A/N:

the first section, 'Fly Me to the Moon,' will cover the Entrance Exams to the Battle Trials Arc


"Fly me to the moon… let me play among the stars…"

Hot, white lights wink at Izuku from above, where the moon hangs low in the ink-colored sky. The singing continues, too quiet to be heard by anyone but him.

"And let me see what spring is like… on-a Jupiter and Mars…"

Izuku hesitates, briefly, but eventually pokes his head fully out the window, shivering when the breeze prickles at his skin. The music cuts off abruptly, and a moment later, Mikumo speaks up.

"Need something?"

As per usual, his brother seems to know exactly when he's here. Actually, he's fairly certain that he'd known even earlier, but had waited until Izuku chose to make himself known.

"It's late," Izuku eventually says, leaning back and looking up to see his brother eyeing the night sky.

"Hn."

"The entrance exams are tomorrow," Izuku blurts out, then bites the inside of his cheek, embarrassed.

Mikumo pauses, then lowers his gaze to meet Izuku's. He feels a little like his brother is peering into his soul.

"You're nervous," Mikumo says simply.

Izuku tries not to wince. Is it really that obvious…?

"Yes," Mikumo says with a slightly amused look, causing the tips of Izuku's ears to burn. "Ah… Don't worry about it. You'll do just fine."

How do you know? Izuku wants to ask, but swallows the words before they can so much as reach his tongue. Mikumo has always been unwaveringly confident in Izuku ever since he can remember, though he refuses to tell him why.

At that, he feels the familiar twist of guilt in his gut. He hasn't told Mikumo about… well, anything lately, it seems like. He knows he's been going off to clean up Dagobah Beach, but he doesn't know a thing about All Might.

He meant to tell him right away. He wants to tell him. But every time he tries to force out the words, they die in his throat.

It's pure luck, really, that All Might decided to offer him the quirk in the first place. Really, Mikumo should've been the one to receive it, having ensured that he wasn't hurt by the Sludge Villain and all.

Izuku had been the one to save Kacchan, yes, but that was more reckless than anything. He's pretty sure that he would've been nearly killed, had Mikumo not dragged him along to numerous martial arts lessons throughout the years.

And, in the moment… He hadn't really thought about mentioning his brother. Had been more preoccupied with what All Might was offering him. Afterwards, he felt guiltier than he ever had before. Had almost even begged All Might to offer the quirk to his brother instead, because at least he could do something with One for All…

But he didn't in the end, for a multitude of reasons. The most prominent, though, is that he's selfish. His brother has always been someone to lean on, someone to look up to . He's probably the only reason he and Kacchan still have any sort of relationship, and the only reason that he's had so many opportunities in the first place.

And yet—

Izuku jerks backwards when a finger flicks his forehead. When he blinks wide, green eyes, he sees Mikumo staring back at him, a single brow raised.

"Stop overthinking," he tells him. "You're only stressing yourself out."

Izuku's expression sours. He could reply to that in a lot of ways, especially in relation to his brother being the biggest hypocrite he's ever known. It's not even hard to notice, what with the stress lines peeking out from the corner of his eyes, like he's a forty-year-old man rather than a fifteen-year-old boy.

He knows that Mikumo will only cryptically tell him that it's 'different' for him (which is just ridiculous, in his opinion), so he keeps his mouth shut.

"You'll do just fine tomorrow," Mikumo says again. "I have no doubts about that. You're the only one who's keeping you from reaching your true potential, silly little brother."

He pokes Izuku's forehead again, more softly this time, and drifts by with a practically ancient Walkman in his hand, on his way to bed despite the fact that both of them know that he's not sleeping just yet, if at all.

Izuku watches him, absently ghosting his hand over his forehead before pressing his lips together, determination renewed.

Mikumo is right, he decides. I'm only psyching myself out.

"You have to get up early tomorrow," Mikumo reminds him from his own bed, voice soft as always, and Izuku squeaks.

Right! I still have to finish cleaning up the beach! And if I don't get to bed soon—

"Izuku," Mikumo lets out, amused. Izuku flushes and fully steps back inside before shutting the window.

"Right," he mumbles a little sheepishly, then slips into his own bed. He pauses right before flicking off his lamp, and quietly says, "Goodnight, Mikumo."

Mikumo's expression softens, and when he smiles at Izuku, it reaches his eyes. "Goodnight, little brother."


A/N:

if youre wondering why he's named Mikumo instead of Itachi, there's 2 reasons
1.) I wanted an excuse to use Mikumo as Izuku's brother
2.) He's not wholly Itachi anymore

anyway
Thanks for reading!
(future chapters will be longer, dw)