"If you don't want to go, we don't have to. I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable."
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure? It's absolutely okay if you're not. Actually, I read that it's completely normal and expected for you to not be fine in this situation. You don't have to put on a brave face for me if you're not okay with this, Izuku. I understand completely, so-"
"Mom, I'm okay. Please ring the doorbell."
"O-okay."
Bing-Bong!
Truth be told, at the tender age of five, Izuku Midoriya didn't really understand what the big deal was.
She was just getting remarried.
When he asked his teacher what that meant, she just told him that it meant his family would be getting bigger.
That was a good thing!
No reason for him to be nervous or upset or anything.
He got a new dad!
One whose face he'd be able to remember!
And his mom said that he had a daughter that was only two years older than him, so he got a big sister too.
So that was neat!
All things considered, Izuku felt like he was winning in this situation.
His mother was just a worrywart.
"It's really nice to see you again, Tadashi-san."
"You as well, Inko-san. And it's nice to meet you as well, Izuku-kun."
"..."
The older greenette looked worriedly at the boy to her side, who stared straight down at his hands in his lap.
"Izuku?"
His gaze remained downward, but he did speak.
"...'lo."
Oh. I'm nervous.
Sitting across from his soon-to-be stepfamily, the boy finally understood why his mother was so worried.
He wasn't exactly bad at meeting new people, but he also wasn't very good.
And these were two people that he was expected to live and get along with and he couldn't even do the second part with his classmates.
What if they thought he was weird or dumb or creepy?
Kacchan thought that he was a mix of the three.
He didn't want that.
What if Hado-san didn't wanna marry his mom because he thought that Izuku was a creepy, weird, gross, quirkless kid?
He really, really didn't want that.
Did he already mess up?
I bit my tongue, so I didn't wanna say anything.
His hands, balled into fists in his lap, began to shake from how hard he gripped the legs of his shorts.
He didn't mean to be rude, he really didn't.
He just didn't wanna sound stupid, but now he'd probably ruined the whole meeting and his mom wouldn't be able to get married and-
"Hey, are you okay? Why are you talking under your breath like that?"
A voice that he hadn't heard before broke him from the spiral of negativity that he had begun to whirl himself into.
He looked up into a pair of wide, blue eyes that stared at him curiously.
"Eh?"
A young girl, probably just a year or two older than him, was looking at him.
And soon after, she was talking.
"Hm? Hey, your eyes are really green! They look really cute! Oh, didja know that your freckles look like diamonds? That's awesome! Do you know that diamonds are the ninth most valuable stones in the world? They used to be eighth, but in 'The Great Money Game of 2120', the market became overinfla-"
"Nejire, calm down. You haven't even given him a chance to understand your questions yet."
"Huh? Oh, sorry!"
Izuku was dazed.
There were a lot of things that were said, but none of them were… bad?
He didn't think they were, at least.
His eyes were green.
Like, really green.
She called him… cute?
His mom called him cute too, so that was a good thing.
He had never seen a diamond before, so he didn't know if what she said about his freckles was good or bad. But, seeing as she hadn't said anything bad before that, he was willing to guess that it wasn't.
He had no idea what she was talking about at the end, though.
Everything after the word 'eighth' was nonsense to him, absolute gibberish.
So Izuku's overall grade on the girl in front of him…
Nice. Really nice.
He looked at Hado-san, who offered him a slight bow of the head.
"I'm sorry about that, Izuku-kun. Nejire here has always been pretty easily excitable, and she's been looking forward to meeting you all week. I hope that that hasn't put you off at all."
His eyes flicked to Nejire, who gave him a shy, but friendly smile.
His eyes moved to his mom, who seemed equal parts worried and hopeful.
And then, his gaze settled on Hado-san, and Izuku noticed something.
Hado-san was fidgeting.
It was small, nothing too big, but his fists were balled in his lap, and his knuckles were turning white as they bunched up his slacks.
Hado-san… is nervous too.
That realization changed everything for Izuku.
He was so worried about his new family members not liking him, that he didn't think for a second that they'd be worried about the reverse.
His mom had said it outside.
If he didn't want this to happen, it wouldn't.
The fate of his mother's marriage rested entirely in the palm of his hand.
He took another quick look at all of the other people in the room, their eyes all focused on him.
They were waiting for an answer, the next words he'd say determining just how this prospective family would proceed.
He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath before saying-
"Nee-chan, what are you doing?"
"Laying down."
"I can see that."
"…"
"Alright, let's change the question, why are you laying in my bed instead of yours?"
"Your bed's more comfortable than mine.
"We have the same kind of bed!"
At the age of thirteen, Izuku Hado was living a pretty good life.
He went to a good school, had a couple of good friends who didn't mind his quirklessness, and a really good family-
"Well, yeah, but my bed is worse."
I'm gonna regret this.
"And why is your bed worse, Nee-chan?"
"Because you're not in it!"
Izuku sighed.
Of course that's the reason.
-and then, there was his older sister, Nejire.
He loved his sister dearly, and he was certain she loved him.
The only problem with that was the fact that the way Izuku showed his love and the way that Nejire showed hers was…
"Therefore, I'll be sleeping in your bed from now on. So come lay down with Nee-chan!"
…different, to say the least.
"Get out of my bed, Nejire."
"Instantly rejected!?"
"Of course it's instantly rejected!"
"But, Izukuuuuuu!"
"Don't 'Izukuuuuuu' me! Leave! We both have school in the morning!"
"..."
"Don't pout like you're not the one in the wrong here."
The highschool first year just rolled over and kept pouting.
"Nejire."
"..."
"Nee-chan."
"...Hmph!"
Aren't you supposed to be the older sibling?
He often had thoughts like that.
His sister was just so strange.
She was bright and cheery and just a big ol' ray of sunshine.
He just… he didn't know how to handle her sometimes.
Her and her overly affectionate tendencies.
"Nee-chan."
"..."
A sigh.
Her heels were dug in.
She wasn't going to let it go.
If he tried to push the issue any harder, they'd be there all night.
Confrontation wasn't the way, and he knew that his mom and dad would do nothing to resolve the situation, so that only left him one option-
"Fine, just for tonight and we sleep with a pillow between us."
-Compromise.
More flies with honey than vinegar, right?
It was an adage that often held true even in the weird situations that Nejire often put Izuku in.
This time was no different.
"Heh, sucker."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, hop in!"
She rolled to the side closest to the wall and patted the spot on the mattress that she had just vacated.
Izuku sighed again, but grabbed a pillow and placed it between them, before laying down on his side of the bed.
He had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and returned to see Nejire sprawled upon his mattress.
And so, there he laid with his back to his older sister as he tried to sleep.
It seemed far more… difficult that night, for some reason.
He could only seem to focus on the warmth that he could feel through the pillow at his back.
The fragrance of lilies and jasmine that had steadily filled the room.
The soft, warm breath that gently tickled the back of his neck and made his own breath hitch as he shivered slightly.
He tried to ignore all that, close his eyes and drift off, when he heard an oddly quiet voice speak up from behind him.
"Hey, Izuku."
"Hm?"
"I'm really happy that your mom married my dad."
"...I'm happy too."
He really was.
As much as he complained and griped and sighed in regards to her antics, he was almost certain that if he hadn't grown up with Nejire, he wouldn't have been nearly as outspoken as he was.
He loved spending time with his sister.
"Izuku."
"Mm?"
"Can I hug you?"
"..."
"Just for a little bit?"
That was a lie.
If he let her hug him, she'd hold onto him until it was time for them to wake up in the morning.
Even so-
"...Just for a little bit."
-he just couldn't say no.
He heard the sheets rustle and felt the weight on the bed shift more to his side of the mattress.
A moment later, a smooth pair of arms wrapped around his torso, pulling him back into something soft.
She moved the pillow…
He would've complained, but his mouth couldn't form the words for some reason.
The breathing was closer, not at his neck anymore, but just behind his ear.
The scent of lilies and jasmine was overwhelming as well, now accompanied by the tiniest wisps of mint and citrus.
He really was trying to ignore it, but it got only harder with every second that ticked on.
He gulped.
She spoke again.
"Good night, Izuku."
"Night."
From there he listened to her breathing slow further and further until he was certain that she was asleep.
He let out a breath that he was holding.
Spending time with Nejire was nice, but dangerous to his morality.
He could feel her arms tighten around his torso, pressing her chest into his back.
His breath hitched again.
She's gonna kill me. She's gonna kill me. She's gonna kill me.
A phrase that looped on repeat in his head throughout the rest of the night.
The next morning, as Izuku stared at a fully refreshed and bouncy Nejire on their way to the train station, he had only one thought on his mind:
I love her, but someone please take my big sister away!
Hey folks, it me. Back on my bullshit, I am. I come with IzuNejire content this time.
This'll be a story I post for whenever the mood takes me.
And yes, I did make them stepsiblings because I'm a degenerate shit. Sue me.
