"Hana!"
My brother threw open the front door and rushed in, not bothering to shut it behind hi: as he flew across the room to drop down on the couch beside me. His green eyes were alight and wild as his unkempt hair of the same color. I quirked my head to the side, taking in his uneven breaths.
"Izuku?" I asked, sitting up straight. "Did you run all the way home?" And then I realized it. Jerking up to my feet, a fist balled at my side, I said, "It was Katsuki again, wasn't it? I thought he'd grown from the old days…"
"No!" Izuku shouted, frantically waving his hands. "I mean, yes.. kind of… not really… HANA LISTEN!"
My eyes turned away from the march I was prepared to take all the way to the Bakugou household and settled back on my twin. "What is it?"
But then his shoulders slumped and he deflated into the couch cushions. Izuku had always been a character but this was a bit much even for him. I settled back down at his side, turning to face him with my legs crossed in my lap.
"Izuku?"
His green eyes met my black ones — the only feature that would be able to tell us apart aside from the length of my hair and, well, puberty hit me pretty strong a few months ago.
"I can't tell you," he whispered under his breath.
My brow furrowed. There was nothing that my brother couldn't tell me, or that I couldn't tell him for that matter. That's the way we had always been. Our mother did the best that she could on her own, but we were always there to pick up the slack left behind by the hole in our lives that was our father.
"Of course you can," I assured him. "You know I won't tell anyone."
He dropped his eyes to his hands fidgeting restlessly in his lap and I waited for muttering that never came. Instead he finally looked up, only to see that my television program had been interrupted by breaking news. His mouth slowly fell open and I turned to see my brother on the screen.
Barreling toward a massive monster made of a mucky sludge.
Wait.
"Is that?" I muttered. "Kacchan?"
Izuku's head dropped, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen. All Might swooped in and saved them both from both the villain and Katsuki's familiar flames that had burst in a chaos created by the monster.
"Izuku, tell me everything."
His head whipped over to me and I noticed the tears starting to swell beneath his eyes. I sighed softly, my heart always aching at the sight. I often envied him for his sensitive nature. Something in me just couldn't let myself loose like that. I reached out a hand for my brother's cheek and he swallowed back as much emotion as he could.
"I'm not supposed to tell anyone," he murmured.
I wanted to tell him that was ridiculous. We are twins. We've never broken confidence with one another. Of all the people in the world, I will always have his back more than anyone and I know he feels the same for me. Still, if he feels this strongly about keeping his secret…
"Alright," I told him and his entire demeanor relaxed. "You can tell me what you want to when you want to. I will be here for you either way."
After a beat of surprise, my brother turned toward me and puffed out his chest. Grabbing my hand with both of his he said, "I'm going to be a hero, Hana. Just like All Might. Just like you."
I squeezed his hand back so hard I thought I might hurt him. "If there's anything I want more than to be a pro hero, it's to see you fighting alongside of me."
We held each other's hands for a moment longer before he let go and leaned forward. "I'm going to apply for UA with you."
A small smile touched the corners of my lips. "I'm not surprised at all. Does that mean you're going to spend the next ten months training with me?"
But this made him pause. "Actually, uh," he stuttered, "I think I'm going to train on my own if that's okay?"
I froze for a second or two before snapping out of that. "Yeah, sure." Something about my brother not wanting to follow my lead felt so foreign. I shifted my feet out from under me and turned back toward the tv where All Might was being interviewed.
"WHILE I DON'T ENCOURAGE ENDANGERING YOURSELF, THE STUDENTS INVOLVED TODAY SHOWED REMARKABLE ACTS OF BRAVERY — A REMINDER FOR MYSELF AND ALL OF YOU THAT IT'S THE HEART THAT MAKES THE HERO!"
I sucked in a heavy breath. "I think I'm gonna go for a run," I told my brother as I stood up, my eyes still zoned in on All Might's fearless smile on the screen. I didn't need to explain to him why I take my runs, or that he was likely the cause of the discomfort in my mind. But I knew that just as I let him keep his secret today, he would give me my space.
I was already dressed in running gear — tight black shorts and an oversized white tee — so I didn't bother with a trip back to my room before heading straight for the door. My route was familiar. Unlike my brother, I was not born quirkless — a fact that was both a gift and my greatest shame. I loved All Might along with so many other pro heroes, but the way my brother loved heroes was something entirely incomparable. Who was I to be the one to receive the chance to become our dream?
I turned onto the Main Street that led to the small park all the neighborhood kids had made a second home not so many years ago. All I'd ever wanted was to protect my brother. The entrance exam was only ten months away and while I knew I would be applying, my momentum was faltering.
Why did I even want to be a hero?
"Watch where you're going, Hanachan," a familiar voice growled from behind me.
I huffed as he fell into step beside me. "This is not really a good time, Kacchan. Don't you have some innocent gardens to explode somewhere or something?"
His crooked smile was a dangerous treat. "You know you're my favorite flower to light up, so why would you even ask?"
I held a hand over my mouth and made gagging noises, despite the fact that I was actually hiding a grin. Katsuki Bakugou was the most annoying, misunderstood, and kind of beautiful person I knew. Of course I would never admit any of that to him and his big fat ego.
"Whatever, you love it," he said as he turned toward the park — testing me. He knew my typical route on a run and I never stop at the park, only running along the east side further into town before returning home from the west. "Training for the entrance exams already? As if you think you might actually have a chance?"
I regretted following him before he could have even said entrance exams.
"Do we really need to argue over who would win between the two of us?" I countered, keeping my tone light and bored while my mind was somewhere else completely. Maybe he was right. Maybe I shouldn't apply at all. What right do I have to potentially take a spot from someone with the heart like my brother? If I made it into UA and he didn't… I couldn't live with it.
He led us over to a plain set of climbing bars that I'd seen him use as workout equipment more times than I could count over the years. I'd never tell him about the times I would copy his routines to try and train myself as well. He reached up for the highest rung and I noted how much taller he was getting while I was staying small. Swinging, Kacchan pulled himself over the bars to sit on their edge and watch me expectantly.
Sighing, I jumped for the rung he'd used and barely grabbed hold before mimicking his movements to pull myself over the top and sit beside him. His hand twitched noticeably at his side while I struggled, but he did not help me and I was grateful for it.
"If you think that just because your quirk might have an advantage over mine that you can beat me in a fight, you're dumber than you look," he said calmly as he stared ahead at the night sky.
"You're not wrong," I told him. "I still have a lot of training to do — with and without my quirk if I want to stand a chance of passing the entrance exams."
Kacchan gripped the bars at his side with both hands. "You just need some basic fitness and combat. As for your quirk — ours are not too different, though yours is probably safer. You just need to play with it. Spend time with it. Make it a fluid part of you."
I turned my head toward the blonde. "Are you feeling alright? I don't know how I feel about a helpful Kacchan."
He scoffed. "We all have our reasons for who we are and what we let the world see." Leaning back against the full length of the bars, he looked up at me until I followed suit beside him and then he said, "If you think you can get it together and keep up, I'll train with you before the entrance exams."
My features folded in confusion. Sure, Katsuki and I had slowly become friends in private over the years, but still — he's always been a dick. And then I remembered.
"I saw the news," I whispered.
"Oh yeah? What the fuck about it?" he demanded, his more familiar rage simmering for the first time tonight.
I just nodded. No need to push him, but I could see how an event like being taken and manipulated by a villain — facing death — could make someone rethink some of their choices.
"I'd be grateful for your help training for the exams, Kacchan," I said, picking myself up to jump down from the bars. "I've gotta get back to my run now, before it gets too late to finish."
"Stupid girl," he spat, "it's already dark. I'll run with you but you better keep up."
He didn't say another word before leaping from the top of the bars and taking off in a sprint. We didn't come across any trouble and we didn't speak again, not until we'd run past his house to my front door.
I wrapped my hand around the knob just as he shouted from behind me, "An hour in the morning and two in the evening. You better be ready, Hanachan."
