This is not my best chapter but I hoep you still like it. Sorry for spelling and grammer mistakes, y'all know I do my best. If you like what you see or have something you wanna share let me know down below! With that enjoy guys, gals, nonbianry pals!
Shoto felt the sweat drip down his brow as Sora stood over him. He was out of breath, and she looked like this was all a game. Shoto swallowed and asked, "Aren't you tired?"
"Nah," Sora said, "Besides, watching try so hard is kind of funny to me."
Over the past few weeks, Shoto had been getting ready for his final exams. Plus, he had been training with Sora on combat without his Quirk. Long story short, it had not been very fun or easy.
Shoto growled as he got back to his feet. The white-haired teen wasn't awful at fighting without his Quirk, but he still wasn't as good as he liked to be.
"You're doing fine," the black-haired woman said, resting a hand on his shoulder, "It's only been a couple of weeks since we started, you're not going to be a master by now."
"I know that," Shoto muttered, still annoyed.
"Then stop looking so pissed with your performance," Sora said, "You'll get better with time. Besides, you still have your Quirk to use, and it's not like that's going away anytime soon."
Shoto huffed, still bitter with his lack of progress. Sora wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Come on, lose the frown. I bet Etsuko and Fuyumi are probably done with dinner by now. We should eat."
Shoto nodded, and the two made their way to the next floor. When they got there, they found the other three inhabitants of the house, and Fuyumi deep in conversation.
"Just do," Kei said, "What's the worst that could happen?"
"I died of embarrassment," Fuyumi suggested dryly.
"Well then, now we know what the worst thing that can happen is."
"I'm not going to do it," the white-haired woman said.
"Come on, just call her ba-"
"What are you guys talking about?" Shoto asked.
"Nothing," Fuyumi said before any of the other women could say anything. Naoko and Kei rolled their eyes in frustration, and Etsuko just chuckled and asked Shoto, "You hungry kiddo?"
"Starving," the teen muttered.
Fuyumi had stayed with his Shoto for training since Natsuo stuck at university due to the upcoming finals, and Dabi was off with that secret boyfriend he wasn't telling anyone about.
"You ready for the exams?" Fuyumi asked him halfway through dinner.
"Yeah," Shoto said with a mouthful of noodles, "I got all my studying done, and we heard from an older student that the other half of the test is just fighting robots."
"Did they have you do that in the Sports Festival?" Sora asked, hand a bit of meat to Dumpling, who had flown into the window sometime during the meal.
"Yep, and the Entrance Exam," Shoto said.
"Doesn't sound like it would be that hard to pass this test," Naoko said.
"It's why I'm not worried," Shoto said.
Etsuko shook her head and said, "Don't get too cocky kiddo. Next thing you know, they switch up the exams to throw you off your rhythm."
Shoto nodded his head but didn't listen fully. It wasn't because he didn't care about what Etsuko had to say, it was more along the line of his mind being elsewhere. Failing the final exam meant you didn't get to go to summer training camp, and Shoto knew perfectly well that missing camp was not an option. Knowing what to expect in the hero part of the exams, everyone began to worry about the more traditional academic classes.
Shoto had always had good grades and been near the top of the class. However, some of his classmates were not so great in that department. A bunch of people had broken off into groups to study together. Yaomomo was hosting the study section at her house and had offered Shoto to come to join, but he declined. He likes Momo and was sure he'd learn a lot with her help, but Shoto found studying to be more comfortable when he was by himself.
Dinner cared about causally back and forth about everyone's lives. Toward the end, Etsuko stood up, a glass of wine still in her hand, and said, "Okay, I get we have a bit of time left, and I should wait till everyone is here. But I would just like to remind everyone in a few short weeks, Miss. Sora Hayabusa's six years of house arrest will be over, and once again, will she be a free woman."
Kei and Naoko whooped and cherried, and Shoto clamped as if he was at a golf tournament. Sora herself had a small smile pressing her lips, but Shoto noticed a slight hint of sadness. He guessed because the end of Sora's sentence was also close to her and Masumi's old anniversary if he remembered right.
But to be fair, the last he heard of Sora and Masumi anniversary was a long time ago.
Almost a whole another lifetime ago.
XXX
Keigo did not get to sleep in, ever really. The commission and his current rank always kept him busy running around saving people, being heroic, and all that. So on the super rare occasion that he gets to sleep later than 6:45 A.M., Keigo exploits the hell out of it.
So yeah, that's how he ended up happily laying in bed at 7:30, enjoying himself with his eyes glued to Dabi's tattoos once more. There were two on the raven-haired man's backside that Keigo could see now. The first was the one on the back of Dabi's neck. The messy black hair hides a smaller tattoo. It was a name of some sort, but Keigo couldn't read it, cause it was tattooed to be crossed out. From there down was a full back tattoo. Keigo by now had seen just about all of Dabi's tattoos, and for sure, the one on his back was his favorite.
It was huge and so freaking detailed in certain parts, almost to the point of realism, like the phoenix tattoo Dabi had on his stomach. But with that, the style it was done reminded Keigo of the images of old school yakuza tattoos he had seen or of woodblock prints. It depicted a young man with a naginata shielding a woman from another older man with a katana. The woman also looked older than the man protecting her, which gave Keigo an idea that the goal of the tattoo was to show a son protecting his mother. The figures were somewhere dark, and there was fire all around them, both red and blue.
Keigo wasn't sure how long he stared at the thing, or when he started tracing his fingers down Dabi's back. One thing Keigo had noticed was Dabi's skin was either super warm or very cold, and there was hardly an in-between. Right now, the black-haired man's skin felt warm and inviting. So much so that it led to Keigo moving closer, curling up into Dabi's back, burying his nose in the crook of the other man's neck, and tucked one of his wings around them both.
This was nice, Keigo thought mindlessly. It was nice to be close like this to someone. Even for a little bit.
If you were to ask Keigo what label he put on his and Dabi's relationship, he wouldn't know what to tell you. The term boyfriend did not feel comfortable, not yet, at least. It was n't really friends with benefits situation either. Keigo had been in those before, and this was different than that.
The blond sighed threw his nose, maybe he didn't need to think about what they were right now. They had only been on a few dates and slept together a bit. There was still time for Dabi to get out of dodge. Not that Keigo would ever blame him. Dating heroes, let alone number three wasn't the most natural thing in the world. Keigo shook his head and pulled himself closer to Dabi. He should be enjoying this while it lasted, he told himself.
Just then, there was groan coming from Dabi, and as Keigo pulled back his wing, the black-haired man turned around to face him.
"Fuck," Dabi muttered, "What time is it?"
"I think like 7:35."
"7:35? In the AM?" Dabi cried, "What human is up at this time?"
"We are," Keigo said, "Like right now."
"Aren't you just a little smart ass, huh?" Dabi said, moving his face back into the mattress.
"Says you," Keigo scoffed. Dabi lightly kicked him in the leg, and Keigo let out a squawk of pain.
"Jerk!" the blond yelled, grabbing his pillow and hitting the man next to him.
"Quiet it!" Dabi yelled, smacking the hero in the face with his own pillow. Keigo fell back on the bed, and Dabi then moved to hover over the top of him.
"Hey," the raven-haired man said.
"Fuck off," Keigo said, trying not to laugh. But he ended up failing, and soon he was pulling Dabi down to crash their lips together. Keigo always noticed that Dabi always tasted like smoke and alcohol. He could never figure out why but that taste made Keigo feel like he was high.
Soon Dabi moved his mouth to the blond's neck, and Keigo threw his head back and sucked in a breath. However, once Dabi started biting, Keigo said, "Don't start something you can't finish."
"What the hell does that mean?" the tattoo artist asked, "Think I can't?"
"No," Keigo said, "I'm saying, don't get me worked up for no reason when you have to go to work soon."
Dabi smirked and said, "Why would work stop me from flipping you over and-"
"Okay, point made," Keigo muttered, bringing Dabi to kiss him again.
When the finally pulled back for air Dabi said, "So quickie?"
"With roles reversed maybe. And it's pronounced 'quiche,'" Keigo said.
Dabi's face fell into a look of annoyance and said, "I fucking hate you."
"That's a lie, and we both know it," Keigo said, stealing a quick peck. Dabi growled, and Keigo said, "Let's eat first, then I'll think about it."
"Whatever," Dabi muttered, moving out of bed to go find his clothes. Keigo laughed and got up to follow suit when his phone rang.
"No," the blond groaned already knew who and what it was.
"What is it?" Dabi asked, looking back at him, as Keigo moved to answer the phone.
"Hello?" the blond answered, trying not to sound annoyed.
"We need you to come in today," the voice of one of the commission work told him. Keigo bit his lip to keep from yelling that it was his only official day off of the month.
Instead, he asked, "For what?"
"You'll be briefed on that when you arrive," the voice said.
The hero sighed and said, "Give me forty-five minutes."
"You have a half-hour," the voice said before hanging up. Keigo cursed under his breath, tossed the phone somewhere on the bed before falling face-first into his pillow.
"Everything good?" Dabi asked, sitting next to him. Keigo turned to see the raven-haired man had managed to put on boxers and then shook his head.
"I got to go into work," he muttered.
"I thought you had one full day off this month?"
"Yeah, well, I guess they're trying to see how many days they can have me work without losing my fucking mind," he said, sitting up again.
"Well," Dabi said, running a hand threw the blond's hair, "If you want, I can go make some of your gross health stuff for your breakfast so you can get ready."
"That would be wonderful," Keigo mutter leaning his head on Dabi's tattooed shoulder for a moment knowing he had too soon pulled away and get ready.
XXX
Dabi liked staying over at Keigo's place. He did, he really did, but there was one thing that bugged him and made him want to burn the place down. It was a small Endeavor action figure that stayed on the shelf in Keigo's living room. Unlike the other items on the shelf, this figure had no box or packaging of any kind and had obviously been a well-loved toy.
The thing made Dabi's blood boil, and he wanted to melt it into a puddle of plastic. But he didn't. For the most likely reason that the stupid thing had to be important to the blond. Why else would it be displayed as such?
It was stupid to be annoyed by something that was literally just plastic, but Dabi couldn't help. The items seemed to mock him. Like he was never going to escape. Not really. Not truly.
Dabi was only pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Keigo coming out of the bedroom. The black-haired turned and saw the hero dressed for work.
"So whatcha make?" the wingman asked, sitting at the island counter.
"Eggs and toast," Dabi said, pushing the dish in front of the other man, "Only thing I consider to be real food that you have."
"You're so picky," Keigo said.
"I'm not picky, I just like eating actual food."
"Whatever."
"Eat so you can go."
Before long, they were both dressed and ready to go to work. Dabi turned to Keigo and said, "Have a good day at work," then leaned down to quickly peck the blond on the lips.
"I'll try," Keigo muttered a bit sourly.
"I'll call you when I get off, 'kay?"
"Yeah," The blond said, "Maybe I'll Even stop at your place, say hi. Sleep."
"Maybe," Dabi said smirking a bit
After one more quick kiss, they both went their separate ways. The morning dragged on. A little bit before 10, however, the raven-haired man did get a text from the hero. It was an image of some old building with graffiti all over it. Then there was another text after that.
Birdman: You said to send you pics of any street art I see.
The image was a girl turned to the side with her palm open and lifted up. Coming from her hand was aurora borealis mixed with stars and galaxies. It was almost a shame that it would be washed away.
The picture almost brought a smile to Dabi's lips. It reminded him of when he used to go out at night, with Shoto and Natsuo find some building and just make art. He never did his political pieces in front of his brothers. No, only senary parts for little brothers.
Part of Dabi wished he could go back to doing street art, but after getting caught that one time he didn't want to risk it again. He still had tattooing thought. Sure he didn't always get to do the things he wanted, but it was still something.
Whether he liked it or not, Dabi's mind drifted back to that stupid toy on Keigo's shelf. It wasn't something that should have bothered him. It wasn't something that should keep spinning around in Dabi's mind.
In the end, Dabi was able to get his mind to go somewhere else. But his last thought on the matter is that the dumb toy didn't mean any really. He hoped it didn't anyway.
XXX
Shoto grabbed another clay bird, and tossed it up in the air, shot it on fire when it was high enough. It turned into ash after a few seconds, and then Shoto threw up another. This time he froze it, taking a breath as he watched it fall back down and shatter.
The white-haired teen threw back his head and sighed. He'd be up on the roof practicing for almost an hour, and he was beginning to get tired. He checked the time on his phone and looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, and it had painted the sky a beautiful array for orange, pink, and yellow.
A smile pressed across his lips as he walked over to the edge of the roof and took a set. Things were still and calm. The only noise from down below was of people making their way after a long day. He tried to relax, take a deep breath, and just be calm.
The other day when he went with Baba to go pick out Shiki's welcome home present, she noted that he looked like he had worried lines. His own siblings had made comments on his slightly haggard look, but he brushed that off.
"It nothing," he'd say.
The truth was that he had this feeling in his gut about the test. Like it wasn't going to be as simple as they all thought it would be. He shook his head. Just nevers, he told himself. Just some jitters before test day.
Everything was going to be okay.
XXX
Everything was not going to be okay.
The final exam was not fighting robots; it was fighting their teachers. And it was just his and Yaomomo's lucky to have to go up against Aizawa. Oh, today as going to be great.
He sighed, looked over at Yaomomo. The test was going to start any minute now, and they had to get moving.
"We have to get moving," he said. Although looking back at the black-haired girl, it seemed to Shoto like she was in a trance.
"Yaoyorozu!" he cried, snapping her out or her mind. She looked up at him, and Shoto could see the worry in her eyes.
"You nervous?" he asked. He knew that even since the Sports Festival, Yaoyrozu had been feeling to great about herself. Yoarashi tired to help her cheer up, but nothing work. And of course, Shoto had no idea how to help either.
"N-no," she said, shaking her head.
"Well, seeing as we are going against ," Shoto began, but let out a sigh, "I have an idea, though."
Before he could say any more, the speakers informed them that the test had started. This was going to suck.
The two ran off, heading down an alleyway, Shoto in the front.
"It doesn't matter what you make," Shoto said, "Just keep making small objects. When you can't make them anymore, that means Mr. Aizawa's close."
As they reached the end of the alleyway out into the light, he went on, "The exam will depend on who finds who first. Once we see him, I'll draw him to me. Then you can head to the escape gate. We should stick together until then."
Looked at his partner Shoto saw that she still had a look worry and increment on her face. Either that or she wanted to say something. Typical he'd try and ask what was wrong, but they didn't have time for that.
"Yaoyorozu, can you please make something quickly," he said.
"Yeah, right," She said. Just then, a tiny little Russian nesting doll started coming from the girl's body. Shoto didn't have time to question it (it was what she asked her to do,) and they started running.
"Let me know if you notice anything weird with your Quirk," Shoto said.
"You doing great at this," Yaoyorozu said, as they kept running.
"What do you mean?" Shoto asked, not taking the time to look back.
"You were able to come up with a plan to use against so quickly. You were able to finger out what was the best at once."
"It's not that big of a deal," Shoto said. The sound of footsteps behind him stopped, and Shoto turned around to see what was happening. Yaomomo had stopped running. He was going to say something to her when he noticed.
"You're nesting dolls have stopped!" he cried," He's coming!"
Looking up Shoto noticed his teacher upside down from the telephone wires
"If you realized that," the black-haired man said, "Then you should immediately start acting!"
Shoto got ready to attack as Mr. Aizawa jumped down. "In this case, you should prioritize evasion. Since I stole a march on you."
"Yaoyorozu, go!" Shoto yelled, kick towards his teacher, his power useless. She took off running, and Aizawa took notice.
"So that's your plan," he said, and before Shoto could tell what was going on, the white-haired boy was tangled up in the wraps, dangling from the air.
"This works out well," Mr. Aizawa said, fixing the end of the wrap so Shoto couldn't get out. "Either way, I've been planning to catch you first since you're the offense."
"You think you've caught me?" Shoto asked, "I can burn and freeze the restrains away at any time."
"I don't care what you do," Aizawa said, "Just be careful where you fall."
Just then, there were hundreds of tiny caltrops on the ground. If Shoto was to land, he'd end up with feet and hands full of holes.
"What are you?" the teen asked, "A ninja? How many other crazy countermeasures have you thought up?"
"This is different than your fight with the Hero Killer," Aizawa said, get his eye drops out, "I know the Quirks and the number of heroes. I'm completely prepared to intercept you."
"Your plan places the burden pretty heavily on yourself," the pro hero went on, "It's nice to try and be considerate to the girl, but maybe you two should have talked more."
With that, the pro hero took off, leaving Shoto to think. Talked it over? Had he not communicate with Yaoyorozu well enough? Shoto had just assumed that if the black-haired girl didn't like his plan or had an Idea o her own, she would have said something. Well, maybe she wanted to say something.
"Yukitomo!"
Shoto looked up and saw Yaoyorozu. So he hadn't gotten out yet.
"I'm sorry I couldn't-" she began, but Shoto cut her off.
" is coming!" he yelled, causing her to look back to there teacher Naruto running on the telephone wires.
A look of fear was coving Yaoyorozu's face, making it clear to Shoto that she had no idea what to do. Yaomomo was smart; he told himself she has a plan to get us out; she just needs a push.
"Yaoyorozu! You have a plan, right?" he called, "I'm sorry I should have asked earlier if mine was okay. But you have an idea, don't you?"
"If your plan didn't work, how could mine?" she asked.
"It'll be okay," Shoto said "Just tell me what it is. You're the one more suited for this kind of thing!"
Yaoyorozu looked up at him when he said that. "When we were voting for class rep, you had two votes, right? Well, one of them was me! Because I thought you'd be good at it!"
Ever hanging in the air, Shoto could see his friend's lip quiver and her arms shake. The moment was cut short as Mr. Aizawa finally arrived.
"Are you done?" he asked
"Yukitomo, close your eyes!" Yaomomo yelled. Shoto did as he was told. Threw his eyelids, Shoto could tell there were bright flashed coming. Flash grenade, he assumed.
"I have an idea," Yaoyorozu said, carefully lowering the white-haired teen down. Once Shoto's feet touch the ground she said, "I have a plan."
As Shoto attempted to untie the wraps from his arms, Mr. Aizawa landed a little ways away from them. Finally, Shoto got his arms loose and asked, "So you said you had a plan."
"Yeah, from the beginning," the girl said.
"Great, great, tell me what it is," Shoto said.
"First, we're going to run!" said Yaoyorozu taking off.
"Nice plan," Shoto cried as they began to run.
As they were running, Yaomomo began to explain her plan. "Mr. Aizawa's eyes have become a bit unstable," she said.
"Because of his injury at the USJ," Shoto said, "So I take it we're going to exploit that?"
"No," she said, "We're going to get out of his field of vision. It's just a matter of time. We can win."
"How are we going to do this?" Shoto asked, "We can't use our Quirks."
Just do as I tell you," Yaoyorozu said, "And keep making sure you can use your ice."
"Yes, ma'am," Shoto muttered.
After running for a moment, Shoto turned his head back to see the Pro hero hot on their trail. The teen also noticed that he could still use his Quirk, and they did what he did best. Made a giant fucking ice wall.
"That should hold him back for a bit," Shoto said, lighting up his left side to balance out his temperature, "What's the rest of your plan?"
When he looked back at the other teen, Shoto noticed she holding her top open, so he turned around again.
"You're making a copy of Mr. Aizawa's capture weapon?" He asked.
"Yes," she said, "I don't know what it's made of or the detail of how it's made, so it's not quite the same. But I've made my own version with a certain material woven in between."
"What else?"
XXX
Shoto ran out sheet he was give blocking his view. Behind him, he heard the sound of the mannequin Yaoyorozu was using get caught and the sound of the catapult being set off.
"Yukitomo," She called, "Blast your flames low!"
Shoto did as he was instructed and set off a wave of fire. After that, Shoto ripped off the sheet and watched as Yaomomo's plan fell into place. Nitinol alloy was pretty fricking cool. He watched as Mr. Aizawa became trapped in the wrappings and fall to the ground.
They had done it. Thank fuck.
XXX
After finishing, the exam all went well with Shoto. All but the part where Yaomomo started crying that he wasn't ready for. But he watched the rest of his classmate's match peacefully. The most interesting being Midoriya and Bakugou's fight. Overall today was a win.
Upon getting home, Shoto swung the door to the apartment opened and shouted, "Passed it!" and then proceed to slam the door shut behind him after.
"Nice job, brat," Dabi said, still seated on the couch but turned his head to looked at Shoto.
"You did?" Fuyumi asked happily.
"Most likely," Shoto said, setting his bag down on the table, "The written part of finals was easy, and I pasted the heroes test so."
"That amazing, Shoto," Fuyumi said, grinning ear to ear.
"Nice job, you soba freak," Natsuo said, grabbing Shoto in a headlock only so he could mess his hair up.
"Quite it," Shoto said, his voice muffled as he pushed away from his brother's hold.
Fuyumi shook her head t the both of them and said, "Go wash up for dinner. Both of you."
The two did as they were told, and soon all the Yukitomo siblings were sitting at the table eating. Shoto was just about to help himself to his fourth blow of soba when Fuyumi asked him, "Do you have any plans this weekend?"
Shoto thought about it for a moment and said, "Other than going to pick up Shiki, I was thinking about visiting Mom."
Fuyumi nodded and went back to her food. After a minute of quiet, Dabi set his chopsticks down and said, "Why don't we all go and see Mom?"
The other three looked at him.
"What?" Fuyumi asked.
"Why don't we all go and see Mom," he said again, "It would be nice. I'm sure she would appreciate it."
Natsuo's face fell, and he looked at his plate. Shoto watched as his brother opened and closed his mouth, trying to find the right things to say. Finally, nodding and saying, "Yeah, let's go see Mom."
"Yumi," Dabi said, "What about you?"
"I'd love to see Mom," she said, "But…"
"But what?" Shoto asked.
"It's been so long since the last time I saw her," Fuymi said, "What if she doesn't-"
"She wants us around Yumi," Dabi said, "Nothing else on the planet would make her happier."
"It'll be okay," Natsuo said to her. Shoto nodded in agreement. After a few more moments of hesitation, Fuyumi also gave a nod of approval, and Dabi said, "Well, it's settle. We're going to see Mom. All of us."
They went on eating after that, and Shoto couldn't help be notice a warm feeling in his chest. Weird.
Welp I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll do my best to get the next one out as soon as I can. Until next time!
