good, Princess,” he drawled, crossing the floor to kiss your cheek.

“Hopefully, Steve and Nat like it,” you murmur.

“They ain’t picky, baby,” he said, “They’ll just be thrilled to eat something that ain’t take out.” 

“That’s good,” you tell him, tucking yourself against his side. 

“I promise,” He murmurs, kissing the top of your head. “They ain’t had a home-cooked meal since ma stopped letting us meet in her Kitchen, I’m pretty sure.”

You snort, and he presses a little, “Speaking of Ma,” he said gently, “She misses you.”

“Why didn’t she just call me?” you ask patiently. You don’t have much patience for people, not just being direct about what they want.

Bucky stops and blinks at you for just a second. “I’ll tell her-” he started.

“No,” you say, waving your hand, dismissively, “I’ll call her tomorrow, and we’ll chat.”

Bucky chuckles and kisses your head again, “She’d like that,” he murmurs. 

“I meant to call her today, actually and got sidetracked when Mama called,” you tell him.

“What’d she want?” Bucky asked, frowning.

“Now that I’m not knocked up anymore, I’m allowed to come home,” you sigh.

“That-” Bucky growled, cutting himself off roughly, “Baby, that’s- why would she say that?”

“Probably because Rocky took over the bar and they’re running short,” you tell him practically.

“Are you gonna go back?” he asked. 

“Probably not to stay,” you tell him, “But I might pick up a weekend shift. I still have my license. And my savings are running low.”

Bucky frowned, “You mean to tell me I gave you a credit card, and you’ve been living off your savings anyway?”

“Yup,” you tell him, stirring a pot. 

“You little shit,” he said disbelievingly. 

You half shrug, “I’m not kept,” you tell him gently. “I’ll find a job soon. But I’m not gonna live off of you. That’s just... that’s gross. I appreciate your generosity, but you’re not my ATM.”

“Y/N,” he sighed, both touched and thoroughly exasperated. “You’re my girl. It’s my job to take care of you.”

“No,” you correct gently, “It is your job to love me. It’s not your job to buy things for me and let me lay around all day.”

“No,” he admitted, “Perhaps not. But I enjoy doing it. You’re a good girl. The best girl I ever had. And if you’re not ready to go back to work, you don’t have to. And you definitely don’t have to go home. Not if you don’t want to.”

“But I do,” you sigh, “The longer I sit at home, the more time I have to think.”

“Okay,” Bucky said, exhaling slowly. He didn’t want you working. He wanted you in a comfortable home filling your days with whatever activities a pretty girl did through the day when she was perfectly spoiled. But then, he had to admit. You weren’t that kind of girl. The kind that could lay around and eat brunch then tan and work out. And that wasn’t enough for you. You’d be unhappy lying around like that. “But I don’t want you going home to work for that woman,” he said sternly.

“But-” you start.

“I gave you a credit card, baby,” he reminded, “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t want you using it. Take yourself out tomorrow. Get your nails done, buy some new books... whatever you want, baby. You deserve it. Go do some pretty girl things.”

“New books would be nice,” you sigh. 

“There you go,” he said smiling softly, “Maybe take Nova to get some ice cream. She’d like that.”

“Would you like that?” you ask the dog, “Huh?” She barks and wags her tail. She has no idea what you’re saying, but she does know that you’re talking to her and she likes that. 

“I think that’s a yes,” Bucky hummed, stroking her ears until a knock on the door sends her running to bark at the door. 

Bucky pecks your cheek and goes to let Steve and Natasha in. 

“Something smells amazing,” Steve said, “And I’m starving.”

“Dinner’ll be ready soon,” you tell him, kissing his cheek and then Natasha’s as she takes a stack of plates from your hands.

“Ugh,” she groaned, “Finally there’s a girl with class around here. Can’t tell you how tired I am of plastic forks.”

“Dinner belongs on the table,” you say shrugging. 

“Exactly,” she agreed, slipping Nova a bite of cheese.

“Don’t feed her off the table, please. Treats are fine, just put them in her bowl... She’s gonna be a big girl. I’d prefer she not starts table surfing.”

Nat’s cheeks colored a little and she nodded. It wasn’t like you’d shouted. You hadn’t even been stern. But it was something about the way you hadn’t even looked up. It made her feel like a kid with her hand in a cookie jar. And damned if that wasn’t her least favorite mob wife trick. And she wondered where you’d learned it. 

#Bucky Barnes #soft bucky #mob!bucky #Mob!AU #domestic fluff #Steve Rogers #natasha romanoff #bucky x reader

[strife-and-discord]

Et in omnibus quæ fecit nos Chapter Two

Read on AO3 here | First chapter

Characters: Todoroki Natsuo, Todoroki Fuyumi, Todoroki Shouto

Summary: Now that Natsuo's made the decision to become a hero, he needs to start brainstorming ways to actually achieve that.

A/N: okay! this is a little later than I planned but I was busy so... sorry about that. I know the first chap was probably a bit boring but this is where the action really starts! this is also Shouto's first official appearance in the story so look forward to that. Next chapter will be the exam itself and it's going to be a lot of action which I don't particularly have any experience writing so it could take some time and also be a shorter chap then this one but I'll try my best don't worry. 

uh, so I don't have a job or anything atm so if you like my writing it would be great if you would consider supporting me on Ko-Fi!

“Do you all have someplace in mind for high school?” The teacher asked as she walked around the classroom handing out highschool preference sheets. “It may not seem like it right now but this is an important decision that could have a big impact on the rest of your life.”

She hands out the last note and makes her way back to the desk at the front of the room as some of the students start writing schools down already. Natsuo is among that group because he’s had his eyes on one place for the past nearly two years since Touya’s been gone. UA highschool’s hero course. Of course, he’s not gonna announce that publicly. He gets enough crap from the other students as-is for being quirkless he doesn’t need the roaring laughter that would surely come from saying he’s gonna be a hero as a quirkless kid as well.

So when the teacher asks with interest, “Does anyone think they’re going to try for a hero course?” and nearly the whole class raises their hands with whoops and shouts of glee, Natsuo burrows further into his seat and tries not to catch anyone’s eye.

The teacher chuckles at her students, “Alright then, I suppose that was a silly question. Does anyone think they’re going to try to get into UA?”

The number of hands drops significantly but there are still a few brave souls who leave their hands up and set their faces in a look of determination. Natsuo is still the son of Endeavor whether either of them likes it or not so his school is still more prestigious than most and is more likely to have students who try for UA.

Prestigious or not Natsuo knows he’s got something none of these other kids has.

__________________

He’s been preparing for this ever since Touya left. He added martial arts to his moderate list of extracurricular activities, takes regular morning runs, and, thanks to Fuyumi being in charge of Shouto’s food, eats a diet fit for even the top heroes. He’s discovered over this time that he actually does have something he can thank his father for: his ability to put on muscle. No matter how hard Touya worked or how much he ate, he always seemed on the verge of underweight. His quirk just burnt through all of his bodies resources. Shouto doesn’t seem like he’s going to be the super bulky type either, he was a pretty chubby baby and- if you asked Natsuo- still had traces of baby fat even though he was probably more physical then Natsuo.

But none of that is his real advantage. UA’s Entrance exam is well known for being difficult so Endeavor- who, as an ex-student, is well aware of said exam- deemed it plenty good enough for training his children in heroics. This means that Natsuo- a notorious eavesdropper- has a pretty good idea of what will be required by him. He has narrowed it down to two major obstacles that he must overcome, one: how to beat the robots- something he doesn’t think any amount of martial arts will help him do- and two: how to do so quickly- the whole point of the exam is to beat as many robots as possible so speed is just as key as strength.

His real advantage is knowing. Knowing and subsequently being able to prepare accordingly. Sure it might be a little underhanded but Natsuo’s already at a disadvantage being quirkless, underhanded is the only trick he’s got up his sleeve.

Natsuo knows that the bots aren’t as strong as they seem and with all the training he’s been doing he’s pretty strong for his age so he’s confident that a good hard swing from a metal baseball bat will be enough to take them down. As for how to get around quickly… he’s still not quite sure but he needs to figure it out soon. Some method of transportation would be ideal but he hasn’t been able to come up with anything feasible that wouldn’t occupy his hands- which he needs for the bat.

He decides that Fuyumi might have an idea. At the moment she’s the only one who knows anything about his plans. He doesn’t think he could lie to his big sis even if he tried. Besides, he knows she’s way smarter than he’ll ever be so it’s wise to have her as a collaborator, maybe she can even help him out when he’s an actual pro hero! She could be like, the man on the mic who advises Natsuo on what to do in the field, or well, the girl on the mic. Either way, it would be nice to have her there with him.

He finds her in the kitchen. Taking care of dinner is one of the many chores that were heaped onto Fuyumi when mum left, Natsuo tries to help her out as much as he can but dinner is something that’s best to leave up to her.

“Hey Fuyu, can I pick your brain about something?” he props himself up against one of the benches.

Fuyumi is stirring a pot of noodles on the stove, “Sure Natsuo, What’s up?”

Natsuo looks around before leaning in a bit and speaking in a quieter tone, “I’ve got an idea for how to take down the bots in UA’s entrance exam but I still haven’t figured out how to get around the area quickly. I can’t think of anything that would leave me use of my hands.”

Fuyumi goes stiff at her spot at the stove, wooden spoon sitting useless in the boiling water before she comes back to herself and starts stirring again, albeit, a little more aggressive than before.

“Gee Natsuo, I don’t know if I’m really the right person to talk to about this.” She lowers her voice as well now.

Natsuo resists the urge to sigh. When it comes to things like this Fuyumi always gets so nervous. He thinks she’s super smart and should have more confidence in her ideas.

“It’s not like I can talk to anyone else Fuyu,” he grumbles, “besides, I think you’re plenty the right person. You’re like, the smartest person in the family. If anyone’s going to have an idea for me, it's you.”

He thinks Fuyumi might be blushing but it could just be the heat from the cooking. “I-I don’t know Natsu… This is starting to sound more and more dangerous with each new idea, are you really sure you want to go through with this?”

This time Natsuo can’t resist the urge and lets out a deep sigh. They’ve had this conversation a lot since he told Fuyumi about his plan. She doesn’t want to actively try and stop him so she just keeps hoping that he’ll magically decide not to go through with it on his own. But Natsuo’s never been more sure about anything, he’s been sure about going through with this for nearly two years now.

“I have to do it Fuyumi. Not just for myself or even just for Touya. I have to do this for all of us.”

Fuyumi’s stirring slows again. She sighs and puts a lid on the pot, leaving it to boil, before turning to Natsuo, “I don’t know how this is going to help Natsuo but if it’s something you truly aspire to do-” She looks away, biting her lip- “Then as your older sister you have as much of my support as I can give.”

It stings a little to hear she doesn’t think this will help but he knows he’ll show her when he’s a real pro and it means a lot to him that she’s willing to give her support even if she has her doubts. He gives her a soft smile in response.

She smiles back, “I have some old roller skates in my bedroom that may solve your speed problem.”

Natsuo’s eyes go wide, that’s perfect! With roller skates, he’ll be able to move quickly while still keeping his hands free! He feels stupid now for not even thinking of them earlier.

“But-” Natsuo hangs his head. Of course there’s a but- “I expect to see you practising as much as possible from now until the exam. Roller skates can be very dangerous and I don’t want you doing that exam unless you are 100% stable with them, ok?”

He perks back up. The only prerequisite is that he’s gotta practise hard? “Aye aye, captain. I think that’s one request I can manage to live up to.” He gives Fuyumi a grin and a wink.

Fuyumi just sighs and shakes her head at him. “I still think this is a crazy plan but… if anyone can pull this off, Natsuo, it’s you.”

His heart sings at her words and he feels the prickling of tears at his eyes. It means the world to hear that his big sister has some measure of faith in him. It just makes him want to be a hero that much more, if only so that more people can rely on him like that. No more will he be the useless, quirkless, waste of space.

He jumps up and gives Fuyumi a bone-crushing hug that squeezes the air out of her with a squeaking sound. “Thanks big sis. I won’t let you down.” He lets go of her and sprints towards her room to find the roller skates.

________________

Now that he’s worked out the raw details of his plan to get into UA, Natsuo actually needs to put it into action. Sure it’s one thing to say he’s gonna take a baseball bat and roller skate around the exam beating up bots but actually doing something like that is probably going to take a lot of skills. This brings up another question of how is he going to simulate something like roller-skating around hitting bots with a baseball bat for training purposes. It’s not like they’ve just got some bots lying around (although they could probably afford it- actually he’s surprised the old man hasn’t thought of this yet)

Okay, let’s break it down to what he needs: 1 ) something to hit with his bat, and 2 ) somewhere he can skate around enough to do so in a quick and epic way.

He has somewhere in mind that might have enough space but it’s not really pleasant to think about. There’s an area of the house’s grounds where dad used to have Touya train with his quirk- to avoid burning down the house, of course- and because of how powerful Touya’s quirk is all the nature in that particular area is completely scorched… and consequently, could be flat enough to make a decent skating area. Not perfect but it also has the bonus of being far enough away from the house that he probably won’t be noticed by dad.

With the location ticked off the list that just leaves him needing a target for his activities. He doesn’t think he could get away with taking any of the training dummies from the house, that’s too close to dad’s area of attention for comfort. If he can’t get something that can actually take the hit from a baseball bat then he’ll also need to consider how he’s going to replenish his targets once they’re broken.

He gets his answer from one of his old school hero movies. The underdog who is training to become a hero with his sensei uses training dummies with watermelons for heads. Thankfully, Fuyumi is in charge of groceries so it shouldn’t be any trouble for Natsuo to get a lot of them. They’re not as hard as a robot would be but they are a good target size and, if nothing else, they’re satisfying to smash.

Fuyumi looks at him a bit funny when he asks her to add ten full watermelons to the grocery list but she concedes once he explains what he wants to do with them. He also gives her one of dad’s spare credit cards that he nabbed from the old man a long time ago and tells her to buy some new roller skates and something nice for herself.

Once that particular shopping trip is over and done with, everything will finally be ready for him to start training. Fuyumi always does the shopping on Sundays which leaves Natsuo practically vibrating in class for the entire week.

________________

Come Sunday Natsuo spends his day being a pain in Fuyumi’s butt as he continuously asks her when she’s going to the shops.

“I’ll go when I go Natsuo, now can you please stop bothering me? I’m sure you have some homework or something to do, training to be a hero does not exempt you from school work.”

Natsuo rolls his eyes. “I know Fuyumi. That’s why I did all my homework yesterday! So I could focus completely on training today!”

Fuyumi looks at him with her mouth open in surprise. “Of course you did-” she sighs -” just let me finish what I’m doing then I’ll go to the shops, okay?”

Natsuo only cheers in response and it’s Fuyumi’s turn to roll her eyes at him.

Even after Fuyumi leaves for the shops it feels like Natsuo is waiting forever! Did Fuyumi’s shopping trips always feel this long? He doesn’t think so. He tries to preoccupy himself for a little while with sketching potential costume designs, but that only lasts him so long seeing as he’s no master artist and there’s only so much he can do. The second Fuyumi that Fuyumi opens the door, Natsuo is there and practically crash tackles her in his excitement.

“Gee, really feeling the love here Natsu. You know a thank you wouldn’t be remiss before physically attacking me.” Fuyumi sounds frustrated but Natsuo knows it’s in a good-natured way.

He grabs by the shoulders and gives her the biggest sloppiest kiss he can manage, “Thank you Fuyumi, your the bestest, most amazing possible big sis anyone could ask for!”

She blushes at his praise, “Well there’s no need to announce it to the entire neighbourhood. Now, here are your bags, you better get going now before dad gets home.”

“Thank you again Fuyumi, I promise I’ll make this worth your while!”

In the hustle and bustle of Fuyumi’s return, neither of them notice the small figure watching them from one of the nearby hallways- one that Fuyumi and Natsuo were not allowed to go down- taking an interest in their conversation.

______________

Finally…

Finally…. The time had come.

It is time to begin his training.

It takes a bit of time to get things set up. Natsuo decides to clear up the area he’s going to be using as much possible, getting rid of any rocks or twigs that have somehow found their way into the scorched area over time. He also needs to set up the watermelons, which he ends up doing by setting them on top of boxes that have been stacked at different heights- he thinks it might make for an extra challenge if he has to hit the watermelons without knocking down the towers of boxes. It takes a bit of time but he is finally here, brand new roller skates on and his spirit ablaze with determination. If… no… when he becomes a hero, this will be one of the moments he talks about. He will talk about how he feels in this moment and hopefully inspire others to rise up as he will.

The skates haven’t been worn in yet so they’re a bit stiff at the moment. He does a quick skate around his training area to try and get a feel for them and the surface he’s using, it’s not as smooth as he’d like but he thinks he’ll be able to get away with it. It’s hard not to think about Touya given the scorched earth but he’s hoping that his memories will serve to motivate him even more.

After a couple of short laps, Natsuo moves back to where he’d placed his stuff and picks up the bat. He readies himself like he’s professional baseball player gearing up to make the hit of the game, that’s certainly how serious the moment feels to him at least. it’s not actually a very good position to start in but he’s feeling a little dramatic right now so he thinks it’s okay just this once.

He remembers father yelling at Shouto once that heroes aren’t told when to go so Natsuo thinks it’s reasonable to assume that there’ll be no verbal cue for the start of the UA exam. He gives himself a moment of dramatic tension before he jets off, heading towards the closest watermelon he spies as fast as he can…

Before falling flat on his face in the hardened dirt.

Laying there, Natsuo thinks he’ll leave this part out of the triumphant stories he’ll tell in the future. He knows it’s not realistic to expect himself to be perfect at this straight away but he was still hoping for a little better than to completely stack it on his first try. At least making it to the watermelon would have been nice. Okay, he thinks he’s been lying in the dirt for too long now. Time to get back to it, he supposes.

Since “jetting off at top speed” doesn’t seem to be a card on the table at the moment, he decides this time he’ll take it a bit slower and build up speed later once he’s got the basic technique down. He makes it to the watermelon this time and gears up to take a big swing at his target…

Then falls flat on his ass in the hardened dirt.

Natsuo’s starting to get a picture of exactly how many bruises he’s gonna come out of this with. The momentum of his movement plus the swinging of the bat was all too much and he lost his balance. Maybe for the next Sunday shopping trip he should ask Fuyumi for some protective padding. He didn’t think he’d need it since he isn’t training on concrete but this burnt dirt is starting to hurt more than just his pride. Well, he wouldn’t be much of a hero in training if he just gave up after two failed attempts. This certainly isn’t enough to turn him off the path to his dream but he is coming to the realisation of just how long that path is going to be.

He gets up, gingerly rubbing at his sore butt when suddenly he’s hit by a wave of shame. Touya and Shouto have both gone through much worse pain then this, at much younger ages, at the hands of their father and Natsuo’s getting frustrated by a simple bump on his rear. Touya spent most of his childhood in the hospital! He’s better than this dammit! He has to be better than this if he’s ever going to stand up to the likes of Endeavor.

He tries again, making the same mistake as before and falling over when he goes to swing at the watermelon. He tries again, trying to be more controlled in his swinging this time. He hits the watermelon but it doesn’t break and he falls over from the force of the hit.

He tries again, he falls over.

He tries again.

He tries again.

He tries again…

Eventually, it gets dark and Fuyumi comes out to tell him that dinners ready and he should come in for the night or else dad will get suspicious. She looks concerned in a way that makes Natsuo think she was watching him from a distance. Watching him fall and fall and fall… He shakes his head. It’s no use spiralling down such a train of thought. This was his first training session after all and he’s still got a year until the entrance exam. He can still get better.

“Natsuo? Are you coming?”

He jolts, he got so caught up in his thoughts that he forgot Fuyumi was there.

“Sorry Fuyu, I was just thinking. I’m coming now.”

She gives him another concerned look but doesn’t say anything. They both start the moderate trek back to the house. Today may not have been an absolute success but that doesn’t mean the planned is doomed yet. He’ll just have to try harder in his next session, UA’s all about going beyond Plus Ultra right?

_____________

After that first fateful session the rest of the year passes by in a blur that can only be measured by the bruises he collects through his training. Looking back now, it’s hard to distinguish between his early attempts as they almost entirely consisted of falling on his ass over and over again but once he got a few months in Natsuo really felt like he was starting to see progress. Even Fuyumi seemed satisfied with the diminishing amount of wounds she was having to patch up on him.

If he wasn’t training at home he was either at school or after school clubs- which mostly consisted of sports and martial arts so it was still training of a kind- and all that time was well spent seeing as now Natsuo can make his way through his makeshift watermelon course almost flawlessly. Although, the big idea that had brought everything together actually came from Fuyumi. She had been watching him fall over continuously from the house and suggested that he should try to use his speed as the driving momentum for his swings instead of creating an opposing momentum with his arms. It took a while to get the hang of what she was trying to say but once he got the hang of it everything was pretty much gold from there.

Now the UA entrance exam is tomorrow and Natsuo’s feeling the pressure. It always seemed like a thing that would always be in the future so he never really got worked up about it but now that the moment is actually upon him Natsuo is struggling to ignore the writhing snake feeling in the pit of his stomach. He’s at his “training area” trying to get through as many runs of his course as he can before his body quits for the day. He wants these actions to be muscle memory by tomorrow but a nasty voice in his head that sounds a lot like his father keeps saying that when the moment comes he won’t remember anything and just freeze.

Natsuo is mulling over these nervous thoughts as he’s having a quick drink break when someone suddenly tugs on his shirt. He whirls around and is surprised to see the face of his little brother staring up at him with that glare that he’d been cultivating ever since Touya left. Natsuo pretty much never gets to talk to Shouto so he’s not really sure what to say now. Shouto isn’t being very forthcoming either so they just stare at each other for a minute or so.

Finally, Natsuo can’t take it anymore, “Do you need something, Shouto?”

More silence. More staring. Given the very limited time they’ve spent together, Natsuo isn’t sure if this is normal or not but then…

“Are you training for the UA Entrance Exam?” Natsuo is surprised at how deadpan Shouto’s tone is and also very unsure of how to answer.

He had absolutely planned to tell Shouto about his dream to become a hero, eventually. Part of his reason for doing it in the first place was to be able to help him. However, given how much time he’s forced to spend with dad and how young he is, Natsuo wanted to wait until a point when dad wouldn’t be able to stop him just in case Shouto accidentally told. He didn’t plan for Shouto to figure it out himself, or to be so blunt about it.

“Uhh… umm.. Ahhh…” Natsuo looks around as if he’s going to find a convenient excuse just laying around in their backyard. As expected, there’s nothing to help him and Fuyumi is making dinner so she isn’t paying attention to them right now.

He sighs in defeat, “Yeah, I’m training for the UA Entrance Exam.”

Shouto doesn’t outwardly react to the statement just blinking slowly like a cat, or maybe he’s still processing. Natsuo wonders if his little brother has always been this… weird.

“Are you gonna be a hero like father?” Again, a simple question with very little to no trace of emotion.

It seems fairly straight forward, their father legally works as a professional hero so it makes sense that Shouto would make the comparison, but Natsuo knows enough to read between the lines. He can’t help but feel that Shouto is worried that him becoming a hero means he will become like Endeavor.

Natsuo kneels down to better talk to his little brother, “No Shouto. I’m not gonna be anything like our old man. I want to be a hero that inspires people and fills them with the confidence to stand up for themselves. I want to be a hero that fights against people like our father.”

Natsuo’s gathered by this point in the conversation that Shouto doesn’t really express himself much outwardly but he still thinks he sees a glimmer of something in his eyes that he prays to all manner of deities is hope. That small spark and the potential that it holds renews the fire in his soul that’s been pushing him all year and makes all the bumps and bruises he’s gotten seem totally worth it.

“I’ve been watching you train.” “Oh yeah? What do you think?”

Shouto scrunches his face slightly and seems hesitant to continue, “I think you look pretty cool,” he says quietly.

Natsuo can’t help the wide grin that spreads on his face, “Really? Well I’d sure hope so! That’s what all this training is for after all!”

Shouto grins a little bit and Natsuo’s heart sings. Maybe there’s still hope for his little brother after all.

The grin falls away quickly and Shouto looks back up to the house, “I should go back to the house before dad gets home.”

Natsuo’s face falls as the reality that they’re not supposed to talk to each other sinks in again. If nothing else comes from his dream Natsuo hopes that he will at least get the chance to bond with his little brother one day. As he watches Shouto retreat to the house he wonders if this desire to protect, this burning in his soul that’s keeping him motivated, is how Touya felt about him once upon a time. He thinks this conversation’s given him a glimpse into the pressures of being a big brother.

___________

Fuyumi makes him a special meal of his favourites that night to show her support for the exam tomorrow. Natsuo smiles fondly as she lectures him about how important it is that he goes to be early and gets a good night's rest in order to perform at his best tomorrow. He agrees that sleep is important but he also can’t help but feel he’s going to be way too keyed up on nerves and excitement to be able to get any deep rest.

As he’s lying in bed that night, Natsuo tries to process that tomorrow really is the day. No matter what he tells himself it just doesn’t seem real. He’s miles from where he started when he decided to pursue this path but at the same time he barely feels like anything’s changed. As well as these thoughts, Natsuo’s mind is also starting to wonder about the other students he’ll have to face tomorrow, about the quirks they’ll undoubtedly have. He’s worked so hard to be anything other then the “waste of space” his father thinks he is but now- faced with the challenge of going up against all those other hero hopefuls- those words seem to be weighing on him more than ever.

These thoughts all seem to swirl around in his mind like a black hole inevitably sucking him until eventually the late time sends him drifting into a light sleep. He continues to drift in his dreams seemingly from one nightmare scenario to the next until eventually he is pulled out of the pool of failure filling his head by the sound of his alarm beeping aggressively.

He sits up in bed groggily. Today is the day.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #mha #todoroki natsuo #Todoroki Fuyumi #Todoroki Shouto #the words of me #fanfiction #writing #NaNoWriMo