Notes: At the Kimikugi online MHA fan event last month, there was a one-hour drawing/writing challenge with the prompt "tea party" and/or "rabbit." I had an idea of what to write but was too shy to contribute to a Japanese event with an English-language fic, so I didn't haha.

But I still wanted to write it so now it's become the first half of this story. And I did in fact write that portion before an hour was up, as challenged! (Though it became an hour and three minutes counting editing...)

Also I want to make sure it is fully understood that Lala has, like, zero personality in the movie so I'm just going fully off the rails and making shit up here I guess.

I kind of vomited headcanons all over the second half, sooooo yeah sorry about that lmao.

Tea and Basil

"It's so lovely of you to join us today, Mister Deku!"

Generally speaking, Izuku didn't mind helping to take care of the younger Soul siblings after they got home from school. Rody would always tell him not to bother, that they were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves for a few hours until he got off work—that's what they did whenever Izuku wasn't visiting anyway, so there's no point in him wasting his precious time off playing with a couple little kids. But Izuku enjoyed it, so he went ahead with it anyway.

He couldn't help feeling a little lost in his current situation, though. He was sat at the coffee table with a too-small top hat perched atop his head, a stuffed bunny on his right and a teddy bear on his left. Across from the table was Lala with a hot pink feather boa wrapped around her neck, long enough that both ends trailed upon the floor and threatened to trip her whenever she got up with her tiny teapot.

"Ah... yes, it's my pleasure... Miss Lala," he tried, unsure of how to play tea party but figuring that something like that sounded about right. He'd played house with Eri once or twice, so a tea party shouldn't be too much different, right?

Lala sat back down across the table and wove her fingers together indulgently. "Please, do try the tea!" she said, indicating the teacup that Izuku had yet to touch. "It's a special blend important from France."

"Ah... yes, of course." Izuku feared that correcting Lala's misinterpretation of the word "imported" would break the immersion, so he picked up the toy teacup, tiny enough that even grasping the handle between his thumb and forefinger was a struggle, and carefully took a sip.

Water. It was just tap water. He idly wondered how Yaoyorozu would react to this "special blend" of tea—or how should she would react to Lala's idea of how a proper lady should act in the first place, because it was clear that she was only emulating what she had seen on TV or read in books. For one thing, she was sitting cross-legged despite her short dress. He had a feeling that alone would almost certainly give Yaoyorozu a heart attack.

"How is it?" Lala asked.

"Ah— huh? Oh, the tea! Um, it's great," Izuku fumbled. When Lala frowned, he amended, "I mean... quite scrumptious, Miss Lala. You have truly outdone yourself."

The little girl gave a satisfied smile. "Now, Mister Deku. I imagine you're wondering why I invited you to this tea party today..."

Izuku blinked, placing the teacup back on the plastic saucer before he lost his grip on it. "Wait, there's a reason for this? I thought we were just playing."

Lala frowned again.

"Ah, I mean... Is there something troubling you that I might help with, Miss Lala?"

She picked up her own teacup and began stirring the water with a toy spoon that Izuku had a feeling was not meant to be a teaspoon. Closing her eyes serenely, she said, "I've heard that you are courting Lord Rody, yes?"

Izuku spluttered. "Wh— wh—?" What a precocious little girl...! He supposed he should have expected as much from someone raised by Rody, but... "Wait a second, Lala—!"

She opened a single eye, clear disapproval reflected in her gray iris.

"—Miss Lala," he corrected, "I fail to see how that topic is relevant here." And was it really considered courting if they were already dating? What definition of "courting" was she operating under? Where had she even learned that word?

Lala tapped her spoon to rid it of moisture before putting it aside and lifting her own teacup to her lips. After taking a sip and acting like she had never tasted anything so exquisite, she put down her teacup and looked at him again. "You see, I am quite in... inde... Lord Rody has helped me out a lot," she said. "I want to be sure that he isn't being courted by someone with ul... um... someone who's bad."

Izuku could feel his face heating up. "I... okay. I understand," he said, feeling the top hat slipping and quickly fixing it before it fell. "I... Is there anything I can do to prove myself, then? Or, ah, is the social disparity an issue, perhaps?"

The little girl's brow furrowed in confusion. "Sosh...?"

"Because he's a 'Lord' and I'm just a 'Mister.'"

Her lips were pursed, looking a bit shaken by having the setting questioned to a degree that she clearly didn't understand.

"You know what, just forget that!" Izuku said, grinning nervously and waving his hands. "Pretend that didn't happen! Maybe we can just go back to chatting? The weather is lovely today, isn't it?"

Lala stared at him a moment longer, and just as she was opening her mouth to say something, the front door to the trailer house opened.

"I'm home!" Roro called out, stepping inside and then pausing as he saw the scene laid out in the living room space. "Lala, what are you doing?"

She stood up, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm having a tea party with Deku, and you're interrupting!"

"You shouldn't bother Deku with things like that," Roro sighed as he dropped his schoolbag onto the floor. "He might be on vacation, but he's still a hero and he has to train!"

"Ah, it's really not a problem, Roro-kun," Izuku insisted. "We were just playing a little bit—"

Roro climbed onto the couch to pluck the top hat off of Izuku's head. "It's fine, I'll play tea party with her now. You probably want to go outside and train some more before the sun goes down, right?"

Hesitantly, with a glance at Lala to make sure that she wouldn't be too distressed by his departure, he stood up to relinquish his seat. "Well, if you don't mind, then..."

After placing the top hat upon his own head, Roro waved. "Have a good time!"

"Yeah!" Lala added, waving both arms energetically. "Train hard, Deku!"

Izuku smiled at them both and reached for the door. "I will!"

"Oh! And..." Lala jumped up and toddled over, gesturing for him to bend down.

He obliged. "Yeah?"

"About what we were talking about," she whispered into his ear. "You were a good tea party guest, so I don't have any complaints!"

"Uhh, thanks," he stuttered, feeling his face go red again, and standing back up. "I'm, um, glad you think so."

"What did you just tell him, Lala?" Roro asked, sounding suspicious.

The little girl only giggled, a big grin spreading across her face. "Nothing!"

Hi, Izu-niichan! You must be pretty lonely with Rody gone, so let's have dinner together tonight!

Nearly a decade after that tea party, Lala was still a pretty cheeky kid, at least around her family. She tended to act a bit more reserved with her schoolmates, but at home she let herself tease and have fun in the way that was so typical of the Soul family.

Izuku chuckled fondly when he saw the text message during his lunch break, and quickly tapped out a response to take her up on the offer. It wasn't unusual for them to have one-on-one dinners while Rody was on the job, though Lala tended to claim it was under the guise of "I don't want you to be lonely with Rody gone!" or "I want to make sure you're eating properly without Rody cooking for you!" Izuku suspected that it was just as much that the girl, so used to spending time with a close-knit family, just needed a break from the UA dorms every once in a while.

Before heading back out on patrol for the afternoon, he sent a text to Yaoyorozu as well, letting her know that he'd be taking Lala to and from the campus as usual—it just didn't make sense for her to be escorted by a teacher when the Number One hero, an alumnus himself, could accomplish the job just as well. The fact that her homeroom teacher was one of his own former classmates only made it all the more convenient to set up.

(And, just as he had suspected all those years earlier, Yaoyorozu was a bit appalled by Lala's behavior at first, despite the girl's best efforts to act "properly."

"Please don't take offense to this, Midoriya-san," Yaoyorozu said over the phone shortly into the first semester, "but you can really tell that she was only raised by men. She's just too... unguarded around her male classmates! Sometimes she even—"

"Sits cross-legged in a skirt?" Izuku suggested with a wry grin, then laughed as Yaoyorozu proceeded to tear him down for not doing more to fix the behavior.)

So, once he was done at his agency for the day, he changed into his casual clothing and headed towards UA High School. He made one detour to the convenience store, knowing that there would be more than one student clamoring for his attention, before finally arriving at Heights Alliance, a plastic shopping bag swinging by his side.

As expected, he was ambushed as soon as he stepped foot within the front door, hands grabbing him by each arm.

"Deku-san!" two voices chorused in stereo.

"Guys, come on, you do this every time..." said a tired-sounding third voice.

Izuku sighed; they really did, but he didn't particularly mind, either. "Here you go, Eri-chan," he said, extracting his right arm from the white-haired girl's grasp to pass her the shopping bag. "I got the apple gummies you like, and enough snacks for the rest of your the class, too."

"Yay! Thank you so much, Deku-san!" she said, smiling as if she hadn't essentially shaken him down for it. As she opened the bag to look through the goodies, Kota let go of Izuku's other arm to take a look himself.

Following behind Kota, a boy with sandy-colored curls frowned disapprovingly. "Don't you think we're a little too old now to be asking Deku-san for things every time he comes by?"

Izuku patted his head with a smile—a bit more difficult now after his recent growth spurt, but still manageable. "Thanks, Katsuma-kun, but it's fine."

"Besides," Kota said, inspecting a bag of seaweed potato chips, "he's treating Lala to dinner, so it's only fair."

"It's more like Lala-chan's treating me," Izuku laughed.

"Yup!" Izuku's arm was suddenly captured again, and when he turned to look, Lala grinned up at him. "I'm thinking maybe spaghetti tonight? You can be in charge of boiling the water."

"I know I joked that you're treating me, but I can help with a little bit more than that..."

Lala's grin widened. "Well, let's get going then!"

"W-wait, I should at least give my regards to Yaoyo—"

"It's fine," Lala insisted, pulling on his arm. "Creati-sensei's still getting work done at school, so you can say hello when we get back. I'm getting hungry, so let's go!"

"All right then..." Izuku waved to the three other students as they turned towards the door. "It was good to see you all! We'll be going now."

"Have a good time Deku-san, Lala-chan!" Eri said as she waved them off.

"Yeah, and could you pick up some pork buns for us on your way back?"

"I-Izumi-kun...!"

They were barely both in the door before Lala made a beeline for the kitchen, opening cupboards and taking out cooking utensils as if she owned the place. "Have I ever shown you how to make the Soul family's famous spaghetti sauce?" she asked as she pulled out a saucepan.

Izuku chuckled. "Only several times. Rody has too. I think I have all the ingredients already, but if it looks like I'm missing anything, I can run back out to the store real quick."

Indeed, Lala was already raiding the pantry, pulling down the canned tomatoes and all manner of herbs.

"Hmm... nope, everything's here!" After taking stock of the ingredients, she paused to tie her long hair back into a low ponytail. "Izu-niichan, could you get the pot and fill it with water?"

Izuku couldn't keep himself from chuckling—both at her insistence that he remain on water duty as well as the term of address. Despite speaking English at home, she had insisted on calling him that ever since she began learning Japanese. (When he had asked, at one point, why she didn't call Rody something similar, she had waved a dismissive hand. "Rody's always been Rody," she said breezily. "You've already gone from Mr. Deku to Deku, and then from Deku to Izuku. Now you're gonna be Izu-niichan.")

Having now received assurance that he didn't need to go back to the store, Izuku shrugged off his zip-up hoodie, figuring that it would be easier to work on dinner in just a T-shirt. With that out of the way, he opened the cupboard to take out the pot that he knew from experience was the right size for two servings of spaghetti. After filling it with water and placing it on the stove, he turned to Lala again. "Should I start it boiling now, or wait for a bit?"

She glanced away from the ingredients in her saucepan for just a moment, and something in her eyes seemed to flicker when she looked at him. Mouth twitching in amusement, she turned her focus back to the spaghetti sauce without giving an answer. "Izu-niichan."

"Hmm?"

"Right here." Lala's hand left the saucepan handle for just long enough to point towards her own right clavicle.

"What are you— oh!" Flushing, Izuku quickly readjusted his T-shirt, which had been hanging loosely enough to reveal a mark on his collarbone—it had faded a bit in the two days since Rody had left, but still visible. "I... sorry. Just forget you saw that."

"It's fine." At least she didn't seem embarrassed, but on the other hand, Izuku might have preferred that reaction to the devilish grin playing across her lips. "Though... I do feel duty-bound to confirm that Rody was the one to leave that."

"Yes!" Izuku answered immediately. "Of course it— I wouldn't— Who else would it be?!"

Lala laughed as she continued to stir the gradually thickening sauce. "Okay, good to know you're both still getting along! Oh, if you want, when we go back to the dorms we could get Eri or Katsuma to remove that for you."

"No! I'm not— Can we please just stop talking about it?!" he pleaded. A teenager raised almost single-handedly by Rody Soul was a terrifying thing, indeed.

True to form, her smirk only grew wider. "Sooo, does Rody—"

"I'm not answering this."

"Does he usually leave marks that stay for the whole time he's gone?"

"I said I'm not— Wait, what?" Izuku stopped short when the words processed and blinked at the girl, who tilted her head with a look of feigned innocence.

"It just seems like something my brother would do," she said simply.

Izuku faltered for a moment before turning back to the pot of water. "Seriously, I'm not answering that."

"Aww, okay. You still haven't started boiling the water?"

"Ah, on it!" Izuku turned on the burner, and as he waited for the first bubbles to appear in the water, he pondered over what Lala had said. Marks that stay the entire time Rody is gone... Rody generally worked a schedule where he was on the job for four days and off for three. Now that Lala mentioned it, any hickeys that Izuku noticed on his body did tend to last for about four or five days before fading completely... Did Rody actually do that on purpose? How did he know how long they would stay? Exactly how much trial and error had he done to perfect the technique?! Just the thought alone was mortifyingly embarrassing.

But at the same time... it had always been rather nice, even comforting, to have a visible reminder of Rody on his body whenever he was gone. Maybe Izuku should try returning the favor...

"Oh, I just remembered!"

"Huh?" Shaken from his thoughts, Izuku turned his attention to Lala, who was wearing yet another disconcerting grin. "What did you remember?" he asked uneasily.

"Rody talked about it when I was younger." She swept up a small bit of the sauce with a finger and tasted it, giving a satisfied nod. "That he wanted a way to stake his claim on you for the weeks and months that you were apart back then. I didn't really get what he meant until just now!"

"Wh— wha..." Izuku was turning so red he almost felt lighthearted. "You mean— he talked about this with his kid sister?!"

"Jeez, Izu-niichan! I mean, like, three years ago, not ten!"

"Still...!"

"Izu-niichan, the water! The water's boiling over!"

No matter how many years passed, Izuku wasn't sure if he would ever be completely accustomed to the Soul family.