Promise

Prom·ise

noun

A declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.

Example: "Nee-chan, if you can sleep in your own bed for a week during midterms, I promise to spend a full twenty-four hours with you."

Izuku stared at his sister for a moment before asking a question.

"Why were you recording me when I said that?"

"I'm always recording you. You say the darndest things sometimes."

Another stare, almost nine years of memories flashing through his eyes as his mind worked to find words fitting for the situation at hand.

"That's… you know what? Never mind."

In the end, it failed.

His mind ran through every possibility and there was literally no possible future where he left the conversation feeling fulfilled if he followed that string of dialogue.

"Mhm. Sooooo?"

At this, she leaned in really close to his face, the scent of vanilla filling the air between them.

He swallowed hard.

"If you can sleep in your own bed for a week during midterms, I promise to spend a full day with you."

In truth, Izuku had made that promise somewhat in jest and from a place of concern.

Nejire had been ramping up her affections more and more since the day that she'd forgotten her lunch.

Where there were random hugs before, there were now little kisses on the forehead and the cheeks.

Where she would used to lean in really close to look over his shoulder when he would do homework or read manga, she would now lean in over his shoulders, her chest pressing around his neck.

And during the last few days of Golden Week, she was practically attached to him at the hip.

It wasn't that he minded terribly, but he was worried.

Didn't she have friends that she could hang out with?

Anyone from school that she had gotten close to?

Izuku had Eiji and, more recently, Ashido to hang out with and that was good for him.

Yet, even when they were in school together, Izuku couldn't recall a time when he had seen her making plans or spending time with friends.

When she wasn't with him, she was usually studying or by herself from what he could.

But that's not… right, right?

Nejire was friendly.

Really friendly.

She was warm and accepting and excitable and…

Where was I going with this?

The scent of lavender and citrus rushed into his nostrils.

When he focused in front of himself, all he could see was blue.

Leaning back a bit, he saw his older sister's puffed out cheeks and obvious frown.

Right, she asked me a question.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and got back to thinking about the matter at hand.

No matter how he felt about the situation currently, he and Nejire made a deal and she kept up her end of it.

And, in the end-

"Alright, let's spend all day together tomorrow, like I promised."

-Izuku was a man of his word.

And if that fact happened to make his older sister practically tackle him and start squeezing him to death… Well, he could think of far worse ways to die.

The next morning began… differently than most others.

One thing that was familiar- his sister was in his bed.

Her legs tangled up with his, no pillow separating their bodies.

She was warm, really warm.

And close.

That was the second familiar thing.

She pressed into him like she was afraid he was gonna vaporize and float out on the wind.

He was oddly used to being used as a sentient plushie, especially when he woke up before his big sister.

But what was so different about that morning-

"Morning, Nee-chan."

"Good morning, Izuku."

-he wasn't the first to wake up in that bed.

Instead, as he stirred out of the firm grasp of sleep, he found himself entangled in the tender embrace of an uncharacteristically (for the morning) Nejire.

She looked down at his face with a smile, thumb tracing a diamond in his cheek with his freckles as the corners.

"You're up early."

Her smile widened while she pinched his cheek lightly between her thumb and forefinger.

"Wanted to get a head start on spending the day with you."

Izuku felt his face heat up slightly.

"Stop saying stuff like that so casually."

He lightly scolded her, but his words were undermined by the little smile on his face.

Sweet moments are not meant to last.

This is a harsh truth that Izuku Hado was forced to come to grips with at the tender age of thirteen.

What situation alerted the young lad to this harsh truth, you ask?

"Nee-chan, what do you think you're doing?"

"Spending the day with you."

It was an answer said so plainly, so matter-of-factly, that an outside observer might be inclined to believe that person who offered this response was saying something entirely reasonable.

However-

"Nee-chan, I'm going in to take a shower."

"Indeed, you are."

"This means you should get out of the bathroom."

"Perhaps."

"Then leave, please."

"I don't think I will."

-one must remember that that which should be is not always so.

"Nejire, get out."

"Nope."

"Out!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Leave!"

"No!"

This continued for some time.

Breakfast with the Hado family was oddly populated that morning, with all four members in attendance.

"So, you two were pretty lively this morning. Did something good happen?"

The Hado family patriarch received two very different answers to his simple question.

"Nope." "Izuku promised to spend the whole day with me!"

Regardless of the two different answers he was given, the father of two was absolutely elated.

A feeling that he made known to his family.

"Well, that's great! What are you going to do? Are you going out somewhere? Do you need money? How much? I've got ¥30,000 in my wallet right now, so if you just wait right there, I can go grab it and you can-"

"Dear, calm down. You're overloading them."

"Huh? Oh, uh, sorry kids. Got a bit too excited."

"It's alright." "No worries, Dad!"

Within a short breath, Izuku sighed in relief, having been spared the trouble of even starting to respond to the barrage of queries that his stepfather lodged.

Thanks, Mom.

"Now, because I'm curious, 'Popcorn', children. Nejire, you start."

"Kay!"

With the patriarch cowed somewhat, the matriarch took the reins, and Izuku felt betrayed.

Meanwhile, Elsewhere

Yuyu Haya's morning began a bit differently than the Hado siblings'.

For one, owing to the fact that she had no overly affectionate siblings, step or otherwise, she awoke alone in her bed to the bright, but gentle light of the morning dancing across her face.

Nice and simple, just like she liked it.

Slinking out from the comfort of her blankets, she trudged out of her bedroom and to the bathroom.

Once more owing to the fact that she had no overly affectionate siblings, her time in the bathroom was peaceful.

Nice and simple, just as she liked it.

After changing into comfortable clothes for the warm weather, Yuyu made her way to the kitchen, where she was greeted by no one.

This was fine.

She simply walked over to the refrigerator opening and retrieving from it, a carton of milk.

One glass of milk later, she opened the refrigerator again, replacing the carton.

However, upon closing the refrigerator door this time, she noticed something pasted upon it.

A note, one that read:

Yuyu, your father and I are going to be out tonight, so you're responsible for your own dinner. There's money on the counter for fresh ingredients, so please don't just buy a convenience store bento. Also, don't burn down the house.

With Love, Mom

Yuyu read the note, blinked, and then put the note down.

And then, she shrugged, before continuing on, ready to begin what she was sure would be a truly uneventful Sunday.

For her part, Nejire was having a great day so far.

She woke up early, saw her brother's face, cuddled with him, almost bullied him into some skinship, had a lovely breakfast with her family, got to see her brother's flustered face when their mom started teasing them, and to top it all off, she and Izuku were ousted from the house and told to 'go have fun and don't come back until you only have enough money left for the train'.

So, yeah, Nejire was feeling pretty good.

It was warm and sunny, she was with one of her favorite people in the world, and she even got to wear her new sundress while out on the town with him, both of her arms wrapped around one of his own.

There was absolutely nothing that could ruin this d-

"Nee-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Do you…? No, um… lemme say this… right."

"Take your time."

"Right, right," Izuku took a deep breath in, Nejire knew that he did this to ground himself before either saying something to comfort her or asking her something adorable, she could hardly wait to see what it was, "Nee-chan, how come I've never seen you hanging out with friends?"

A beat of silence.

"…eh?"

She had no words for her brother on the outside.

And on the inside-

What? Huh? Does he know? What does he know? No way? He couldn't know. No way he knows. Answer him. How? The truth? No. I'm a lonely loser if I tell the truth. Then what?

-she was faring far worse.

What was she supposed to do?

She thought she had been hiding the fact that she didn't have friends pretty damn well.

So how did one of the three people in the world that she took great lengths to hide her social situation from find out?

Was it something she did?

Something she said?

How?

"Nee-chan?"

Crap, she needed to answer.

Just say something simple. Just say something simple. Just say something-

"Well, I mean, I'm just not with them all the time, y'know? Just like how I'm not with you all the time. I mean, my friends have never seen you."

"Oh, o-okay."

She nailed it.

He bought the lie, now all she had to do was-

"Yeah, you know, my best friend has actually been asking about you."

Shut up.

"Really?"

"Yeah, totally. You know she's all like 'where's your little bro? Like, you talk about him so much, but where is he?' And I'm like 'Gurl-'"

I did not say 'Gurl'. I have never been like 'Gurl' a day in my life. Shut up, me. You already had him.

"I've never heard you go 'Gurl' in the entire time you and I have known each other."

Any other time, Nejire would've been really happy that Izuku paid so much attention to the things she said.

But at that moment, it was no near as endearing as it would've been otherwise.

"Uh, well, you know, it's different with the girls."

"Hmm."

"Mhm."

"Okay, so can I meet her?"

"Huh?"

"Your best friend. You said she asked about me, so I wouldn't mind meeting her, especially since you've met my best friend."

"Uhhhhh."

F*ck. Shit. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck. You see what you did, me? Should've just shut up, but nooooooo- you had to be bad at lying and give him too many details. Well what now, 'Gurl'? Now what do we do? Huh?!

Ignorant to the war inside of his sister's mind at that very moment, Izuku scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, if you don't wanna introduce me, that's totally fine. I mean, your friends are your friends. If you wanna keep your family and your friends separate, that's totally cool. I guess I just would've liked to… well, uh- nevermind, forget I said anything."

Oh no, he's feeling self-conscious. I-I didn't want that! I gotta fix this.

[?] It is important to remember that in matters regarding her brother, common sense leaves this woman completely.

"No! It's not that I don't wanna introduce you, it's just that…"

I'm lying. I'm lying straight to your face and now that I've told you several different lies to cover up my first one, I'm in too deep, and if I tell you the truth, you'll be like 'why did you lie about something like that?' and I'll be like, 'I don't know' and then you see me as some sort of pathological liar and never trust me again and-

A shock of salmon-reddish crossed into her vision, getting ready to walk right by her.

Nejire's body moved before she could think.

And a moment later-

"She was supposed to meet us here! It was a surprise! Surprise!"

-a widely-grinning and internally screaming Nejire Hado held on tightly to a deathly surprised and incredibly confused Yuyu Haya.