Welcome back to Wannabe Heroes! I hope that everyone is staying safe and doing their part during these worrying times. My hands are so dry that they could be mistaken for coral. A big thank you to M for their review on the last chapter.

Chapter Seven: Newfound Abilities

Politely as she could muster, Koharu sipped at her hot chocolate and avoided eye contact with the two men across from her. Her green mug was so large that she had to hold it with both hands while she drank, and the rim completely obscured her vision when she tilted it back.

"I guess I should have given you a smaller mug," said a warm voice past her tableware. "Sorry! I'll find some for next time!"

"It's fine. She doesn't need you to buy things for her," quickly replied Shouta.

Hizashi pouted, and his voice grew louder as it so often did. "But she's so cute!"

Koharu's little hands slammed her mug back onto the table. "I'm super deadly!" She chimed in, unable to stop herself from letting out a righteous retort. "I'm not cute!"

Red-rimmed eyes slid over to Koharu, swimming with mirth. "Sorry, kid. You're fucking cute."

"Shouta!" cried Hizashi as he slapped his hand over the other's mouth. "You can't swear in front of a kid!" Shouta's grumbled argument was lost to Hizashi's sweaty palm. Koharu probably would have licked it by now, but Shouta was too rational for that.

Hizashi suddenly pulled back his hand with a yelp, a look of disgust on his face. Koharu began to laugh— Shouta had licked him after all.

"I didn't come here to have your gross hands touching my face, asshole," said Shouta with a scowl on his young features. "Koharu, are you ready or not?"

The amusement slid off of Koharu's face, leaving her pale and shaking on the tattered brown couch.

Shouta had gone easy on her the night before, but he would hear no arguments when he came home and declared that the two of them would be going over to "a friend's" house. It wasn't that Koharu disliked Shouta's friends; he really only seemed to have the one, and Hizashi had a way of making Koharu forget that there was anything bad in the world, and so she wouldn't have cared if they were just going for a visit.

But she knew that it was no simple visit. Koharu was six, but she was not stupid. Shouta wanted to see her Quirk. He had tried to hide it, but Koharu knew that he was excited about her finally discovering her ability. Beneath all the regret, Koharu could admit that she was a little bit excited too.

The Aizawas had waited so long for Koharu's Quirk. It was her parents who were the most vocal about it. Sitting outside the kitchen, it was all that Koharu ever heard her parents talking about. Quirkless, they said. Her mother spat it out like a curse word, and she cried when she thought Koharu wasn't looking. Koharu was certain that if she could just find her Quirk, then the problems in her family would be solved, and so she didn't give up hope. She would wait patiently for the day that she would discover her Quirk, and then she would prove her parents wrong and become a hero so strong that Eraserhead would be lining up to be her sidekick, and the whole family could be happy again.

But then her parents were gone. And her newfound Quirk was terrifying. Koharu was not ready.

She hadn't even meant to use it. One second, she had been watching the boys tussle, and the next, there was an ear-splitting crack and Juzo's bone was poking out of his forearm. Juzo started crying, and the class was in chaos, and she couldn't turn her Quirk off even as the teachers started bouncing off the walls of solid air that Juzo started breathing out— the other boy's Quirk. By the time the colour drained from Koharu's eyes, Jozu had already crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap. It took the teachers three minutes to get to him around the barriers.

What kind of hero caused that? What kind of hero hurt people?

Koharu was sent to the principal's office, but she supposedly hadn't actually done anything to deserve punishment, and so she was sent back to class for the afternoon. Later that night, Shouta would call her actions heroic. But that afternoon, walking back into that classroom, the eyes of her classmates told a different story.

You're no hero. You're the bad guy.

Koharu didn't realize that she was crying until she was already wrapped in Hizashi's skinny arms. She wondered when he pulled her into his lap. To Shouta, he hissed a quiet, "I told you not to swear at her!"

Shouta's arms were hovering in front of him awkwardly, like Hizashi had beaten him to the punch at reaching Koharu. His voice was tinged with panic as he replied, "I didn't swear at her! I swore in front of her! That's totally different!"

"Clearly it's not!" Hizashi hissed between comforting pats against Koharu's head. He tucked Koharu close to his chest, where she could feel the rumbles of his booming voice. "It's okay, little Koharu! I won't let that mean man get you."

"Hey!"

"That terrible, terrible man," Hizashi continued. "Just dreadful. Such a sourpuss." He paused, and then nudged Koharu as he added, "He smells bad, too."

Shouta's grumbled threats were lost under the voice of Koharu's watery giggle.

"Can you tell me why you're crying, little Koharu?"

There were a lot of things that Koharu wanted to say, but none of them could grow to fruition with Shouta's concerned eyes leering down at her. She didn't know how to be honest with him again when he had already decisively ended the conversation. But she had to say something, so she settled on a half-truth.

"I r-really hurt Juzo yesterd-d-day…" Koharu stuttered out, her voice all snot and sinus.

"Ah! Such a sweet soul!" Hizashi passionately exclaimed. Unable to resist throwing in a jab at his friend, he turned to Shouta and added, "Are you sure you two are related?"

"Does that really matter right now?" Shouta asked gruffly. When Koharu looked at him, his face was scrunched up like he had eaten something sour. "Koharu, I thought we already talked about this."

Ah. She had disappointed him still.

Hizashi tightened his grip around Koharu, giving her a big squeezing hug as though sensing the pit of despair that had just opened up beneath her. "It's okay if you're not ready, little Koharu. But nothing bad is going to happen here! You're with two Pros, yeah!"

Koharu rubbed her face on Hizashi's sleeve, trying to wipe away her tears on the fabric. "D-do you really want to see my Quirk?" Koharu shyly asked, unable to stamp down the very large part of her that wanted the Pro-Hero to think that she was cool.

Ignoring the mess on his sweater with all the grace of Prince Charming, Hizashi's answering smile and nod were vigorous. "Of course! But only if you want to show us."

"Well…" quietly began Koharu as she nervously pushed her fingers together. "I… I guess maybe I could show you, if you wanna see it, Hizashi…"

"What the hell am I, chopped liver?" grumbled Shouta as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"You certainly smell like it," Hizashi shot without malice as he squeezed Koharu tightly once more before depositing her back into her spot. He sat down next to Shouta and expertly dodged the slap aimed for his head. "I would love to see your Quirk, Koharu."

There was just one problem, other than the brewing tussle between the two young men. "I don't know how to do it," Koharu quietly admitted.

With his armpit firmly planted over Shouta's face, Hizashi offered up his advice. "Don't think about it so much!" A firm shove from Shouta sent the blond tumbling out of his seat. He jumped back up, uninterrupted. "Just feel it out!"

A pause. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"We can't—" Shouta grunted as Hizashi starting yanking at his leg, kicking out at him with vehemence, "Argh, fuck off, Hizashi— we can't tell you how to use your Quirk, Koharu."

Koharu let out a deep sigh as she twiddled with her thumbs. "Juzo already had his Quirk activated when—" she swallowed thickly around the words, her tongue just a bit too big for them.

"NO PROBLEM," suddenly boomed through the apartment, Hizashi having activated his Quirk with glee from his place on the floor. Koharu's hands were quick to cover her ears, but Shouta looked resigned to the noise. The remaining liquid in her mug rippled as Hizashi continued, "SHOULD I SING A SONG FOR YOU?"

"No," mouthed Shouta.

"OOOOOHHHH—"

The next three minutes were painfully spent listening to Hizashi belt a fast-paced English song while Koharu stared intently at his mouth, trying to take his ability away from him and hand it off to Shouta, whose face grew darker the longer the room was filled with Hizashi's belted tune.

"I don't think this is working," Koharu meekly admitted as Hizashi transitioned into a rap.

Shouta huffed, the sound lost to Hizashi's voice. "Just keep trying," he said, looking pained to request more of his friend's boisterous singing.

"How do you activate your Quirk, Shouta?"

Black eyes, persistently red-rimmed and tired, rolled up to the ceiling as Shouta contemplated Koharu's question. Finally, he mumbled a response.

Koharu leaned closer, looking confused and tilting her ear towards her brother. "What?"

"I said," Shouta emphasized, trying to project his voice over Hizashi's one-man party, but the rest was lost.

"What did you say?"

Grunting, Shouta straightened up and leaned closer to Koharu as well. "I said—"

"I JUST DO IT."

Midway through his sentence, Hizashi's incessant singing had drastically lowered in volume, and Shouta's had picked it up. If Koharu had thought Shouta's grumpy voice was scary before, hearing it loud enough to blow her hair back was petrifying. The room seemed to shake with the force of his yell.

And then all Koharu could hear was a loud, persistent ringing. She lifted shaky palms to her ears. In front of her, Shouta was hunched over his knees and mutely hacking. Both of his hands were around his throat. Hizashi was static beside him, frantic in his need to help but not knowing how. The room was swimming, the wallpaper blurring into the bookcase, stretching into long waves and twirling like someone was flushing the house and they were being squeezed away along with it. Hizashi shoved a cold can of ginger ale into her hands.

Koharu hurled.