After the fight, Tenko held her in high regard. Gone was 'Baka-Endo', now she was just Endo. Though, the awe in his eyes made her wonder if he ever called her -sama in his head. Snickering, she laid back and played with a stalk of grass.
Tenko frowned from the porch, feet swinging. "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing, just that your quirk would be really useful for cleaning. Maybe you should be a janitor when you grow up."
She rolled over just in time to avoid a shoe hitting the ground where her head was. She quirked a brow and scolded, "You'll never get a job with that temper!"
A second shoe flew at her head. This one hit.
A voice thick with arrogance cut into their conversation, "Fooling around again? Humph, thought you were training."
She leapt to her feet, pitifully rubbing her nose as she jogged over to Toya. Pouting, she complained, "To-To, he hit me!"
"She started it!"
"You're both idiots."
The day after their fight, Toya returned to the house and challenged her again. He lost a second time, but returned every day since. It became routine; Toya would come and drag her out of bed to lose to her again, while Tenko watched from the safety of the house. Afterwards, Toya always left to train on his own and Tenko gushed about how awesome and powerful their quirks were, while she tuned him out. But at some point, Toya began training in the field with her, even offering helpful advice. In his words, 'If you don't catch up to me, then it'll be really embarrassing to be seen around you.'
Even though he always lost against her.
She wisely kept silent about this as he corrected her form.
"Don't slouch, you need to be ready to fight at a moment's notice! You probably know this already, but your voice won't be as powerful if your posture is wrong."
"You know a lot about music."
His cheeks reddened. "My sister wanted to go caroling last year... so she made us practice every day, it was so annoying... Anyway, try harder to condense your sound, so then it's like you're throwing knives! Like, WOOSH, and WHOA! Y'know?"
She did not know. But, faced with those sparkling blue eyes, she could only nod. The response earned her a wide grin.
Toya, she quickly realized, was nothing like Dabi. He still had the innocence of youth. He made sound effects and yelled dorky names as he shot fireballs at trees. His electric blue eyes were stunning, the same way neon lights illuminated the stage at a concert, shining a light upon the performers; Toya liked to perform.
𝚄𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚒 𝚃𝚘𝚢𝚊 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍.
Then there was that.
She opened Toya's character profile. Her understanding of him changed long ago from 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 to 𝙼𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝. Tenko was the same. Even though she knew what would happen later in the plot, that didn't count. They actually had to open up to her for understanding to build. It felt a little one-sided, but then again, she already knew everything about them as characters. As people, they were completely different. For instance, Toya loved manga. He even had some of her favorite series. When they weren't training, they geeked out together while Tenko watched with disdain.
Tenko, too, was different. He had an unwavering love for heroes that reminded her of Midoriya. Guess that happened when you were a kid in a broken home. Once, he sheepishly admitted that he dreamt of meeting All Might as a kid. Hearing him say that while talking about quirks so passionately made it difficult to believe he would ever become a villain. It strengthened her resolve to keep him safe from All For One.
"Hey," Toya said one day. "When's your birthday?"
"Not sure," she admitted, scratching her neck. "Before Christmas."
He narrowed his eyes. "How can you not know your own birthday?"
"I never celebrated my birthday," she shrugged.
Tenko joined in, now laying on his side with his head propped up on a fist. "What about your parents?"
"My mom died in childbirth and my dad..." Red flashed in her vision. Her hand strayed to her neck. "He wasn't really around."
There was a moment of silence as the boys picked up on the unspoken words. They shared a look, speaking in words only they could understand. They both nodded in agreement at what must be done.
"Guys, please. Get a room."
That night, after making sure Ichika was asleep, Tenko snuck outside. Toya was waiting in the field, arms crossed.
"What took you so long?" he snapped.
"She literally makes sound, she can hear when I'm leaving."
Toya rolled his eyes. "No wonder she's always late to morning practice. Someone needs to fix those sleeping habits."
"Uh no, you're just weird."
"Excuse me?"
"You wake up at six every day, did you eat an alarm clock or something?"
"You're just lazy!"
"See, it's in your head. Where your brain's supposed to be."
Their fighting only got worse the longer they were together. There was only a moment of quiet when they finally arrived at Toya's house, toeing off their shoes and quietly slipping inside. Once they were in the kitchen, they started fighting again.
"Not cake," Tenko said stubbornly.
"It's a birthday, birthdays have cake."
"Do you even know how to make eggs?"
Toya opened his mouth, then closed it. Shut his eyes in defeat. "Fine. What do you suggest?"
Tenko thought for a moment. "Toast."
"We aren't giving her fucking toast for her birthday—"
The lights flicked on. They froze, slowly turning their heads to the figure in the hallway. Heart pounding, Toya stammered out an excuse about late-night snacks and raccoons, only to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw it was his sister.
Then he realized it was his sister and panicked even more.
"Sorry I woke you up, please please don't tell dad—"
"Shut up." She massaged her temple, sighing. Behind her, Natsuo popped out, bleary-eyed and glaring. Then, seeing Tenko, he blinked.
"Toya, you didn't tell me you had friends."
"Shut up!"
After a brief explanation — and much unnecessary squealing from Fuyumi about his 'girlfriend', someone please shoot him in the head — they agreed to help them make a cake. Never mind that none of them knew how to make cake, or eggs. But, in Todoroki logic, if they followed the recipe, then it should be easy and besides, the more hands to help the better it'll turn out, right? Right?!
Wrong.
Absolutely, completely, horribly wrong.
"Can't go wrong with sugar," Natsuo insisted.
"It's too dry," Tenko said, pouring milk in.
"It'll cook faster this way," they all agreed, turning up the heat.
What came out of the oven could only be described as a head stuffed inside a head inside a chicken, that exploded, topped with whipped cream. Toya and Natsuo's insightful creativity was rewarded with twin goose eggs from Fuyumi. Tenko wanted to dig a hole and hide away from what they made. For what they made was not a cake; they made a murder scene.
Staring at the murder cake, they all had the same thought at the same time: there was no way they could give this to Ichika.
"Guys?!"
Just then, the person in question ran into the room, a panicked look on her face. Tenko and Toya stiffened. Natsu gave a low whistle. Fuyumi beamed and bowed in greeting.
"It's so nice to meet you, I'm their older sister—"
"Just, just gimme a moment." She put her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. "I just ran five miles. My body's not... not built for that... mileage..."
She swayed, falling forward. Fuyumi was quick to catch her, but Ichika waved off her worry and insistence to sit down, catch her breath, and instead stomped over to Tenko.
"When I woke up, you were gone! Just poof, gone, vanished! Do you know how worried I was? I didn't know what happened, if you were taken or if you ran away—"
She cut herself off, engulfing him in a hug. Then, just as quickly, she shoved him away, giving Tenko whiplash. He scratched the back of his neck as she shouted, "Never do that again!"
Toya and Natsuo burst into snickers. She whirled around, jabbing a finger at them as she doled out the same lecture, giving them twin goose eggs before finally calming down.
That's when she saw the cake.
She stared at it for a good long minute.
"Surprise!" Fuyumi said in a sing-song voice, smiling. "We made you a cake!"
"But... my birthday was last month."
"No," Toya huffed, pouting after being hit twice and Tenko wasn't hit at all, but y'know, whatever. "You said you didn't know when your birthday was, so we wanted to make you a cake. You weren't supposed to know, I wanted to wait until..."
His voice shrank to a shy mumble. She frowned.
"What?"
"I wanted to wait... until..."
"I can't hear you."
"My birthday's on January 18," he blurted out, face red.
It took a minute for Ichika to connect the dots. She gave a snort of laughter, struggling to contain her giggles. Toya glared at her half-heartedly.
"Sorry, sorry," she said, waving a hand. "It's just so unexpected, I didn't think anyone would do this for me. It's my first time getting a cake. Thank you, really."
She grinned, looking between Toya and Tenko. They both stilled a moment before muttering inaudibly. If she looked closer, she would have seen the ruddy pink coloring their begrudged expressions.
Unfortunately, she turned away, approaching dangerously close to the murder cake. Ignoring their panicked protests, she tried a bite. It was sweet, maybe a bit too sweet, but much better than it looked. The spongy bread was soft and divine, the buttery icing melting in her mouth. As far as first cakes go, it wasn't half bad. She gave her review to them, beaming. They simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.
She laughed at the awful presentation as she divided it amongst the five of them. Natsuo laughed along with her, until Toya pointed out that he helped make it, then it was war. The brothers exchanged verbal blows, Ichika and Fuyumi placing bets on who would win, while Tenko quietly ate. And if he stole some of their cake, well then, it was their fault for letting him.
Their shouts and laughter lasted all through the night until dawn. In fact, if it weren't for fear of waking up Endeavor, they might have never left at all.
Later, January 18...
"Hey."
Ichika turned at the disgruntled voice. It was Toya, holding what looked like... She stilled.
"It's for you," he said, face red. His hands clenched and unclenched around the clumsily wrapped present. "Take it."
"I think you got the dates mixed up. Today is your birthday."
"It's both our birthdays," he said, blush deepening. "Hurry and take it. It's heavy."
So she did. Heart racing, she ripped apart the wrapping paper and gasped. It was a bass guitar, but more than that, it was a replica of Marceline's ax bass from Adventure Time. She ran a finger along the red steel edge. A thin line of blood appeared before quickly healing. She gaped, looking from Toya to the guitar in disbelief.
"Toya, I don't — how—"
"Finally stopped with that stupid nickname?" he sniggered.
She straightened, face somber. "Never again, To-To."
He made a face, but then said, "I found out that song you're always singing is from an old tv show. I had Fuyumi put in a request for this at a support agency."
She tensed. "What if Endeavor finds out?"
"He won't," Toya said, smirking. "Natsuo suddenly decided to join a band."
They burst into snickers. If they were being honest, Endeavor would find out, but for the smile on her face, Toya decided it was worth it. The memory of her grinning face when they made the cake warmed his chest. It was the first time she actually smiled, at least in front of them. Way prettier than that brooding look she always wore.
"I got something for you, too."
She stepped back from the table, revealing a mess of paper cuttings and a half-wrapped bottle of... lotion. Strawberry lotion.
"You're kidding, right?"
"Hey, not everyone's as good as you are at wrapping presents!"
"That's not the issue here."
She crossed her arms. "You're always getting burned, so I got you some lotion to soothe your injuries. It'll help relieve the pain."
He opened the bottle and squeezed a bit into his hand. It smelled of strawberries and summer sunshine, the taffy pink color bright against his pale skin. He rubbed it on his chest, where the most prominent of his burns were. He breathed out a sigh. It did feel good.
"Thanks," he said. "Don't wanna shrivel up like Tenko."
She slapped his arm, but couldn't keep a smile away. He grinned.
Tenko appeared just then, rubbing his eyes.
"Oh," he said, blinking blearily. "Happy birthday. Here."
He went to the kitchen, then came back with a stick of bubblegum. Toya stared at it. Tenko yawned.
"The fuck is this."
"Language!"
"Your present, dipshit."
"That's not a present at all! You pulled that out of your pocket!"
"Take it or leave it."
"Go to hell."
As they fought, Ichika played her new guitar. It fit her body like it was made for her — and it technically was. The heavy steel was cool against her skin, the strings dancing alongside her buzzing heart. This time, she swore, she wouldn't lose it.
Toya: She's into this shit?
Toya after 4 seasons, holding back tears: Fuck, I'm getting her that guitar.