A/N: I was debating whether or not to post this chapter, but I've decided to bite the bullet and just post anyways. A friendly reminder that this is a fanfiction and is, of course, not canon [or even trying to be canon, really]. You can feel free to disagree with my headcanons and character depictions- and if they really rub you the wrong way, write your own fanfic and work those creative muscles. There can be only gain if everyone contributes to the fandom imo
A small warning for underage drinking in the latter half of this chapter. I would like to remind everybody that different countries have different laws and attitudes about that sort of thing, so please don't start a rant in the review section. This is a work of fiction, and no actual kids are being harmed/breaking laws. Also, to cover all my bases, I'm just going to say that I don't advise you to drink before you're legally old enough to in your country and leave it at that.
Spring sales tended to coincide with the change in school years, a fact that Inko-ba took advantage of every year. This year was no different, as Nanako's tired arms and full trunk could attest to.
Well, there was one difference: Izuku ditched them to go hero watching. Ba-chan had allowed it only if he promised to be safe, keep his ringer on, and be back around one for lunch. He agreed with the sort of eager impatience Nana associated with the toddlers at Kurosan's when it was donut day. He certainly looked the part given his All Might tee shirt, All Might lanyard, All Might shoe laces, and recently patched cargo shorts.
"If you get held hostage by a villain, don't expect me to come save you," she flicked his forehead.
"Love you too, nee-chan," he laughed and took off.
"Oh that boy," Inko-ba shook her head with a warm smile. "So active!"
"Is that why you picked out so many clothes for him?" She hefted the in-store bag with both arms. The only reason it wasn't two bags was because Nana had been vetoing outfits left and right. "You should get something for yourself, Auntie."
"Well, you know, I want Izuku to look nice," she fidgeted with her purse strap. "And he's been so rough with his clothes lately."
"But what about you?" Nana pressed. "You deserve nice new clothes too."
(Inko deserved the world, actually, but Nanako would be happy with just pressuring her into buying a cute skirt or something.)
She hummed. Her hands danced through the hangers for one stand, then the one to the right, then the one to the first one's left.
"Ba-chan?" She tucked the overfull bag under a rack.
"... Yes?" She held up a garish orange t-shirt and checked the tag- needlessly. It was too large by far.
Why wasn't she looking at her?
"Don't you agree?" She frowned. "That you deserve nice things?"
"I really should focus on Izuku, while we're here," she turned a corner and rifled through the nearest rack- too quick to actually see what she was looking at. "I can get something later, if I need it."
Nana's world tilted fifteen degrees to the right and seven degrees backwards. IF she needed it? IF? She was already wearing jeans that had their waistband let out. She couldn't recall a single shopping bag entering the Midoriya apartment that was meant for Auntie since at least the time Kenta moved out.
"That's not what I asked."
She hummed again, strained.
"Inko-ba." She grabbed her sleeve. The soft cotton was so worn a vigorous wash could turn it to thread. "Oba-san. You deserve nice things. You deserve to shop for yourself."
"Thank you, Nana, but really," her grin wobbled at the edges. "I'm fine... nothing here would fit me anyways."
"Well then we'll go where the clothes do fit you!" Hot anger rose up in her chest like a two-headed snake. "There's no reason to keep shopping for Izuku when he's not even here to try things on. Come on- we're going to find you the cutest outfit in this mall or burn this place down trying!"
"We definitely shouldn't burn the mall down," Inko-ba's cheeks were pink and a few tears pooled at her lash line. "... Does this really mean so much to you? Me getting clothes?"
"It does," she admitted. The anger in her chest had mellowed to a shy affection. "It really does. Auntie, I think you're amazing and so beautiful and so caring. You deserve some nice new clothes to help match how great you are inside to your outsides."
Her face went entirely pink and Nana knew her own face wasn't far behind. She was getting dangerously close to admitting certain familial feelings and the middle of a mall was no place to ask to be informally adopted. It could wait until they kitted Inko-ba out and had dessert at home, maybe.
(Hey ba-chan, did you know that when I look at my mother's face, I only see a stranger? Every year I look more like her, and yet, somehow less.
Hey ba-chan, can I call you kaa-san instead? When I think about it, it's the only thing that feels right in my head these days. I wrote about you for my family tree project in English.)
Auntie sniffled and wiped her eyes. The family quirk wasn't quite in full force, but it was there. "You're such a sweet girl, Nanako," she hugged her.
She hugged back. Her heart felt more fragile than ever, but also stronger. Like she could fall apart but Inko-ba would be there to help pick her back up.
"Okay, enough being mushy, let's go," their arms linked perfectly, shoulder to shoulder.
"Anything for you," she teased.
"Baaaaaaa-chaaaaan," Nanako whined and buried her face in the older woman's shoulder.
She laughed like hot cocoa on a cold day.
-[-]-
K: i know ur boring so
K: im coming over to spend the night. b there 6
K: ur welcome, witch
Nanako drummed her fingers on the counter. Should she be irritated or amused by Katsuki's sudden text spam?
N: ok i'll lock the door at 530 then
K: OK ILL BLOW UP THE DOOR THEN
She laughed through her nose. Being amused won out by the narrowest margin. It was incredibly presumptuous of him to invite himself, but now that her mind was turned in his direction, she realized that he hadn't darkened her doorstep in months. Their latest text convo was a week a half old and it mostly consisted of her asking if his parents wanted some of the kitchen herbs she was growing because she propagated too many starters.
N: hmmm i *guess* i can leave it unlocked then
K: …
K: i want hotpot for putting up w/u
"You're the one who invited yourself over," she rolled her eyes. Her eyes landed on the sink full of dishes and she rolled them right back.
N: absoLUTELY NOT. you will eat hamburger steak & enjoy it
K: whatever, try not to poison us
"I generally try not to," she set down her phone and grabbed her sandals from the balcony. They were still a little damp from the scrubbing they got earlier, but she only needed to wear them long enough to let Auntie know she wouldn't be coming over for dinner.
She had plans, apparently.
Not that she minded. Everybody seemed to be so busy lately; Izuku with his hero watching and increasingly in-depth notes, Hitoshi with his cram school (his dream was to get into UA), and Mitsuki-ba-san with her photoshoots.
Even Inko-ba was difficult to get ahold of for a proper hang out. Ever since she updated her wardrobe at Nana's insistence, she'd seen an uptick of work meetings and her success with those had given her the confidence to submit a project proposal to her company's yearly competition. She'd made it to the top fifty, which mean even more work, but she seemed happy enough about the whole thing.
(The fact that she could be successful at work and not neglect Izuku at the same time didn't make Nanako bitter at all. Nope.)
At least Katsuki picked a decent day to hang out. She usually spent Saturday cleaning so she could be an unmoving lump in bed on Sunday and it was no burden to finish tidying up early. She was mixing ground beef and pork when her darling, not-at-all-loud little brother rolled up.
"Hey witch," he stomped in with his personalized house slippers in hand. They were orange with a cartoon bomb printed across the top. "When did you get these ugly things?"
"They were on sale," she defended and ignored his attitude. "You're welcome."
He grumbled and shoved them onto his feet. "When's the food gonna be done?"
"Sooner if you help," Nana pointed with her chin at the sink. "Otherwise, in an hour."
"Fine." Katsuki washed his hands and got to work chopping vegetables.
They worked in companiable silence. When he finished with the vegetables, Nana moved them to the stove to steam and pulled out a bag of frozen fries.
Though his quirk had given him calluses on his hands, and a general tolerance for heat, Katsuki was adorably shy when it came to frying things. (Oh he claimed it was because fried food was bad for you, but she knew the hiss and pops of the oil unnerved him.)
When the oil was heated, she pointedly herded him to the other side of the small kitchen and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, nee-chan has this part handled."
"Shut up," he glared at the wall without heat.
She hummed with a grin. Her quirk was always on, so to speak, and being in close vicinity to her had drained most of the tension from his thin frame.
… Or maybe it was all the cooking wine he had apparently been drinking.
"Katsu-kun," she started slowly and dumped the fries into the heated oil. "Did you just drink dinner?"
"What?" his blond spikes rippled like wheat in a field.
"The little bottle that was on the counter," she continued. "The red wine, did you drink that?"
"Oh. Yeah," he crossed his arms. "You have more. What's the big problem?"
A lot, actually. His parents were okay with them having a drink during or after dinner when she visited, but it wasn't like she'd ever asked them for permission to give Katsuki alcohol. It wasn't something she thought of because cleaning up after Kenta's rare binges meant she only kept cooking-grade alcohol in the apartment.
Also he was in middle school? A second year? A whole fourteen years old? And she was seventeen? Which most people wouldn't consider responsible enough to live alone, much less drink or supervise someone else when they drank?
"I do have more," she conceded and stirred the fries. "But I guess what I really want to ask is... why?"
"Why what?" A creeping sense of calm and ease was radiating from him.
"Why did you drink it, I guess?" How the hell was she supposed to respond?
"I dunno," he shrugged, the motion loose. "Why not?"
Nanako hummed. The fries were done soon after. She moved them to a colander lined with paper towels then grabbed the hamburgers from the fridge.
"Please don't drink the rest," she said to the measured tablespoon of oil. Was she supposed to tell his parents? Not tell them? What would they think of her when they found out? Would it be worth it over six ounces of wine?
"'Kay," he agreed easily, like he hadn't just kicked her clear into a moral quandary. "I'm gonna watch TV."
She frantically searched for answers while cooking but was no closer to an answer by the time the food was done. They sat down for a quiet dinner and mini-shounen marathon.
Either food or time sobered Katsuki up some and the undercurrent of stress seeped back into him. He got up to dig around the fridge.
"Wait, do you only have that shitty wine?" He complained.
"I told you it was for cooking," she deadpanned. "Now get out my fridge. I didn't agree to let you come over to get blackout drunk, Katsu-kun."
He stomped back over and flopped onto the couch. The top of his spiky head jabbed the side of her leg. "This is fuckin' boring."
"What do you want me to do to make it less boring?" She stacked her plate atop his on the coffee table. "Set off firecrackers?"
"Nah, the old people in this neighborhood hate noise," he waved her off confidently, as though he'd set off firecrackers in the neighborhood and gotten in trouble for it.
When, she wondered, and was she this much trouble at fourteen? She made a mental note to apologize to Kenta-nii either way.
"How about I put on a movie and pet your hair?" She offered. "Does that sound good?"
"It's sounds like some baby bullshit," he turned onto his back. He didn't move away, she noted, nor did he look at her.
"Well I'm sure you can indulge your ancient older sister just this once, hm?" Nana covered his eyes as she pat his face. (He grumbled but didn't push her away... hm.)
"Whatever. I guess." He shoved a pillow between them and squirmed his head onto her lap.
She selected a Ghibble film and adjusted so her legs wouldn't fall asleep immediately.
The opening music swelled to fill the silence. She laid her left hand back over his eyes and temple while her right hand teased the very edges of his ash blond spikes.
Koko, the protagonist, was swept into a hug by her dad- who reminded her a lot of Masaru-ji- and confidently set out on her journey to become a full-fledged witch shortly after. There was something soft and nostalgic about the art style, especially the background, that was so trademark of the older Ghibble movies.
Kenta-nii used to try and recreate scenes using his hologram quirk, but he never could get the edges right. It was no great loss- he learned how to draw and combining the two eventually landed him his job in Kyoto.
She wondered if he ever felt like Koko, young and confident but stumbling along until he hit his stride. Did he have a painter nee-san to help him see things in a new light? Did that make Masumi-nee his Timbi?
"Hey, aneki," Katsuki slurred. His heartbeat was a touch too low so she tugged his hair and pressed a thread of stress to his calm. "Have you ever been in love?"
Nanako blinked and looked down. The movie played like background static. "What?"
"Have you ever been in love?" He dragged her hand off his face but kept hold of it.
Out of all her little brothers, she least expected him to ask her about this sort of thing.
"No, I can't say I have," she continued running her hand through his hair. The oils of his scalp had separated his thick spikes into smaller ones. "Why do you ask?"
He sighed. The next scene started playing. "The useless extras in my class... It's all they talk about."
She hummed and squeezed his hand. There was a bloom of warmth from tiny explosions. Why was he so nervous?
"I take it you haven't been in love either, then?" Koko rescued her pet dog and flew away. "And you're wondering if there's something wrong with you? Wondering why you're different?"
He sat up and turned so quickly she was surprised the couch didn't explode under his knee. "There's nothing wrong with me! They're the ones who're wrong! How the hell do they expect to do half the shit they talk about when they're so focused on holding hands and what the hell ever?!"
Nana sighed. "I said wondering if," she flicked his forehead and pressed a thin layer of calm over his explosive temper. "But you're right, Katsuki, that there isn't anything wrong with you. I don't think there's anything wrong with your classmates either though."
"Then what is it? What're you tryna say?" He squinted.
"Well, you would know yourself best, but it sounds to me like you might be on the aromantic or asexual spectrum." She tucked her legs under her, body turned towards him and not the TV. "Of course, you could be a late bloomer too- or maybe all three. I wouldn't be able to tell you."
"... what's that?" There was something vulnerable in his strawberry eyes, something curious.
"Why don't we look it up together? I'll read it out to you and you can decide if that sounds like your situation." She grabbed her phone from the side table and wiggled it for emphasis.
"Fine." He flopped back down and glared at her from her lap. "Keep petting my hair though."
"Yes, your majesty," she pinched his cheek and laughed when he snapped at her wrist.
Her little brother was perfect just the way he was.
A/N: Hope you lovely readers enjoyed! We're getting to the last "arc" so to speak so hang on tight!
See you next time :)