"Mom, I don't know if we should be here." Ayumu stood in front of the gates of the Iida residence beside her mother. She fiddled with the buttons on the front of her dress.
Ayumu's mother clicked her tongue at her, "Nonsense. The Iida family was very good to us when your father died and they need our support now."
Ayumu glanced at her mother but said nothing. Her mother pushed open the gate, balancing the meal she had cooked in her other hand and Ayumu followed her up the walk to the front door. Ayumu knocked and took a step back. The door opened almost immediately. An older man stood in the doorway.
The man's dark hair was peppered and he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. His button down shirt was wrinkled. A forced smile pulled at his lips and he stepped aside to let Ayumu and her mother enter.
"Mrs. Suzuki, thank you for coming." They followed him into the sitting room after dropping off the dish in the kitchen amongst the other things people had left,"This must be your daughter. I haven't seen her in quite a while. It's nice to see you again."
Ayumu smiled softly at the man, "It's a pleasure, Sir."
"Iida, I am so sorry to hear about your son." Mrs. Suzuki said.
The smile fell from Mr. Iida's face and he nodded and looked toward the hall that led to the other parts of the house.
"My wife is lying down. She just got home from the hospital. She and my other son, Tenya, had been there all night. The doctors finally told them to leave and get some rest or they'd end up in the hospital themselves." He turned his gaze to the door leading into the backyard, "But Tenya can't seem to relax. He's just been sitting in the garden since he got back. It's a shame. We should be celebrating his victory at the sports festival yesterday, but…"
"Mr. Iida, would it be alright if I went to see Tenya?" Ayumu asked following his gaze to see the boy out on the patio.
"By all means." Mr. Iida motioned for her to go.
Ayumu stood and smoothed the wrinkles in her dress before letting herself out into the yard. She shut the door firmly behind her, but the boy didn't look up until she called his name.
"Suzuki? What are you doing here?" He went to stand up, but Ayumu waved her hand at the gesture and took a seat beside him at the patio table.
"My mom wanted to come check on your family. Apparently they went on a few missions together back in the day and they were there for us when my dad died…" her voice trailed off, "How are you doing?"
Iida stared out over the green grass at the garden, "I'm alright."
"I heard Tensin is going to be okay."
Iida shifted uncomfortably under Ayumu's gaze, "I wouldn't say that."
Ayumu sighed, "My mom called your mom when she heard. I know he won't be able to do hero work anymore, but… at least you'll still have him."
"He wants me to take on his hero name." Iida adjusted his glasses, "I don't think I'm worthy of it yet."
Ayumu gave a humorless laugh, "My mom suggested I take my dad's old hero name. I'm not going to, but… I think you should. Your brother wants you to."
"Ayumu, it's time to go." Ayumu's mother called and she stood up.
"Suzuki, please keep my brother's condition to yourself." Iida requested.
Ayumu made a motion as if to zip her mouth closed, "I know we're not super close or anything, but if you ever want to talk about how you're actually feeling about this… you can call me. I know it's not fun having your family's tragedy under a magnifying glass."
"How was your visit?" Shinso was lying on Ayumu's bed with a book in his hand when she got up the stairs.
Ayumu shrugged and opened her closet door, "It was fine. I feel bad for the family." She pulled out a top before going to her drawer to get a pair of pants to change out of the dress. "I need to change, move."
"Then change." Shinso said flatly, not bothering to look up from the book.
When she didn't move, Shinso sighed and shut his book, keeping a finger on the page he was reading and went out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Ayumu changed quickly and opened the door back up allowing Shinso to re-enter the room. He walked back in and dropped back onto the bed, reopening the book he had been reading.
"I feel really bad for Iida. I know his brother is going to be okay, but-" Ayumu was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing. She pulled it out and scrunched up her face as she looked at the caller ID before answering, "Hello?"
"Where the hell are you?" Bakugo barked through the phone loud enough to cause Shinso to look up from his book, shutting it without marking his place.
Ayumu put the phone to her chest and took a deep breath, "You know, most people start off a conversation with 'hello'." Bakugo growled into the phone, obviously unamused and Ayumu rolled her eyes, "Anyways, I'm at home, where are you?"
Bakugo snapped, "I've been waiting for you for fifteen minutes at the school gym, we're supposed to be training."
Shinso stood up and held out his hand for the phone, but Ayumu waved him off, "I don't remember agreeing to meet up today."
"We've been meeting at the same time, everyday for two weeks. Or are you that much of a dumbass that you forgot?" Bakugo spat.
"Give me the phone." Shinso demanded calmly.
Ayumu rolled her eyes, "Watch your tone. That was for the Sports festival, I didn't know you still wanted to work together. Besides, I'm busy. You'll have to train by yourself today, but maybe tomorrow?"
"Whatever." The line went dead after that.
Ayumu shoved her phone in her pocket and looked up to Shinso who had gotten much closer to her than she thought he had. He watched her for a moment before sitting back down on her bed.
"You shouldn't let him talk to you like that."
Ayumu shrugged, "Honestly, he talks to everyone like that. He kind of acts like an ass."
Shinso shook his head, "So why are you talking to him?"
Ayumu grabbed her bag and thought it over for a moment, "Bakugo is a good person, he's just…" she paused, searching for the right word, "not always the nicest."
"Well, you already know what I think of him." Shinso grumbled.
Ayumu rested her hand on his arm, "Come on, we still have the rest of today and tomorrow off and I want to make the most of it."