Toph wants to gag. Cool, thick cream is slathered over her face, and it prickles her nostrils with a pungent chemical scent. She is Immensely Uncomfortable. And she is trapped, because she kind of agreed to this.
Kano laughs heartily at her misfortune. "Oh gosh, you look like an angry kitten! I know you don't like it, but—"
"It's nasty," Toph groans, already tired of the greasy feel over her nose. And oh god, her poor ears. "Who cares if I get tanned?!"
More than once, Toph's been compared to a doll (Kitten is a more recent thing, and she'll make Shinsou suffer for it in time). With how small she was and how pale her skin was, Toph looked like an expensive and fragile porcelain doll, so that's why people tended to treat her like glass. Natsuo was the one to finally outline that for her. She bit him on the arm and they didn't speak for two weeks.
Eventually, Endeavor got fed up and made them apologize to each other, but Toph hated being reminded of her appearance.
"It's not for that," Miyuki hums, cheerfully slathering baby sunscreen over poor, helpless Kouta. He's only three years old, unable to fight back. "It prevents sunburn and irreversible skin damage. You're quite fair, Toph, your skin doesn't produce enough melanin to protect you from the sun," she recites easily, like an infomercial. Didn't they sponsor a sunscreen brand a few weeks ago?
"So what if I get cancer in twenty years? At least I won't feel like an oil spill anymore," Toph rebels like a stray animal refusing a warm bath, but her argument sounds weak even to herself. Miyuki doesn't even bother responding, she just hums as if she knows Toph is wrong.
She picks at the swim suit she's been blackmailed into wearing. They're shorts and a crop-top-thing, and they make this trip ten times worse. It's synthetic and tight and hugs her skin strangely. Toph is thirteen now, and her whole body feels stretched out and gangly in ways she's never considered before, and for the first time in her life she's kind of unnerved by the thought of people looking at her, especially her friends. Boys can be so blunt.
At least she's not on her period, but now that's a thing she has to think about too.
This whole thing was a terrible idea she should have never agreed to.
Toph is not going to swim. She will not.
Why did she get stuck with the water-loving heroes? Wouldn't it make sense if she got to live with Pixie-bob or something? Or Cementoss. Or Rock-Lock.
But no. Water Hose. And they were determined to give her swimming lessons.
Her parents had flown to China and Japan's Hero Association had been unable to extradite them last year, so they're avoiding charges but getting all of their parental rights permanently revoked. They were still considered a danger to her because the AV case was still open—and ain't that a sore spot for Todoroki-san?—so Toph qualified for witness protection, which her new guardians are licensed for. Plus, well… They already knew who Toph was, and they wanted her.
Miyuki-san had been seven months pregnant when Endeavor called them, and they shifted around their whole life to accommodate Toph. But they didn't even hesitate. She was lucky to have them. She'll never agree with their love of water, but whatever. The Water Hose team is pretty great.
Kouta babbles some more, stringing together enough words to make it clear he's affronted with his mother for all the chemical cream supposedly made to save his baby skin from nature. "You and me both, kid," she fiddles with his pudgy foot, trying to re-strap a tiny water shoes onto him. He cries out his perfectly reasonable indignation. Toph nods in solidarity, knowing the pain of societal norms like wearing shoes, but his feet are soft and vulnerable and Miyuki is passionate about this sort of stuff. "That's rough, buddy."
When they get to the beach everything is worse than worse, because sand is horrible and itchy and she does not want to let go of Kano's hand at all.
Kano Izumi, a soft-spoken and thoughtful man, squeezes her hand back kindly. "What's with the face, Toph?" He asks quietly. "I can see Inasa in the water, want me to call him over?"
She shakes her head vigorously, letting go of his hand. "I hate this."
"What? The sand?"
"Everything," Toph bursts like a dam under pressure. "The sand, the water, the stupid sun! I wanna go home."
Miyuki goes ahead to set up a blanket with Kouta, but Kano hangs back with Toph. "It's not as bad as you think. Swimming is fun when you get the hang of it."
"Easy for you to say," Toph snaps, crossing her arms. "You're a waterbender, Kano. I'm not made for the ocean. Or the sand. I like my earth solid."
He rests a hand on her shoulder. "We all have our weaknesses, Toph."
"I'm not weak!" She contests, gritting her teeth. "I just don't want to be here."
"This is the perfect opportunity to overcome your fear," he points out, but that plucks at an even more sensitive nerve, intentionally, because Kano can play her like a fiddle.
"I'm not afraid either!" Toph declares stubbornly. Is she so easy to read? Stupid heroes.
"Your best friend is just fifty yards away. You've been nagging me for weeks to see him. And suddenly, because there's a little water and sand in the way, he doesn't matter?"
This is why she hates arguing with Kano, he always talks in slow, calm measures, making everyone else look like a hot mess when they disagree with him. Toph would know, she's heard Endeavor make a fuss and lose to the water hero before, quite similar to the way all the fight is washed out of a cranky Kouta once he's placed in the bathtub he loves. Maybe Endeavor's been less combative lately as well, something that seems to surprise his kids as much as Toph, though she's never had reason to figure out what's caused it. Kano might have some insight on it, however, because he's the sort of guy that knows how people tick.
Including Toph.
All it takes is a soft, sincerely disapproving, "That's not the Toph I know."
Her nostrils flare in annoyance, but he's right. Inasa's boisterous laugh can be heard from here as he splashes water at his mom. And Toph wanted to talk to Inasa in person, instead of over the phone as they've been doing the past few weeks. There's been a few things bothering her about the way her old friend has been acting, especially since she brought up Hitoshi Shinsou going to the same school as her. His parents never had much time off work and it's difficult to organize a day for them to meet up. Ever since Cato, Inasa hasn't been allowed out without his mom's supervision, even though he's nearly thirteen now.
"Ugh!" Toph throws up her hands in frustration and marches onto the sand, immediately feeling her 'sight' go blurry. She soldiers on anyway, Kano trailing behind her, right up to the edge of the water.
"See? Not so bad," Kano chuckles.
"It's cold," Toph scowls at the innocuous water tickling her feet, but her frown quickly fade once Twinkletoes notices her.
"TOPH!" Inasa yells, sloshing towards her and sprinkling her with salty water. "C'mon, c'mon, I'll teach you how to float! We can dive for shells—" without waiting for a response he wraps two frigid hands around her wrists and drags her in.
"Take it easy, Yoarashi-kun," Kano warns, following them in. Toph bites her tongue, trying not to snap at Twinkletoes as the water creeps up to her thighs. Her bare thighs. She hates swimsuits. "She's new at this."
"You're gonna do great!" Inasa declares, "Just float!"
She grimaces. "Twinkletoes, um… Maybe… Kano should help me."
Twinkletoes slows down, letting go of her hands—which is not okay, not at all, and Toph scrambles to find Kano. He's behind her, thankfully. "Oh. Okay. That's okay! You're gonna love it, Kano-san is a pro!" He exclaims, sloshing around some more. Toph can still tell where he is in waist-deep water, but she only knows it's Inasa by his voice. Water is so weird. Sand is dreadful. The combination of the two is nauseating. "I'm gonna be with my mom, okay? Come play soccer with me when you're done! Or we can build sandcastles!"
Toph nods, taking a deep breath. "See ya, Twinkles." Kano crouches in the water and they drift further into the tide. Her feet are still touching the ground, but the sand shifts and stirs with the waves. It's impossible to keep track of anything, there's trillions of grains as each one is swept away, it makes Toph dizzier and more lost—
"Stay with me, Toph," Kano reminds her, calm as a still pond.
It's hard. It's harder than anything she's done, and Toph hates that she'll never be good at this. But she nods.
"You won't learn it all in one day," Kano warns, "But you'll know how to get comfortable and float, then you can play with Inasa. We good?"
She takes another calming breath. "We're good."
While Toph gets her first swimming lesson, Inasa figures he can find someone else to play with. Obviously mom is his first choice, or Toph's new mom-that's-not-her-mom, but they're both in the shade cooing over Toph's not-baby-brother, Kouta. He wants to say hi too, but he can do that later…
Well, he's not the only kid at the beach. He can make more friends here!
There's a group of boys not far from where he is, and they're playing frisbee. Inasa grows excited. As an airbender, he's an excellent frisbee player!
"Hey!" Inasa shouts at the boy with extra-long fingers, "Can I play too?!"
The boy seems startled, and quickly his eyes dart over to the other two. "Uhhh…?" He says, eyeing his friends for advice.
Another kid calls for the frisbee, and snatches it out of the air easily. Inasa looks to him hopefully, and the blond boy flicks the frisbee up and catches it. He does it again. And again. Smirking.
It doesn't seem like he has any intention of throwing it to Inasa, and that's—that's annoying! Very mean! Inasa frowns at him and, channeling Toph, demands, "Are you gonna just stand there like a sad sack of potatoes or are ya gonna throw me the frisbee?"
The boy looks startled at being called out, and then he just sneers. "Fine, baldy. If you can catch this when I throw it, you can stick with us!" He declares, a smug smile on his face.
The other kids snicker, like they know a secret Inasa doesn't. Man. He isn't even sure he wants to hang out with these guys anymore. Still, Inasa holds his ground. "Fine then! Throw it as far as you like, I'll catch it!"
The other boy scowls harder, but nods. He looks around quickly, checking for any witnesses… and then BOOM! He flings the frisbees with all the force of an explosion!
Inasa—both gobsmacked and absolutely determined to catch this stupid frisbees, bursts into motion with an impressive cloud of sand in his wake, zipping towards the speeding object without breaking a sweat.
He jumps high into the air to reach it, and the frisbees slides easily into his hands. Inasa cackles as he floats down and jogs back to the group of boys. He presents the—slightly charred—frisbee back to the boy who threw it, grinning widely. "Told ya!" He chirps as the frisbee is smacked out of his hand.
"What the fuck! Are you tryin' to show off, baldy?! You think you're better than me, huh?" He snaps, red eyes blazing as he marches into Inasa's space. He's shorter than Inasa, but that quirk's kinda dangerous, and his hands are crackling like popcorn. Or maybe something more dangerous than popcorn. Oh boy.
Inasa's no pushover though. He's seen Toph throw around insults just as easily as this explosion boy, and it's never phased him. He holds his ground again, hands on his hips. "I told you I'd catch it, and I did. But I'm not hanging out with you if you're just a sore loser."
"WHAT?!" The boy explodes, verbally and physically as sparks fly from his palms. Man, that's a cool quirk. Too bad he's so bitter. "Say that to me again, you shitty monk! I'm no loser!"
Inasa huffs. He's not as good with the insults as Toph, but a monk? That's so rude! He has hair! Inasa can't let that slide. He takes a deep breath to center himself.
"You're right, you're no loser—you're a weenie!"
Okay. He can take insults just fine, but maybe he should work on delivering them.
The blond boy screams in his face, and Inasa staggers backwards towards the water. "Don't you run, air-boy!"
He takes a swipe at Inasa, but Inasa lets the air buffet around him, deflecting the small blast. They're not even supposed to use quirks in public, but that doesn't seem to phase this kid. Inasa's feet are in the tide now, and he flicks a foot up, aiming to spray a bit of water over the fuming kid and deter any more explosions.
Except, well, instead of a sprinkle, it's more like a wave that drenches the blond boy, knocking him onto his butt.
The boy splutters in surprise, rubbing salty water out of his eyes. Inasa stares back, aghast. His stomach lurches in rebellion, feeling the swirl of water at his fingers. He shakes his leg like it's been burned. "Uh oh."
"You FUCKER!" the boy shrieks, clambering back to his feet. His hands aren't sparking anymore, and Inasa laughs nervously. "What was that?!"
"Whoops?" He tries. And then Inasa sprints away from the boys, aided by the breeze at his back. There's no way for the angry weenie to follow him, he's nowhere near as fast, but he can hear him howling in the distance and likens it to the ominous call of a werewolf.
Inasa stops at practically the other end of the beach, right were the soft sand gives way to big rocks and a collection of puddles, panting loudly. Well, that first attempt sucked, but Inasa won't give up so quickly.
After a moment to catch his breath, he begins wandering, picking up seashells with interesting colors—and then dropping most of them, because Toph can't look at colors, but maybe Shouto would like the white and blue speckled one. It's even harder to find time to visit Shouto, but maybe Kano-san will pass it along.
Inasa jumps back in the water for some time, letting the waves carry him to and from the shore. But at one point he feels like the water has calmed down, yet he's still pushing and pulling himself through the waves somehow, so he stands upright and returns to the sand, ignoring the tantalizing ocean spray for the large, flat rocks that cut off the public swimming area. It's quieter here, but he can still see his mom's umbrella if he squints, so it's fine.
After a few more minutes of meandering, he sees another kid. A girl, sitting by the edge of a tide pool with a lizard-like head. Her face is gray and brown scales, speckled with black, but her hair is bright red and puffy, like a red panda. A little spooky, but mostly just weird! He likes weird! Inasa makes his way over to introduce himself.
"Hi there!" He shouts, making her jump and drop a shell back into the water. There's a bunch of shells around her, and one of them is moving—"Are those hermit crabs?! So cool!"
The girl looks up at him with frightened yellow eyes. There's a flash of lemony light, and suddenly Inasa is frozen in place, staring at her. What? He thinks in a panic. The wind whirls around him roughly, and he's hyper-aware of the rolling water just meters from his fingers. The girl shrieks and runs away, and in another breath, Inasa can move again. She paralyzed me?! He realizes in alarm, looking around for her. She's gone. How did she do that? What was that feeling? The water is moving wrong. What if it happens again—
"Yoarashi-kun!" Someone shouts to him, and Inasa whips around, tense and turbulent like the churning waves at his back.
But it's just Miyuki-san walking over to him, a pleasant smile on her face. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. The water recedes with the waves. He's fine. He's fine. He's fine—
"Yoarashi-kun, are you okay?" She asks carefully as she approaches him, sharp dark eyes scanning over him.
He tries to say yes, he's fine, but his sight is blurry and he can't breathe—"N-no…"
"Oh, sweetie," Miyuki gasps, pulling him into a hug. "It's okay, you're safe. Nothing happened." She cradles his head against her shoulder and rubs his back. "I'm here. Your mom is by our umbrella. Breathe, sweetie."
Inasa takes a few shaky breaths, nodding. "I-I'm sorry. I just got scared. I think it was an accident, she got scared too—"
"What?" Miyuki frowns at him, wiping his face. "Who got scared?"
He bites his lip and shakes his head. "It was an accident," he says more confidently. "A girl used her quirk on me because I scared her. It's okay." Inasa doesn't mention the way the ocean lurched for him, or how the wind howled without his permission. He inhales deeply through his nose, and then out through his mouth, like the doctor told him to.
This happens sometimes. Ever since he got out of Cato, he's been talking to a quirk doctor about it.
Miyuki looks over him again, and nods. "Toph is waiting for you, she's learning how to make sandcastles."
Inasa breaks out into a smile. He'll always smile for Toph, even if he doesn't feel like it. "That's great, I'll help!" He declares, darting past Miyuki to find her. He can feel her gaze on his back, but Inasa brushes it aside. He feels kinda crappy right now, and he hasn't made any friends on the beach like he intended to, but that's why he has Toph. Toph makes everything brighter.
As expected, Toph greets him with a sunny smile. "Finally," she exclaims, getting to her feet. Kouta is beside her on a folded towel, scowling at his tiny toes. "Where've you been, dummy?"
Unlike the blonde kid, Toph's insults roll off his back like water off of Captain Selkie. Even at her meanest, Toph loves him. He knows her well enough to know this is how she shows affection. "Waiting for you! Now, let's build something. A castle. Two castles!"
"A really big castle," Toph suggests, laughing. "Big enough to fit Kouta in it."
"A FORT!" Inasa exclaims, shoveling wet sand into the biggest bucket. "With a moat!"
"What's a moat?"
"I dunno, like a pool." He begins to mime the shape of it with his hands before dismissing the explanation as useless for his friend.
Toph crosses her arms. "More water? Sounds lame."
"Kouta likes water!" Inasa argues. "Plus, it's like a protective pool. Around the castle. But let's focus on the castle first!"
"I thought it was a fort?" Toph's face scrunches up. "I guess they're pretty similar."
"Good point." Inasa crouches down to Kouta's height and holds out both hands. "Kouta-chan, wanna be a prince with a castle or a soldier with a fort?"
Kouta stares at him with big red eyes, and then grabs his left hand. "Castle!"
"Prince with a castle it is!" Inasa cheers. Kouta, catching onto his enthusiasm, cheers with him. Inasa dips into a bow so low that his head smacks into the sand. "At your service, Prince Kouta of the Izumi Family!" He smiles adorably with tiny baby teeth. What a good baby. Toph always acts like it's a chore to look after him, but Inasa would love siblings.
Cackling, Toph bows with gusto as well, which delights the baby boy. It delights Inasa too. She's so pretty. "Alright, time for the show. Inasa, shield his face from the sand."
Inasa scoots Kouta backwards a little, and carefully turns him away from Toph. "Ready! Wait. Whatcha doing?"
"Just watch!" Toph smirks, and then her stance shifts into her usual practice position. Inasa loves watching Toph earthbend, she makes it look like a martial art. He can already see her in the future as a hero, moving like a born warrior. She mentioned that the Izumis were sending her to lessons so she'd continue learning how to fight without using her quirk to wreck their yard. He never saw Shouto's house before Toph bulldozed through it, but the ice-and-firebender described his courtyard's unorthodox remodeling in great detail.
The sand swirls around, solidifying around Toph's ankles, and then she pulls a hand in an upward slice. The sand follows her move, jettisoning into a mighty tower. It crumbles a bit near the top, but it's almost her height.
"Wow," Inasa lets out a breath. He's not sure if it was the earthbending or just Toph being Toph that took his breath away to begin with. "I thought you've never been to the beach before!"
"I haven't," Toph flashes an incandescent smile, sandbending another pillar. "Cool, huh?"
"Uh, yeah," Inasa cheers, clambering between the pillars. "Make a big one in the middle! With spires!"
She obliges, and before long there's a massive castle between them, glimmering with shells and fake-brick detailing. Inasa helps carve out the details and digs a moat around it, and Kano-san comes by to stream some water into it, though it keeps soaking into the sand. It looks amazing. And Toph looks amazing as she works, beaming like the sun with rosy cheeks and damp hair plastered to her face.
He's not sure how long they build for, because they keep rebuilding: Kouta will knocks over some towers; Toph will tear it down to build something else; Inasa will dump water on all three of them and then Toph'll trap him in sand.—and then they return to constructing, cackling all the while. He could do this forever with Toph.
But as they keep building, Inasa finds himself quieter than usual, especially after watching Kano-san pull water into their creation to finally fill up their moat. His mind keeps returning to the lizard girl with the paralyzing quirk, and the hot-blooded blond boy he drenched with water. On both occasions, his gut reactions weren't normal. In the past, he would've picked up a whirlwind and blown around sand if he got too excited. Maybe create a gust of air strong enough to knock the boy off his feet. But instead the ocean water pushed and pulled in rhythm with Inasa's intentions. Without ever doing it before, Inasa knew the water would bend and change if he asked it to.
And Inasa did not want that. His skin crawled at the very idea. What business does he have waterbending? It's wrong.
"Inasa?" Toph calls him out of the blue. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course!" He agrees, though something in her tone is off. There's no smile on her face anymore, but she's not frowning either.
"Why don't you wanna meet Hitoshi?"
Ah. Shinsou. Inasa's good mood doesn't evaporate, but it certainly fades a bit. "You know why." He hasn't said it in many words, but it must be obvious. "I'm not gonna stop you from hanging out with him, but. I wish you wouldn't."
"And I've told you he's nothing like her," she replies evenly. "You'd like him. And he wants to meet you, which—" she huffs. "You boys are so weird," Toph shakes her head with a pout.
Inasa pouts right back, though it's probably not as endearing as her's. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Shouto," she says flatly, exasperated. "Shouto wants to meet Hitoshi, but with Endeavor being the one to, uh," she grimaces, "Stop Puppetmaster, Hitoshi doesn't want anything to do with the Todorokis. And on the other side, he's totally down to meet you, and you want nothing to do with the Shinsous!"
"Can you blame me?!" He exclaims, brushing sand off his hands to busy himself. "None of this is normal to begin with, so don't call me the weird one!" This isn't something Toph could ever understand, though. She sent a picture of the two of them once. That Hitoshi kid looks just like his mother, and Inasa can't. He can't! "I'm not meeting him. I barely have time to see you anyway."
He doesn't think Miyuki-san will mention it, but the lizard girl with paralyzing eyes? Inasa really doesn't try to judge people by their quirks, but mental abilities like that just don't... he doesn't want to look like a crybaby in front of Toph. Better to avoid it while he can.
"Plus, I—I don't blame Shinsou either, about Endeavor," Inasa continues quietly. He believes Toph wholeheartedly that Hitoshi is different, but Inasa knows he can't handle more reminders of AV. And Shouto looks a lot like his dad, so it's probably the same kind of sore spot for the brainwashing kid. "If he doesn't wanna meet, he doesn't wanna meet."
"In conclusion," Toph looks at him sourly, "You boys are weird. I know we'd all get along."
"Toph…" He knows she can be stubborn, but they've been at a stalemate over this for months already. The same way they've been at a stalemate over his quirk, which Inasa refuses to experiment with. Talking it out in person won't change a thing. "Just let it go. Please. I never get to see you anymore, and I don't want to argue."
The despairing expression on Toph's face kills Inasa inside, but he's only trying to tell her the truth. He's never been so adamant about avoiding confrontation before, but this… this is something he'd rather neatly pack up and push to the back of his mind. And Toph knows it, because she slumps in concession, nodding minutely.
"Okay, Twinkletoes," she sighs. "But you can't avoid this kinda stuff forever."
"I know," Oh, Inasa knows it. And she's not only talking about Shinsou. "But… just a little longer." Another day, another month. Inasa might not face it for years, but he won't tell that to Toph. "C'mon, we need another tower," he switches gears, and slowly, they continue their sand work.
True to her word, Toph doesn't bring any of it up again. Her smile returns, softer but just as brilliant, and that's all he needs.
"Toph!" Miyuki jogs over to them. "Time to reapply!"
"No!" Toph rebels immediately, sinking her hands into the sand. The action disrupts the tower she's building, and it collapses into a pile. Again.
He watches, pitying his friend as Miyuki drags her and Kouta back to the shade for a healthy dose of gloopy cream.
Inasa opts for his mom to spray him all over with a clear sunscreen, holding his breath, and then he's back at the castle, figuring out how to bundle twigs together for a drawbridge.
It's at this point that the blond boy finds him again, stomping over with a permanent scowl etched onto his face. Inasa watches him with a slight frown.
"You! Bald-head!" The boy points an accusing finger at him. "You coward, you ran away!"
Inasa drops the sticks, hastily shaking the sand off his hands. "I said I didn't wanna hang out with you," he declares, only raising his voice a little. "So leave."
The boy fumes, nostrils flaring, His hands are popping again. Red eyes dart to the large castle, and Inasa is instantly on guard. "What's this, a sandcastle? Are you a baby or something?!"
"Stay away from it," Inasa warns. Him and Toph could easily make a new one, and they've already wrecked it several times on their own, but that's their castle, not this kid's. The thought of him trampling over something meant for Inasa and Toph is—is unacceptable.
The boy scoffs, taking a threatening step forward. "Ooh, what're you gonna do if I touch it? Splash more water? Run away?" He barks out in laughter, and reaches out a hand.
"Stop it," Inasa warns.
"Make me!" The boy sneers. "I'm just here to finish what you started, so fight me!"
...Fight him? Fight him?
"What?!" Inasa demands with a splutter, leaping to his feet. "No way! Do you think this some joke? We're on a beach, my mom would kill me if—where's your mom, huh?" Inasa narrows his eyes, getting a better idea than chewing out this jerk. He sucks in a huge breath of air, and bellows at the top of his lungs, "STOP TRYING TO EXPLODE EVERYTHING YOU BIG WEENIE!"
Everyone at the beach stops what they're doing to look at them. He can see Miyuki-san and his mom rising to their feet. Toph looks up in surprise too.
The explosion boy looks furious, blown back a foot but still on his feet. "You COWARD!" He shouts, but his head whips back and forth in alarm. "Gonna cry back to mommy now, you stupid, bald—"
"KATSUKI BAKUGOU, YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" a terrifying woman hollers at them from the far side of the beach. "I'LL GIVE YOU TEN SECONDS, YOU LITTLE BRAT!"
A satisfied grin stretches over Inasa's face. "It was nice knowin' ya, Katsuki Bakugou!"
Bakugou growls, but then he looks back at his fuming mother and stomps away, hands sparking and smoking with small explosions. "This ain't over, baldy!"
Except, it really is. Inasa's mom and Toph walk over to him and the castle to investigate, and Inasa greets them with a victorious smile. "What the heck was that, Inasa?" Toph demands, but there's an undercurrent of concern in her expression.
"Just some kid trying to ruin our castle," Inasa says dismissively, shooting his mother a reassuring smile. Toph's eyes are still narrowed, and her head is tilted like she's trying to listen to what Bakugou is saying to his mother. "Hey, Toph!" He draws her attention away.
She blinks. "Yeah?"
Inasa dives for her, sweeping her up into his arms before she can retaliate, and throws both of them into the side of the sandcastle.
Toph shrieks, smacking his arm and spitting out sand. "You jerk!" She laughs, pushing at his chest. Inasa lets himself fall backwards to crush more of the castle, and flicks out a burst of wind to knock her down too. "I'm never getting all this sand off," she moans.
"We could always go back in the water—"
"No!" Toph denies, and makes his feet sink into the sand up to his knees. "No more water! Only land!"
He cackles at her sour face, pulling more wind around to tangle her half-dried hair. He's gotten very good and fine-tuning how strong his winds are. "How about air?"
Toph sticks her tongue at him, and then coughs from getting more sand in her mouth. Inasa snickers, and she takes a big clump of sand and dumps it over his stomach. Then another clump over his knees.
"Wha—are you burying me?"
"Yes!" She grins.
"Well, it was nice knowing you," Inasa says solemnly. "Tell my mom I love her!"
"Tell her yourself, she's right here!" Toph points at his mom, who's been watching from a few feet away the whole time. She's taking photos and Inasa grins hugely for her. He'll have her print out pictures from today.
"Oh, right!" Inasa waves a hand before Toph grabs it and encases him in sand. "Mom, tell Toph I love her!"
"Shut it, Airhead," Toph mutters with pink cheeks, punching his arm. Oof, she's gotten stronger, if not much taller.
"I can't speak, I'm dead now," Inasa points out, but he's more interested in the blush coloring her face now. "You're just hearing my ghost."
"What, now I'm being haunted?" She teases, rolling her eyes. Her hair falls over her eyes once more, and the blush fades.
"You did bury me in a shallow grave," Inasa reasons, wiggling his fingers. "I have to. Ghost rules." For some reason that makes Toph frown, but Inasa doesn't get the chance to address it.
"Alright guys," Kano-san jogs over. "It's getting late, Kouta's already napping."
"And you two need baths," Inasa's mom adds with a smile. That sets off Toph all over again, and she instantly dives into a passionate tirade over the absolute waste of time that is bathing. It's all just big talk, Toph never wins against Kano and she doesn't really try to either, but it brings a smile to Inasa's face nonetheless. This is normal Toph, normal mom and normal family things.
This is the sort of underwhelming average-ness that Inasa has been missing.
When he's alone with his parents, they still get a fearful look in their eye whenever Inasa isn't home on time. They still usher him off to the quirk doctor with tense expressions, forever waiting for the day they find out something is really wrong with Inasa because of what they did to him at Cato. There's always an undercurrent of uncertainty in his daily life because his parents periodically check up on the AV case, which won't be resolved until Tarrlok and the rest of the shadowy organization faces justice.
Inasa just wants his life back to the way it was. So he clings to moments like this with all his might, burning the sight into his memories so he'll never be told to forget Toph. All the while, the ocean waves push and pull at the sandy edge of the beach, yearning and insistent.
A/N: I know many have been looking forward to seeing all of Toph's friends together, but it's just not that easy. (You'll have to wait for the next season, because Fall brings change.)
We haven't seen them all together yet, but how about Inasa calling Bakugou a weenie? It's not the canon character appearance you wanted, but it's the one we all deserve.
Oh! That lizard girl with paralyzing eyes is a real character too! She's Tsuyu Asui's middle school friend, and is canonically terrifying.
Lastly—I have a question for you guys! You've heard of the Dekusquad. The Bakusquad. Besides the obvious ones, who's in Toph's squad?
