Woot! New chapter! This one's a little shorter because the spring semester just started, but I wanted to get it out! Plus I didn't feel like trying to jam any more scenes into it.
On the plus side, no angsty warnings this time, just fluff.
I didn't expect it to take so long for Shouto to get to the park, but Junichi and Akira turned out to both be needy gays.
Thanks to everyone who has supported this story so far!
Enjoy!
Fuyumi looked surprised when Shouto asked if he could visit Junichi for a week during summer break.
"Is it not a good idea?" Shouto asked, suddenly self-conscious. Was he only supposed to visit Junichi if the older one requested it first?
"Oh, no, that's not it Shouto," the young woman was quick to reassure. "It's just that you hadn't shown an interest in visiting him before now. Usually that's something that Haruki…" she cleared her throat, glancing awkwardly at her younger brother. "Well anyway, I think it's a great idea. We can call him now if you'd like."
Shouto visibly brightened, a small smile forming on his lips as he hummed an affirmative in response.
Once all the details were figured out, Shouto found himself constantly thinking about and preparing for that single week even though it was nearly a month away. He packed his suitcase perhaps seven different times. He baked cookies with Fuyumi to bring to their house. He drew and colored pictures for gifts for Junichi and his boyfriend.
Not soon enough, Shouto was walking hand in hand with Fuyumi from the train station to the apartment complex that Junichi stayed in.
"Here we are: apartment number 208."
Shouto was suddenly, inexplicably nervous as he stared at the plain-looking door in front of him. He took a deep breath, looked up at Fuyumi's content smile for comfort, and knocked on the door.
It was almost immediately opened by a man with brown hair and glasses.
"Akira!" Shouto cried happily.
"Hey squirt," the man greeted equally happily, pulling the young boy into a hug, ruffling his dual-colored hair. "And how are you Fuyumi? Will you be staying for lunch?"
"I'm doing well Akira. I have some paperwork that's calling my name back at the house, so not today I'm afraid," she passed the bag she was carrying to the slightly younger man. "Is Junichi around though? I wanted to talk to him for a second."
"Sure, he's in the kitchen," Akira moved back to let the woman inside. "I'll get the pipsqueak settled while you chat."
Shouto grumbled at that, pouting a bit, but he quickly got over it and raced Akira through the small apartment and into the room that served as both an office and the guest bedroom. He helped heave out the foldaway bed before plopping himself onto it in a faceplant.
"How was the end of the school year?" Akira asked, reclining himself next to the young boy. "Did you have fun? Make any friends? A crush maybe?"
He nudged Shouto with his elbow, prompting the boy to begin grumbling.
"School was school, Akira," he rolled his eyes as though the man had asked him the stupidest, most obvious question in the world. "It was too easy as usual, but they stopped yelling at me for drawing in class by the end. I don't really talk to the other kids, but that's fine."
"Oh, how has your drawing been going? Did you have fun with the new colored pencils I got you? That brand is my favorite."
"Mhm," talking about art always got Shouto excited. "I've been trying really hard to make a face like you taught me, so it looks like a real person, but it's so hard! I don't know how you do Akira. I don't think I'll ever be as good as you."
"Hey, now, you just need practice!" Akira encouraged. "I remember when I was your age, I was terrible! I probably couldn't even draw a stick figure right, so you're already loads better of than me. You'll be a great artist someday! Imagine it, Todoroki Shouto: World's Greatest Hero and Artist."
"You think so?" Shouto's eyes were bright and hopeful. "You think I could do both?"
"If anyone can, it'd be you."
They stayed that way for a while. Shouto liked talking to Akira, and Akira had always wanted siblings of his own, so it was a win-win.
Eventually Junichi appeared, inviting them to come eat the lunch he had prepared.
Sitting at the simple table in the kitchen with only the company of his oldest brother and his boyfriend with no expectations upon him, Shouto couldn't help but feel content.
Akira was a very pretty man, at least, Shouto thought so. He had straight, fine, brown hair- even longer than Fuyumi's- pulled into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. His eyes were a rich caramel brown that seemed to somehow brighten of their own accord behind the lenses of his glasses. He already had the beginning of crow's feet at the corners of his eyes; he laughed a lot and smiled even more.
He was also a lot less strict than Junichi.
He let Shouto watch five more minutes of television even when Junichi had told him to get into his pajamas for bed three times already, and he always told Shouto one more story every time he asked, and he even let Shouto take a shower when Junichi was still scared he would slip, fall, and drown himself in it.
It was because of this fact that Shouto was finally able to leave the apartment all by himself by the time his third day at the apartment rolled around.
They were sitting at the table eating cereal with the most sugar that Shouto had ever eaten. He enjoyed it thoroughly; however, Fuyumi probably would have disapproved of it thoroughly. Somehow that almost made it taste even better. Shouto like being secretly rebellious; even if it was only in his mind.
"Fuyumi and I passed a park on our way when we walked here from the train station," Shouto commented nonchalantly.
"Oh really?" Junichi raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "And what about this park?"
"Well, I thought I might like to see it. It had lots of trees that looked good for climbing," he said this with utmost solemnity.
"And you think you have to go see these trees?" Junichi questioned rhetorically.
Shouto shot his most innocent expression towards his older brother.
"Shouto, we talked about this. Akira and I both work during the day, so you have to stay here where he can keep an eye on you," Junichi sighed.
"But I'm ten now! I can so go by myself! It's like a block away," Shouto protested.
"Shouto," Junichi had his serious "adult voice" on. "You're still a child, and this week at least you are a child of whom I am responsible for. I can't just let you wonder the town by yourself."
Shouto turned his focus towards the more easily swayed target. (It helped that Akira never had siblings that made him acclimated against such pleas.) His puppy eyes had never been more effective.
"Well Junichi-"
Said man groaned, knowing it was now a lost battle with his boyfriend siding with his brother.
"I'm just saying that Shouto's been very good these last couple days. He hasn't bothered my work at all, and really, he's a good kid," Akira advocated.
Junichi remained unamused and unenthused.
"And if it really bothers you so much then I can send my cell with him, and if there's a problem then he can use it to call you or the landline."
Junichi heaved a great sigh, eyes drifting towards heaven as though praying for strength. "Fine," he relented.
Shouto cheered, and if Akira looked a bit smug from his boyfriend's acceptance than hey, artists had to stick together!
"But!" Junichi interrupted before they could gain too much enthusiasm. "You will call if anything- anything- goes wrong, and you will be back in the apartment before six. You'll have Akira's phone, so no excuses that you didn't realize the time. That being said, you will only use that phone to contact us, nothing more."
Shouto nodded earnestly before pointedly looking down at his empty bowl and back at his brother, wanting to head to his room and out the door as quickly as possible.
Junichi rolled his eyes. "Begone with you."
Shouto smiled, hugged his brother, then Akira, and ran off to get dressed.
"And Shouto," Junichi called, causing the younger boy to pause and look back. He smiled contentedly. "Have fun."
It was a mark of how happy Shouto was that his smile this time showed some teeth.
Akira preened like a peacock as he nursed his coffee after the young boy had left. He looked at his boyfriend a bit too smugly.
"What?" A smile pulling at Junichi's lips even as he rolled his eyes.
"You're a good brother," Akira commented simply.
"Yeah, yeah," But Junichi could not deny the fact that that comment caused him to preen a bit too.
At precisely 10:43am on July 12th, Shouto exited his eldest brother's apartment. Junichi had forced Akira to make Shouto do chores before he left for the park. What he did for freedom…
Approximately eight and a half minutes later, four blocks, two turns- one right, one left, Shouto found himself looking at the park from the opposite side of the street.
He counted four different mothers in various states of lack of focus, one father trying to juggle a baby, a toddler, and a preschooler, and children of varying ages and sizes spread across the jungle gyms, the swingsets, and the open field and small patch of woods behind it.
There was a group of high schoolers playing ultimate frisbee in the open grass, a squad of middle school girls gossipping on top of one of the larger, separated pieces of equipment, and far too many boogers and bugs going into mouths than Shouto ever wanted to see.
He took a deep breath, convinced himself that going back to the apartment so soon after all his begging was stupid, looked both ways, and carefully picked his way across the street, around the edge of the park, and into the brush at the back.
It was the sort of spot that children would call the woods before they knew any better. The kind with a small stream that barely reached your knees and half a dozen rundown tree and stick forts within it.
Shouto had never seen so much green; he liked it.
It was calm and peaceful here in a way that his house never was. It wasn't as quiet, the noises of the park, though faded, still reached into the leaves, but those sounds of happy people somehow made it even more calming than the harsh, bitter silence of his house. It helped that there was so much more life here, that the children looked happy here. There was no fire, no anger.
Shouto knelt over the crick, gaze following the quick glide of the tiny fish within the small pond of water. He picked up a nearby stick and began drawing designs into the water, entranced by the way his poking and prodding created different ripples in the waters, mesmerized by the way the fish fled the different ripples and pokes of the stick.
"Kacchan!"
Shouto was startled out of his trance by the crying voice. He barely caught himself from taking a sudden plunge into the shallow waters.
"C'mon! I give up!" the voice continued, a vague shadow of another kid moving through the bushes. "You win; you're too good at hiding! Why don't you be seeker now?"
For a moment Shouto almost thought that one of the bushes had come to life itself, or perhaps this was some kind of fae, a nymph maybe, that lived within these trees because the boy had the most green hair Shouto had ever seen.
He looked like he belonged in these trees with his lightly tanned skinned, spattering of freckles, and halo of sunlight.
The two locked eyes, both suddenly appearing like deer caught in the headlights.
Shouto scrambled onto his feet and took a fretful step backwards, eye darting around, looking for a way to escape. This was a terrible idea; people were a terrible idea; they were terrifying.
"Oh, uh sorry," the forest boy hesitantly apologized. At the first sylabil, Shouto's eye locked onto the fairy's face. "You- uh- haven't seen a blonde boy hiding in here, have you?"
Shouto hesitantly shook his head, eye never leaving the green one's face. If he kept eye contact then it wouldn't have the chance to attack without him having some warning. He could defend himself just fine, maybe. Who knew what strange magical powers this possible nymph could have…
It had already lost one boy, maybe it would choose him as a replacement. He knew fairies took changeling children; who's to say that wouldn't happen to him now. He should leave, get as far from the strange not-child as possible. But fairies could change their shape, so who knew if he could ever actually escape.
And besides- oh, he was talking again.
"-Midoriya Izuku," the green one smiled, and it was at once the most disarmingly pure thing and yet also increasingly terrifying. If he held this much sunshine then it must be some kind of magic; Shouto couldn't give in. "What's yours?"
And so as eloquently as he could given the increasing amounts of equal terror and equal peace, Shouto responded to the otherworldly creature with a, "Huh?"
"Your name," he prompted again. "My mom taught me to always introduce yourself first when meeting someone new. I'm Midoriya Izuku, so who're you?"
"Oh, uh…" Could fairies do something with names? Or was that vampires? Demons? Well, he'd just give him half of it anyway. "I'm Shouto. Uh, you can just call me that…"
"Well then, I guess you can call me Izuku!" His grin was so kind and bright that at that point Shouto didn't even mind if he did end up being some vindictive fae.
"So, uh, what were you doing before you came here? You said you were looking for someone," Shouto essentially answered his own question lamely, stance relaxing.
Izuku meandered his way down towards Shouto at the edge of the crick. "Oh, well I was playing hide and seek with Kacchan and some of his friends, but I haven't seen them since I started looking. They're really good at this game I guess…"
He trailed off in a way that made him seem far more fragile and infinitely more human to Shouto all of a sudden. Izuku didn't even seem to believe his own words in that moment.
"Uh, well, maybe they just wandered off or forgot," Shouto offered pitifully.
"Well, what were you doing? You looked really focused," Izuku seemed happier to move past the previous topic of whoever this "Kacchan" was.
Shouto felt his cheeks redden at the thought of being caught doing something so silly and childish as playing in a puddle.
"I was just- uh, well- I was just looking at the little fish and poking at the water. I like seeing the different waves I can make…" That sounded stupid even to his own ears, and he felt his blush deepen. He tucked his face away from the other boy as he always did when caught doing something juvenile, body tensing as though expecting some punishment for his childish actions.
"There are fish in there?" Izuku asked excitedly, rushing closer and kneeling beside Shouto's legs, staring intently at the small stream.
"Yeah…" Shouto answered pathetically. Stupid! Izuku was already looking at them; of course he now knew there were fish in there!
"Kacchan always scares away all the animals with his 'splosions, so I never even realized they were there. I wonder what kind of fish they are. Judging by a body of water this size they're probably just minnows. But if there are fish then there must be all sorts of bugs around here too in order for them to eat. I wonder if that also means there are frogs around here too, or maybe even a turtle or two that would…" Izuku seemed to realize where he was all of a sudden. He leapt back to his feet, gasping.
"I'm sorry about that; you prob'ly think I'm kinda weird, huh?" His eyes earnestly gazed into Shouto's, searching for the judgement he expected to be seated upon the other boy's face.
"It's alright. You can talk for the both of us; I don't mind," Shouto offered simply, anything to get those intense green eyes from inspecting his person too closely. His bangs were covering his eyepatch and scar weren't they? They had to be otherwise Izuku definitely would have commented on it by now…
Izuku squinted his eyes a bit and puckered his lips as though closely critiquing Shouto like some sort of art piece in a museum. "Hmmm," he hummed in thought.
Shouto tried to look as natural as possible as though he wasn't secretly terrified out of his mind that he was actively interacting with another human that appeared to be around his age.
"I think I like you Shouto!" Izuku finally announced as simply and honestly as he seemed to do everything else.
"Oh," Shouto took a step back as though those words had been a physical blow to his gut, air puffing out of his lungs.
"Uh, you seem nice too…?" Shouto trailed off. Oh God, he made it weird. Here was a nice boy (possibly even a nice magical boy) and he had just screwed it all up. He was an idiot, a moron, a nincompoop, a-
"I'm glad. So you wanna play something together? We could be heroes!" Izuku's eyes lit up even further (if that was even possible) at his own suggestion.
"Sure," Shouto agreed hesitantly. He shouldn't argue with a fairy. "But uh, I kind of don't know how…"
Izuku looked surprised at first before giving a grin that somehow showed all his teeth and yet still fit perfectly on his face. "Well, that's easy! You just do hero stuff like run around and climb trees. Maybe we'll have to investigate a villain's hideout and be all sneaky, or we could just skip straight to fighting them! You don't have to really do anything special, just what you think a hero would do!"
What he thought a hero would do, huh? Well if he was All Might then it'd be a lot of smiling, but Shouto didn't really do that. If he was Endeavor, no. He'd never be that type of "hero." He'd never be anything like his father. So what was a hero to him then?
"But if I was hero then I'd want to save people, so who are we saving?" Shouto asked.
Izuku thought about it thoroughly for a few moments before he had a sudden realization. "We can protect these fish! Any villain could hurt them easy, so we gotta protect them."
Shouto agreed to the idea and quickly followed Izuku as he pranced through the woods.
A few hours later and Shouto was feeling significantly less apprehensive about coming to the park and interacting with someone new that was around his age. He was not, however, any less convinced that Izuku was secretly some type of forest fairy.
As far as Shouto knew, the ways the green-haired boy was acting were in no way reminiscent of the typical actions and reactions that normal children his age acted. Now he knew he wasn't very reminiscent of those qualities either, but at least he acknowledged it. Izuku just seemed to pretend he was normal.
That wasn't to say that Shouto in any way didn't like Izuku. Heavens, no! But just Izuku was rather… odd.
He talked more easily and far longer than anyone Shouto had ever met, but even that in itself wasn't all that strange. Rather, it was what he talked about when he mumbled and rambled that confused Shouto.
Izuku seemed smart, making connections and conclusions that Shouto might never have even dreamed possible; however, he never really talked about important things.
He would wonder and worry over the ecosystem of the forest, and his brow would furrow as he fretted over the appearance of the sky. But he never asked much of anything in particular about Shouto. He didn't seem to really care about where Shouto came from, but instead, he seemed content with just getting to know him naturally as Shouto felt the need to reveal information. He never judged or prodded for further answers, seemingly perpetually content with all the information he received.
It was odd but nice.
Izuku talked a lot about Quirks too. He would explain exactly what all the villains could do and how they could defeat them, and when they got tired of running around and they sat together simply watching the rest of the park from beneath the shade of a large oak tree, Izuku would make guesses and predictions about what Quirks the different people in the park had.
Even with his seeming encyclopedic knowledge of Quirks, he never asked about Shouto's nor did he ever speak of- or even hint at- his own.
It was strange, but around Izuku, Shouto almost felt like a normal person for once. The other boy wasn't hanging out with him because he was related or because they were in the same class or because he knew who his father was.
If Shouto could have this sort of anonymity of persona with everyone then maybe the world would be a little bit easier to traverse.
It was still light out when Shouto finally left. Of course it was. It was the middle of the summer, so even at 5:30 at night, sunset was probably still another two hours away still.
It was with the same nervous energy before but infinitely more reluctance that Shouto finally admitted, "I should probably get going soon; my brother will be expecting me."
Izuku's face twisted in displeasure before he asked, "What time is it?"
"Almost 5:30."
Izuku's lips parted in surprise, eyes widening a bit. "Really? Wow, I didn't even realize it had gotten so late so quickly. I guess I got distracted 'cause I had so much fun playing with you today, Shouto. It was great! I really like it. You did too right? So we can hang out here again tomorrow? Maybe? I mean if that's okay with you? I just had a good time, so I thought it'd be nice to do it again maybe…"
Shouto smiled. Someone had fun with him, him, and what's more they wanted to hang out again! "I'd like that."
Izuku beamed, "Yes! So we can meet at the little stream again tomorrow at 10 okay? It'll be like our special, super secret hideout!"
"Whatever you'd like Izuku."
Izuku's cheeks tinged with red from his exuberance. "But wow, you said it's like 5:30. Well my mom's probably expecting me at home soon, so I should get going before she gets too worried. Otherwise she might come out here to try to find me, and if she has to do that again then she probably won't let me come hang out again tomorrow, and I don't want that to happen. So we should go, or I should go, or I guess if we end up going the same way, we could- I don't know- walk together maybe?
"Though you probably have had enough of me by now, so you don't have too. Besides, I don't even know where you live, so we could be going completely opposite directions, and I don't want you to feel like you have to come with me but I guess well I'd like if we could keep talking so…"
Shouto was content to just listen to him ramble. He had so many interesting thoughts, and he shared them so honestly, so earnestly, so unlike anyone else he had ever met.
"Sorry," Izuku's green hair was all he could see as the other boy bowed his head in apology. "You probably didn't want to hear all that. We should go."
The strange, magical boy walked stiffly away, trying to hide his embarrassment. They were walking in the same direction out of the park.
As they did so Shouto finally spoke up again, "I didn't mind. I like it. When you ramble like that, I mean. It's refreshing."
Izuku peered up at him through his eyelashes, a hesitant smile spreading across his still rosy cheeks. Shouto liked the strange mix of pink flush, tanned skin, and spattering of brown freckles.
"Thanks," it was quieter than most everything else Shouto had heard come from Izuku's mouth, but it seemed just as sincere.
They walked the same way in quiet companionship for a while before Shouto finally turned into the apartment complex that housed his brother. "This is my stop."
"Alright! I still have a bit to go, but now I know where you live!"
Shouto didn't bother correcting him; he just nodded and made to go inside.
"Shouto wait!"
He stopped and turned back only to be barrelled into by an excited Izuku.
"I really did have lots of fun," he looked up into Shouto's face so the other boy could see his sincerity. "And I'll see you soon!"
Izuku ran off, but Shouto stood there for a fair many moments trying to comprehend what in the hell had just happened. Some non-relative had just hugged him after knowing him for a single day. That same someone acted like seeing Shouto was going to be the highlight of their day tomorrow, and they had rambled substantially that meeting Shouto had definitely been the highlight of this day.
Shouto shook his head slowly as though jostling his brain could get the thoughts to sit properly in his skull. He turned back towards the building and trudged his way back to Junichi and Akira's apartment.
Let it not be mistaken. Shouto thoroughly enjoyed meeting Izuku and relished the idea of spending another long, fabulous day with the green-haired boy, but he was almost too much for Shouto to comprehend or even dream of understanding.
Midoriya Izuku had to be some sort of fae; there was no other explanation.
A note on Akira: he's an artist by trade so he works from their apartment. I chose a gender neutral name since I though it felt right for his character as this sort of ambiguous parental role. His last name is Kobayashi, a common Japanese last name. He's almost a year older than Junichi with his birthday being August 5 (because that's my luff's birthday 3). His Quirk allows him to dye things he can hold in his hands. He has to be able to lift the object, and it can't be alive. So he can't dye cars or people; however, he can dye hair since those are dead cells.
