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passerine-writes · 2 months

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Silent Sparks - Volt 92

Warnings: There's a kid in danger and medical stuff but Tsukare saved the day, fluff, is this unrealistic to happen given work studies were cancelled? yes. yes it is. however, i think Tsukare needed a good day of saving someone to heal part of his inner child Word count: 2534

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 91 | Volt 93

"Thanks for gettin' here as soon as you could. I know it's a bit of a trip from your school." Rock Lock greeted me as I walked up to the abandoned house in Mie, police officers surrounding the house and staring at me in befuddlement.

"Didn't know you were cleared to come back yet. How's the wound healing up?" I asked as I shook his hand, Dad allowing me to go on my own.

"It's great. Came back to work and this is what I get on my first day. A long graveyard shift with a kidnapping and now to find out the kid has major health concerns? I can't leave now, I'm too invested. I'm gonna give it to ya straight, we've been going in circles in that house for hours and keep coming up blank. Can you take a crack at it?" I nodded and walked inside, the captain blocking my way.

"The hell is a kid doin' here, Lock? Thought you said you were callin' help." He said in a condescending tone while he looked down at me.

"Gimme ten minutes and I'll prove my worth." I told him, crossing my arms over my chest. He glared at me but stepped the side. "Rock Lock, time me, will ya? Sarge! Gimme the details on who we think did it so far."

"We're looking at the ex-husband, the kids step father. He never legally adopted her, mom lives in Fukui, looks like it was a messy divorce especially when it came to the custody battle he tried to force but lost. The girl, Emi, has diabetes and stress induced asthma." He explained.

"And the ex? Where's he?" I followed with as I looked around closely.

"He's in custody. He already admitted to kidnapping her, but he won't give up the where."

"Okay. Assuming she gets her insulin around the same time everyday, which would be around lunch time, we have about four hours to find this kid before things get really dicey. Rock Lock, I'm done. What's my time?" I asked.

"Four minutes and thirty seven seconds."

"There's no damn way, that you-"

"This house was condemned by the prefecture. It's unsuitable to live in. If somebody bought it, the first thing they would contractually be required to take care of is the mold spores. That tells me the neighbors here think he bought it as a vacation home to fix up and visit once it's done. They were none the wiser. In all the array of foot prints, none of them, even the edges of them, match anything other than my shoes, or cop shoes. The handle on the door is broken, further proving my point. You're going in circles and not finding anything because she's not here. I'm willing to bet that he's in the middle of a psychotic break and doesn't realize he's going to kill her. He's playing a game and you walked right into his trap. Let me talk to him." I pushed, watching as the captain looked at me, purely baffled.

"I'm not sending a kid to talk to a criminal."

"It's not the first time I have. Make the choice, are you going to take part of the blame when she dies because you tried to hold onto your ego before anything else?" I antagonized, watching him sweat drop.

"Fine, get in a car and let's get this show on the road." He barked. I sat in the back of a squad car as they all flew down to the station. "You ready?"

"Almost. Gotta print a few things. You'll understand." I told him.

"Whatcha doin', ginger?" Rock Lock came over and asked me.

"I'm about to break this guys entire spirit and get a location." I told him as my fingers flew across the keys and the printer sounded across the room.

"You been sleeping?" He asked as I moved to the printer.

"Yeah. Why."

"You look exhausted." He explained and I rolled my eyes.

"Not important, what matters right now is this missing girl." I told him, putting the papers in a manilla folder and walking down to the interrogation room door. I knocked twice before stepping in. "My name's Sonus, you must be Emi's father, right?" I asked gingerly as I sat down.

"You're not a cop." He said cautiously, studying my figure intensely.

"Not at all, I'm Sonus. Hero in training under Fat Gum." He nodded slowly and sat there nervously. "Look, I'm not here to bark down your throat asking questions, I only wanna know one thing and you know what that is."

"You wouldn't get it, you're just a stupid kid!" He snapped and I held up my hands in a surrender.

"Hey, I don't yell, you don't yell. Sounds fair?" He paused but nodded. "Look, I think I get it more than you think. You raised her for most of her life, you're her Dad, I get it. It's just the legality bullshit that's screwing you over, right?" He nodded rapidly.

"Yeah, you're on my side!"

"I don't pick sides. I'm Switzerland. We actually had to call Emi's mom, just because of standard procedure stuff, and uh, I think it was just the worried ramblings but she told me that Emi's growing like a weed and was really uh, excited about her getting a new bed." He nodded along.

"Yeah, she's eleven and hitting another growth spurt." He said softly.

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to pick out some bed frames and stuff, that way she can feel comforted that it came from you." I suggested, setting my plan in motion. He quickly perked up and leaned forward, eager to see what I had in the folder I brought with me. I opened it up and placed it in front of him, watching his face fall.

"This isn't funny." He said grimly.

"It's not. But if you don't tell us where she is, that's going to be her bed soon enough. There's mahogany, oak, cedar, different varnishes and lacquers you can choose from. If you want the handles to be gold or brass or silver. We could even discuss if you want a proper head stone or just a plaque in the ground. Unless you were thinking something more like a tomb." He shook his head and I could see part of his rationality reaching him. "She's diabetic and has asthma. You remember all those doctors appointments, don't you? How many times you had to give her her insulin? Find a back up inhaler? Do you want to see her again?"

"Yes, that's all I wanted out of this. I just want my daughter." He confirmed through short, stifled sobs.

"If you don't tell us where she is, then you'll never be able to see her again. The only time you'll see her, is when you get out of jail and you look at the tombstone you picked out." He stared at the photos I had printed, holding them with shaky hands and watery eyes. "We have about one hour until we're in the danger zone. Choose wisely."

"She's in Gujo. My grandfather left a farm house to me when he died. She's in the shed." I gave him a small nod and walked out of the room.

"Already cross checked, he was tellin' the truth about the property. That also explains why he was holdin' a bag of mulch when I found him. His quirk let's him teleport things and swap out their place. Let's go save her." Rock Lock said and I made my way to head home, not thinking they needed my help anymore. "Kid! Where ya goin'? Hop in." He said, pointing to his expensive looking car.

"I thought my work was done." I said as I sat in the front seat.

"Not yet, you always see a job through unless you're out of commission." He said before speeding off.

We got there in an hour and eighteen minutes, driving through the streets at illegal speeds to get there as soon as we could.

"Wait." I said as the group of me, Rock Lock and the cops ran towards the shed. "Send me in alone."

"What? Why?" Rock Lock asked, clearly perplexed.

"If she's in there, she's already terrified. Seeing a bunch of adults surrounding her will only freak her out more. I'm the closest to her age out of all of you by a long shot and I've been told I'm a natural with kids. And if it's a trap, then only one of us gets hurt." I explained, waiting for Rock Lock's approval. He paused but gave me a firm nod and I walked up to the shed cautiously. "Someone call an ambulance to have on standby. Emi? Are you in there? My name is Sonus, I'm here with some friends to take you back to your mom, okay?" I called out through the door before slowly opening it. I shined my flashlight in, the dust particles flittering around and I could already feel my breathing begin to labor. "Emi? If you can hear me, I need you to move something, okay? It's alright if you knock something over." I continued as I walked in, checked behind things, in corners and in the rafters until I saw something in the corner of my eye. A pink shoe. I slid over to the corner and moved the stuff from in front of her. I picked her up and carried her outside as fast as my legs could carry me, laying her down on the grass. "I got her! How far out is that ambulance!"

"Eight minutes!" One of the cops responded.

"I need one of you to grab me an emergency blanket and any hot packs or hand warmers you keep in your squad cars! She's hypothermic!" I yelled as I saw her blue lips and finger tips. I brought my own to her pulse point and felt nothing. "Starting CPR! No pulse!" I brought my hands to heart chest and remembered the course I took a while ago. Pumping my hands routinely against her diaphragm between her ribs. Pinch the nose, tilt the chin, breathe. Repeat.

I only briefly stopped when the cops came over with the items I had requested. Letting them place the blanket under her to wrap around her arms, placing the hot packs around her body.

"Medics are almost here, kid!" The guy who had a problem with me earlier called out.

"Tell them to hurry up!" I barked back, not losing my tempo on getting her heartbeat back. Until a harsh cough came from her, followed by more, her chest seizing up as she coughed. "Hey, hey, breathe it out." I said soothingly as I sat her up and grabbed the inhaler from my pouch, popped it open and helped her breathing balance out. "There ya go. You're okay now. Can you tell me your name?"

"E-Emi. It's so cold." She said through chattering teeth.

"I know. We're gonna get you warmed up soon. Okay?" She nodded and curled into my chest a bit for warmth while I rubbed her back. The ambulance came moments later, rushing her onto a gurney and into the back of the ambulance.

"Sonus, thought that was you. You helped that lady deliver her baby." The woman said as she approached me. "Fill me in, how's the patient?"

"Eleven year old with asthma and diabetes, found her hypothermic with no identifiable pulse. I performed CPR in the field, we wrapped her in a blanket and placed hot packs on her to bring up her core temp as much as we could. After about six minutes of CPR she came to and immediately had an asthma attack and I gave her an inhaler to stabilize. Check her lungs for debris, she was in that shed for a while and it was messing with my lungs for the few minutes I was in there. She might present with PTSD or anxiety after what happened." She nodded and shook my hand.

"Can't wait for you to graduate. You'll be an asset wherever you land. Let's head out!" She yelled to the driver, hopping in the back of the ambulance.

"Gotta say, you did good kid." The captain said as he walked over to me.

"Told ya he'd be able to help. This is the kid that patched me up during the raid after I got stabbed." Rock Lock told him, resting an elbow on my shoulder.

"You just saved that kids life, be proud of the work you did today." I gave him a small nod.

"It's why I wanna be a hero. I want to save people." I told him earnestly and he gave me a gentle smile.

"You should get back to the dorms kid, and get some sleep." Rock Lock told me and I started on my way back.

After getting changed in the locker room and cleaning myself up, I got back to the dorms a few hours later and I was glad I didn't have school that day.

"You're back!" Denki exclaimed as he ran around the couch, pulling me into a hug.

"I'm back. Sorry for heading out with no notice." I told him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Dude where did you go? You were gone when I woke up." Hitoshi commented.

"Dad and I went to the 24 hour diner we always went to and Rock Lock called in a favor. Ended up hopping on a train to Mie to save a girl who was kidnapped." I said non-chalantly, only for my entire class to erupt in questions. "Can any of these questions wait to be answered later? Cause I'm tired." I said while yawning, leaning further into my boyfriends side. Everyone eventually agreed, Denki guiding us over to the couches and letting me use his thighs as a pillow. I took out my hearing aids and put them in their case, my phone buzzing grabbing my attention again.

From Pikachu <;3: How long have you been up baby?

To Pikachu <;3: Promise you won't be mad?

From Pikachu <;3: I promise

To Pikachu <;3: About sixty hours now

From Pikachu <;3: Onryo...

To Pikachu <;3: I'm okay, really

From Pikachu <;3: Being up that long can't be good for you

I peered up at him through my lashes, only relaxing further when one of his hands started combing through my curls. I reached for his free hand that was resting on my chest and brought it towards my face, gently kissing his knuckles. He smiled down at me with a familiar warmth that made my stomach erupt in butterflies.

"No fair, you're using my weakness that makes me sleepy." I mumbled, already feeling my eyes struggle even more to stay open.

"Take a nap. I'll be here when you wake up." He told me and I only nodded a little, unable to fight it any further.

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passerine-writes · 2 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 91

Warnings: Trauma talk, insomnia, Dadzawa bonding time!! Word count: 3418

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 90 | Volt 92

"Holy shit." Hitoshi mumbled after I explained what happened.

"Wait, Aoyama left a warning?" Pops asked and I nodded.

"I can't figure it out and it's eating at me. I know I read about it too!" I exclaimed, dragging my hands down my face. "I read about it in middle school." I said after seeing two of the three confused.

"I already asked him about it. The random facts will never stop." Dad surmised and I nodded.

"I can list so many right now but not that! I can tell you that scientifically speaking, jellyfish shouldn't be alive, that spiders technically don't have brains, sharks don't have bones, some lipsticks contain fish scales, rubber bands last longer when refrigerated, if you sneeze too hard you can fracture a rib, but I can't remember what the proverb originally tied to!" Everyone stared at me with wide eyes and I groaned flopping onto my back. "This is making my head spin around in circles." I said while rubbing my eyes. I slowly sat back up, meeting everyone's wide eyes again.

"That could also be because you've been awake for over forty hours." Pops reasoned and I looked at him in disbelief.

"I didn't even realize it'd been that long." I said under my breath as I counted the hours. "Well shit. Oh yeah, Toshi, why did you react the way you did when Yoru came for dinner a few weeks ago?"

"I didn't like his attitude and cockiness. He gave the vibe of 'I was his brother first' and it rubbed me the wrong way. Doesn't matter when we became brothers, we're brothers and that's what matters to me." He said earnestly.

"Damn."

"Before we get ready for bed, is there anything else any of us need to talk about?" Pops asked.

"I uh," Hitoshi started, hesitating as his voice got caught in his throat, "I think I want to try going on antidepressants." He said it so fast I had almost missed it.

"Okay." Dad said casually, making Hitoshi visibly break mentally.

"Okay?" He asked cautiously.

"You're old enough to weigh the pro's and con's on your own. In all honesty, Sunshine and I have been wondering when you would want to start them." Dad explained, watching as Hitoshi processed his thoughts. "Is there anything in particular that sparked you wanting to start them?" I noticed Hitoshi starting to curl in on himself, hunching over to rest his forearms on his bouncing knees.

"My depressions been getting worse, and I knew I had to say something before it got worse again. I uh, I started getting thoughts. Not serious ones. The passive ones that Hound Dog and Recovery Girl told Onryo and I about. I know I won't act on it, but I want to stop it before they become serious." He explained and I felt my heart sink to my stomach.

"We can talk to Hound Dog at your next therapy session and have you referred to the old lady for med checks and whatnot." Hitoshi nodded a little and wiped a hand down his face. "How long has it been getting worse?"

"I thought about a month ago, but now that I'm in a clearer state of mind, a few months. Probably since Kamino." He said, his body shaking with a sniffle. "I couldn't get to Onryo in time. I was so close and I can't help but think that if I just moved a little faster or I had my capture weapon, I could've stopped it from happening." I scooted forward and pulled him into a hug. "I didn't want to say anything at first cause I thought it was just another depressive episode and it would pass. Then I started getting more and they started lasting a little longer, but I didn't know how to bring it up. I guess it's similar to Onryo's concerns. I know how much you both have on your plates and I didn't want to overwhelm you both even more."

"Little listener, you shouldn't worry about that. We are always going to worry about you and your brother. It's part of being parents." Pops said to him through his teary eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm really trying to do better." Hitoshi said.

"We know." I said reassuringly. "You're doing the best you can and that's more than enough." He sniffled again and nodded.

"I think medication would be a good idea." He stated.

"Okay." Pops said. "Then we'll try medication and go from there." We all nodded and sat for a moment, still processing the conversation we just had. "Let's get the couch set up and relax. It's been a long day for everyone."

We all agreed and got the couch set up. I sat against some pillows in the corner and grabbed my laptop while a movie played on the television. I clicked on the search engine and started scrolling, hoping to find what I was looking for.

I clicked on link after link, hoping something would lead me to what I had found several years ago. Minutes easily turned into hours until Dad reached over and closed my laptop. My head snapped towards him reflexively, so focused that I didn't even see him reach over until the illumination from the screen immediately cut out.

You need to at least try and sleep. You'll remember when you remember.

I'm not tired.

Okay. Then what do you want to put on?

I don't know. I'm thinking about making something to eat though.

I'm hungry too. We could go to the 24 hour diner in Shimada.

What's the catch?

Catch? Who said anything about a catch?

You're offering for us to go to the 24 hour diner at almost three in the morning. There's a catch.

I want you to try opening up. I don't care what specifically it's about, I don't care how much you tell me. All I care about is that you try.

You're despicable. Using my love of that diner against me. Okay, fine, let me go get dressed and try to figure out how to get rid of my eye bags and dark circles.

He nodded and watched me quietly walk out the door. I made haste getting back to my dorm room, changing into a pair of ripped jeans and a black shirt with a decently thick, classic, red and black flannel. I grabbed my old tube of concealer and patted a little around my eyes, blending it out to the best of my ability. It felt weird seeing myself less exhausted, but I was content with the fact that it somewhat worked and tossed on my black boots along with my hearing aids.

"Ready?" Dad asked as I snuck out of the dorms, not wanting to wake any of my classmates. I patted my pockets quickly.

'Phone, keys, wallet, case, hearing aids.'

"Yep." We got in his car, usually we would take the train there but I think we both realized that taking the train back would be cramped with the morning rush of workers.

The car ride was quiet and relaxing, I stared up at the stars through the window. Looking at as many of the eighty eight constellations as I could.

"Looking at the stars?" Dad asked.

"Yeah. It's harder to see them though with the light pollution from the city. One of these days I wanna go out to Hyogo or the edge of Okayama to look at the stars. There's such little light pollution, I bet they're really bright out there." I said softly, enamored by the burning orbs millions of miles away.

"They probably are. So Sunshine and I were talking, we were wondering if after you turn sixteen if you'd like to get your permit." My head shot towards him with my growing excitement.

"Wait, seriously?" He nodded and I couldn't contain the smile growing on my face. "Yes! Hundred percent! Absolutely!" I said in excitement. "Is Toshi finally going for his too?"

"He hasn't expressed wanting to get his but we were thinking about asking him if he's thought about it." I nodded along to his words. "Do you still want to get your ears pierced?"

"Yeah, I really like how they look and want to get them done. Thankfully the stigma behind them is starting to die down. I don't really believe in it anyways." He hummed and glanced at me.

"I see my disliking for conforming to societal norms rubbed off on you." I chuckled softly.

"Yeah, but also, I'm a ginger. Been surrounded by those since I was born."

"True. I'm just glad you don't feel confined to them. Is there anything else out of the normalities of the country that you want to have in the future?" He asked.

"I definitely want cartilage piercings. Maybe a tongue piercing too. Oh! And I want tattoos!" He hummed and nodded his head as I spoke.

"Maybe that'll be your present for your eighteenth birthday. Just, please, when you do get tattoos, don't get anything abhorrently stupid. Like curse words, or inappropriate body parts." He said, clearly perturbed about me getting them.

"You don't have to worry about it. And I won't be getting any face tattoos either." He let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

"Okay. I'm glad we're on the same page. How would you feel about piercings being part of your birthday present?"

"That works." I told him and he nodded.

"We're here. So let's get a table and get something to eat." I nodded, almost bouncing as my seat as I waited for him to put the car in park. Excitedly, I rushed over to the door and waited impatiently for him to get inside. He sighed and took his time, sluggishly walking over to where I held the outside door open. He reached over my head once he caught up and opened the inside door.

"Aizawa? Tsukare? Haven't seen you two here in quite some time." The hostess, Ikeda, said as we walked in, she was always here for the graveyard shift. "Go sit wherever you'd like and I'll be right over with some menus." Dad and I happily walked over to the booth we normally sat in.

"Here ya both are. Regular drinks to start with?" She asked as she put a menu in front of each of us. Dad and I both nodded and she typed a few words on her tablet. "Black coffee and let me check that I got this right, it's been a little while, a strawberry milkshake with whipped cream and chocolate syrup?" I nodded with a large smile. "Okay, I'll be back with your drinks in a sec." She said happily.

"When was the last time we were here?" I asked Dad, blanking on just how long it'd been.

"I think after you and Hitoshi took your entrance exams. You two were both stressed over the results not being in yet so I took both of you here one night." He told me and I stared at him in disbelief.

"That was in like, February. It's really been that long?" I asked him, shocked that it's been eight months. He nodded and turned his attention to the menu and I did the same, my eyes already set on what I wanted.

"Here ya both are. Are you two ready to order?" She asked as she sat down in a chair from the table beside us. Ikeda was always personable with everyone that walked in here, we'd seen it multiple times.

"Uh can I get an order of the kakuni manju?" I asked while I put a straw in my milkshake.

"Absolutely, and what can I get for you Aizawa?"

"Just some udon please." He said quietly and I happily took a sip of my milkshake. She set the tablet on her lap after punching our orders in and leaned forward a little bit.

"You've grown up quite a bit since the last time I saw ya, Tsukare. How's school goin'? Any more fights?" Ikeda asked teasingly.

"No, no fights. I'm over at U.A. in the hero course." I told her.

"Sonus, right?" I blushed a little and nodded my head. "Knew that was you when I saw the news. What else is new with ya?"

"I have my first boyfriend." I told her shyly, blushing like a mad man.

"Good for you, hun!" She said happily, a genuine smile on her face. "It's a shame I can't try and set ya up with my daughter anymore. She's 'bout your age." I laughed a little bit and tried to stifle it by taking a sip of my drink. "What? You're a good kid, strong set of morals, clear head on your shoulders, you'd be a good influence!" She defended her statement on it, her Hyogo accent heavily coming out.

"Thanks, Ikeda."

"So, what's he like? Is he treatin' you good?" She asked with a pointed look.

"He is, he's amazing. He's patient and kind, he has an amazing smile and beautiful hair, he knows right away when my hearing aids are out and does his best with it. We have a lot of the same interests. I feel comfortable and safe around him." I told her happily, indulging in her impromptu boy talk.

"And do you approve of him?" She asked Dad and he sighed.

"He's a good kid, so I'm trying to warm up to him for Onryo's sake." Dad begrudgingly told her.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're happy, sweetie. You deserve to be. Now when did you get them fancy things in your ears?" She said, not passing over my comment about hearing aids.

"Probably five or six months ago." I told her, watching her face soften a bit.

"How ya holdin' up with it?" She asked sincerely.

"It was an adjustment at first, but with my quirk I always knew I'd need them one day. It was more of an adjustment for my friends, I think. We have dorms now, so after class my hearings aids are usually out, if I'm not wearing them there's only so much I can catch in large conversations." She hummed and nodded.

"That sounds like a pain, hun. How are you adjustin' to it? It must be a change for you and your other son. Speaking of, where is he?" She turned to my Dad.

"It wasn't a large adjustment for me. My spouse is hard of hearing, too. And Hitoshi was sleeping, this one couldn't sleep and we were both hungry, we figured we would come here." He answered, careful with his wording about Pops.

"Well that's a shame, kids missin' out. So tell me, what's UA like?"

We talked for another ten or so minutes before another customer walked in and she excused herself.

So, what to do you want to open up about?

Preferably, I wouldn't, but a deals a deal. I took a long sip of my milkshake to buy time. I opened up to Bakugou a little about Kamino.

How did that go?

He brought me up to the roof to talk one night and he told me that was my chance to let it out so I might stop having nightmares about it. Solid effort before the raid. I told him what Toga did.

Do you want to tell me about that?

Not really, to sum it up, there was a lot of blood and she turned into Shiroka at one point. I'm mad at myself more than anything. I feel like if I was stronger then none of that would've happened.

It wasn't your fault.

But-

It wasn't your fault.

I told them to take it out on me. How is it not my fault?

You didn't ask to be kidnapped. You just didn't want Bakugou to get hurt.

Everything from earlier has me concerned. Why would he leave a warning?

I'm not sure. He might just be able to tell tensions are high in the world.

I don't trust him.

I never said you had too.

Do you trust him?

He's one of my students. I'm required to have some sort of faith in him but I wouldn't call it trust.

Do you think it could be another way to get attention? I hate to phrase it that way, but he lives to be in the spotlight.

Could be a possibility, I suppose.

"Here ya are. A bowl of udon and a plate of kakuni manju. And let me top that off for ya, sweetheart." She said, reaching over and filling up Dad's almost empty coffee mug.

"Thank you, Ikeda." Dad said.

"Anytime, hun. I'll be back to check on y'all later." She said sweetly and I dug in right away, happily sighing at the amazing taste.

Do you think I should open up to Denki about what happened?

There's a question I never thought I'd hear. Why do you ask?

Well, cause, you and Pops and Toshi and even Bakugou knows what happened. I know he's curious and it's because he cares and he can see how much it effects me and I don't blame him for that. Even if I can bring myself to talk about it and tell him, I don't know if it would be a good idea. It would be me telling my boyfriend about how I was tortured mentally and physically for almost three days.

Your Pops and I were together for about a year when your Uncle Oboro died. I didn't open up about it to him for almost a whole year. I didn't know he died, I was convinced that he was still talking to me. Cheering me on as I fought. I blamed myself for a while. It was the only time I didn't believe Sunshine, then I saw the body bag and it felt like part of my heart stopped pumping blood. I felt crazy. So, tell him when you feel like the time is right. If he doesn't have it in him to wait, then he's not worth your time.

Thanks Dad. And you're not crazy. I think your brain just didn't want you to feel it yet so you would stay alive. And I'm sorry, if I brought back any flashbacks when I radioed in to the school when I was trapped.

You don't have to apologize for any of it.

It made me realize I don't want to die anymore. I'm not ready. I was scared, of losing you and everyone.

You're still here. That's what counts.

After we finished our food, we talked for another hours or so, even as the sun rose and shined brightly through the windows we talked. A ghost of a smile appearing on Dad's face when he checked his phone, I already knew who it was.

"Ready to head home?" He asked and I nodded. He paid and left a tip, the two of us walking out to the car. We sat in it as we waited for it to warm up. His phone started ringing after a moment and he picked it up, looking at it confused. "Rock Lock is calling me."

"Put it on speaker! I wanna hear! Please?" He sighed but obliged, answering the phone call and putting it on speaker.

"Hello?" He said tiredly.

"Hey Eraser. I gotta ask a favor." Rock Lock cut in on the other end.

"What's your favor? And so you're aware, I have Onryo with me and you're on speaker." I rolled my eyes jokingly at him taking my fun out of it but he shot me a look.

"That's perfect actually. I was callin' about your kid, I'm at a loss and the cops are too, can I borrow your kid?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, would you like to rephrase that?"

"Can ginger come down to the scene and tell us if we're missin' anything? Like I said, we're at a loss and after the raid, I trust his judgement and he has a different way at lookin' at things." Dad looked at me and we had a silent conversation.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Send him the address and details to save time on you briefing me."

"Heard that, see ya soon kid." Dad ended the phone call and put the car in gear.

"This should be fun." He sighed.

0 notes

passerine-writes · 2 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 90

Warnings: Brief mentions of puke and some stress, I guess?? Word count: 4477

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 89 | Volt 91

After getting in a few minutes of heavily interrupted sleep throughout the night, I only realized Denki's alarm was going off after he started to stir, aimlessly patting behind him to try and hit his alarm clock. He slowly sat up a bit to properly shut off his alarm before burying his face back into my stomach. I went to move my hand from his hair, just for him to grab my hand and move it back to his hair.

"My love, we have to get up. If we don't then my Dad will absolutely come in here again." I felt him groan, holding me just a little tighter before he sat up a bit.

"But you're so comfortable and warm." He whined, pouting as he looked at me.

"I'm glad. But I'd rather have my boyfriend alive." I told him, cupping his face gently. He leaned into my touch and gave me a sleepy smile before he started looking concerned.

"You didn't sleep last night?" He asked gently, his eyes filling with concern.

"Couldn't really sleep." I told him quietly, feeling slightly ashamed admitting it.

"Maybe tonight you'll get more sleep." He hummed and went to lay back down but I tapped his cheek with my thumb.

"Baby, we have to get up." I reiterated. He sighed but agreed, slowly getting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

I slowly sat up too, soon after leaving his room to get my hearing aids and get changed into my uniform. On the way down to the commons, I crossed paths with Hitoshi and Izuku in the elevator.

Hey, you okay after last night?

I'm doing better. Did you sleep at all?

I'm not gonna answer that.

"Dad's gonna kill you." Hitoshi snorted but he still looked concerned.

"I'll live." I brushed off, gravitating to the coffee immediately.

"Tsukababes?" Mina chimed in, looking at me in dismay. "You didn't sleep?" She asked softly, concern ever present in her expression.

"I got a little bit of sleep. I'll be fine. Promise." I tried to brush off, knowing there was a small chance of her letting it go. She sighed but gave me a tight hug.

With a to-go cup of coffee and holding my boyfriends hand, we made it to class on time. Narrowly avoiding Iida lecturing us to get there as soon as possible.

"Tsukare! Don't think I forgot you!" Iida announced as he came back in. "I see those dark circles! Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"Hundred percent." I responded sarcastically, walking Izuku walk in nervously. "Hey, Zuku! Over here!" I called him over, hoping to get him away from Aoyama and it thankfully worked.

Class dragged by, I sat mostly still inattentive and mostly trying to stay awake.

"Woah, look at this. Mount Lady teamed up with Edgeshot! And Kamui Woods!" Denki exclaimed between classes while we all grabbed our hero costume cases, showing me his phone excitedly.

"Woah, really? I wonder what for." I responded.

"I think they're going by 'Team Lurkers'. I saw it mentioned in the news earlier." Jirou commented.

"There sure are a bunch of heroes teaming up these days." Denki said excitedly.

"Once we're pros, we should do some team-ups too!" Mina exclaimed. "Here's an idea!" She turned to Uraraka as they started walking out.

I reached up and grabbed my suit from the wall, waiting for my brother and Denki to grab theirs. I fidgeted with my hearing aids and after some debate, opted to take them out, a migraine hitting me like a brick wall.

Hey, you don't look so good.

I'm gonna be sick. I barely got out before walking over to the trash can and upchucking the bit of toast I had this morning.

I felt someone start rubbing my back and I could tell from the touch alone it was my boyfriend. I held my head in my hands as the pain started to travel, I haven't had one hit me this hard and this fast in a while. After a moment, I felt my brother start rubbing my back and helping me move, probably telling everyone he was taking me to Recovery Girl.

We walked the familiar path, I was barely coherent enough to properly walk with the pain radiating in my skull. I was soon placed on the cot, a few muffled voices talking around me but even that was excruciating and nauseating.

Migraine. Puked everything up, no gradual start. One of the worst ones I've had in a while. Pains an 8.

I managed to sign with my shaky hands. A cool, wet cloth was placed on my forehead and over my eyes, instantly relieving some of my pain. I let out a sigh of relief and held my head.

Thank you.

I sat there for about twenty minutes before I felt Chiyo tap my hand, placing something in a wrapper, presumably a granola bar, in my palm. Hesitantly, I ate it, knowing if I wanted to take my migraine meds, I would need something in my system. Another ten minutes of precautionary waiting while nursing a water bottle. My pain dropping down to maybe a 7 while I deprived half of my senses. Then I felt her place the medicine in my hand, I quickly took the pills that I knew were white and oblong.

Then the true waiting game started.

How long these would take to kick in.

I let my shoulders slowly relax, uncaring about whoever might come in. It was a moment of peace and quite, the pain being the only thing tethering me to the earth. I didn't know how much time had passed before I peaked through the cloth long enough to find a bin, thankfully she sat one within arms reach of me, to once again, let the contents of my stomach escape. She came over and rubbed my back gently before taking the bowl.

A few more minutes ticked by and I felt someone tapping my hand before gingerly lifting the cloth off my eyes. The blinds were drawn shut and all of the lights were off, making it mildly tolerable in comparison to how I felt in the classroom. Dad sat beside me, looking at me with heavy concern.

I love you, but you look like shit.

Feel like it too.

I was talking to the old lady. She thinks that with everything that's been going on and the lack of sleep you've been getting triggered it to be substantially worse and not give you any warnings.

I figured that was why. It's been a while since I've thrown up from one of these or it got to be this bad. Usually I'm pretty good with a preemptive strike to get rid of them.

You usually are. However this isn't the usual.

I know. I'm worried. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to figure out a way to take all of the heat off myself but still get my point across. I'm not doing as okay as I thought I would be. But I'm also worried about you and Pops and Toshi. I can see how much stuff is effecting each of you. And we all have our own stuff going on too.

We'll talk more about it later when you're not coming down from a migraine.

Okay.

You didn't sleep last night.

I couldn't sleep. Just wasn't able to.

Make sure you try and get a few hours in tonight.

I'll try.

He nodded and ruffled my hair, flipping the cloth over to the cool side after a moment and just sat with me.

Dad?

Yes, Onryo?

I'm scared.

How come?

I'm not doing okay. If it's bad enough that I can admit it, somethings wrong.

It means you've reached your breaking point and you know you need help.

That scares me.

I sat up a bit when I saw movement in the corner of my eye, Yoru walking in sheepishly.

"Hey, kiddo. How ya feeling?" He asked as he made his way over.

"Getting better. What are you doing here? Did we have ultimate move stuff today?" I asked softly, the reverberation of my own voice felt painful. However it still wasn't as bad as earlier.

"Yeah. I was talking to your Dad. We figured that me and you could do some one on one training in the TDL with him to supervise." He offered and I nodded.

"Yeah. That sounds good." I mumbled, staving off the nausea resonating in my core. "Do you think Hitoshi can join us? Give you more of a challenge?"

"Sure. Let me know when you want to meet there for training, kid." I nodded and shut my eyes, slowly laying my head back again. Dad stayed with me for a little bit longer before going back to the class.

It took almost three hours for it to subside, but I was more relieved than anything that it didn't last longer like some of them. My brother met up with me at Recovery Girls office, bringing me a spare change of clothes to train in and texted Yoru for me. I stuffed my uniform in my bag, now adorning a black tank top and grey sweats and walking with my brother to the TDL. Denki joining us to watch, claiming that he wanted to see me spar since he hasn't in a while.

"You kids ready?" Yoru asked cockily and I nodded. "What are we working on today?"

"I want to work on my control with my capture weapon." Hitoshi said, making Yoru raise an eyebrow.

"Well as you know, we're supposed to be working on Ultimate Moves." He tried to push and I could see the irk mark forming on Toshi's forehead.

"I don't have one. I didn't work on any today either. I don't want to be a limelight hero, I'm going for underground. Like our Dad. They don't have ultimate moves that they call out." He responded.

"Fine. Yeah, work on control. I'm sure you could use it." Yoru said in a condescending, drawled out tone. My brother raised an eyebrow in defiance and sent out his capture weapon before the hero could react, having him trapped in his spot and firmly secured before he could think. "Shit, you sure are Eraser's kid. Got the same look on your face and everything." He sighed as he tried to squirm out of the cloth bindings while Denki stifled his chuckles from beside our Dad. "Okay, I yield, you can let me go now." The cloth suddenly fell limp and Hitoshi brought it back. "You're almost on Eraser's level with that thing. Okay then, Onryo, why do you want to work on today?"

"I want to work on using my Pin Point Accuracy without my glasses, in case anything happens where they might break or I can't use them." I said plainly, still recovering from the migraine.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll give you some vines since Cementoss isn't here to build you any walls." I nodded and got myself ready. He sent out a few vines and I found the spot, mumbling the name of the move under my breath. I cut the vine in half, but I was off by about two yards, a crack forming in the ground. "Damn. Seems like you picked up in it quick." I shook my head and crouched down.

"No. I was off about two yards from where I was aiming." I muttered, glaring at the dismembered vine.

"It's your first time really trying without your glasses. It's gonna take time." I sighed but nodded, knowing Yoru was right.

He sent out another string of vines, the two of us repeating the process for nearly forty minutes before I got frustrated and sat down.

"Why can't I get it?" I angrily mumbled at the ground. I've done this dozens of time in training, why couldn't I get it now.

"You have a mental block. If it gets any worse, you'll end up stunting how you use it altogether." I heard Dad say from across the gym. "Don't tell me you don't. I know you do. I've been able to see it for a few days now. We need to stop it before it gets worse. Break that wall in your path." I let out a huff of air and brought myself back into a crouch.

"Imagine it's like a sword making contact. You know your aim, you know where it'll land on the path it's swinging." Yoru suggested and I mulled it over, clearly getting lost in my head.

"Onryo." I heard Dad say firmly and I looked up to meet his eye. "Find a way to stop this block. What do you need to do?" I ran a hand through my dampened curls and thought on it.

"Yoru, hand to hand with quirks randomly thrown in." I finally said, feeling like I was at a last stitch effort.

"Fine by me." He said with a smirk. I stood up fully and stepped closer to him, waiting for him to make the first move.

He led with a kick that I easily rolled under, catching him off guard when I grabbed his ankle and brought him down. He rolled to the side and got back up, sending a punch my way. I blocked, ducking and weaving while still sending out blows. We each landed a few hits here and there, most of the time we dodged and blocked.

"Your Dad taught you well." He stated casually.

"I know." I replied, not allowing myself to get distracted. I sent a punch, knowing fully well he would catch it and he did. I took the distraction I made to send a kick to his side, watching him sputter.

"What? Showing off for blondie?" He asked through a wheezed breath.

"Not at all." I said before he went to send another hit. We went back and forth again for a few minutes until he tried to pull the same move on me. I caught his fist in my hand, and then his leg, pinning it to my side. I meticulously slid my foot behind his planted one and kicked back on his heel, pushing his hand backwards at the same time to make him fall. "That was showing off." I breathed out, watching as he coughed harshly.

"Again." I heard Dad say from across the gym. "You didn't use any quirks, go again." I pinched the bridge of my nose and nodded, as frustrated as I was, I knew why he was doing this and I would thank him later.

So we sparred. We sparred eleven times. Only once out of those did I use my quirk briefly while Yoru used his plenty. Then it happened. That magical movie-esque moment. I was in the air, Yoru taking advantage over a moment and flinging me up with a vine. I originally planned to come down with a kick, until my window of opportunity struck. He was sending a vine straight up at me and I clearly said the name of my move, taking Yoru's advice with the sword analogy and watched as the vine split almost exactly where I intended, only a few inches off. I landed in a small crouch, rolling forward to lessen the blow of the fall and straight into his ankles. He fell back and tapped the ground twice before letting his limbs flop.

"Dad! I did it!" I exclaimed, Toshi running over and giving me a hug.

"Shit, I haven't gone hand to hand like that in a while, you're out here making me look like a rookie, squirt." Yoru said. I laughed off his comment and walked over to him, reaching out a hand and pulling him up. "And where the fuck did these muscles come from? You're a teenager."

"A teenager in a superhuman society with pro heroes for parents." I shot back.

"I'm wiped out after that." He grumbled. "Hey, I'll see you next week, right?" I groaned dramatically and flung my head back.

"Yeah. And I have a surprise for you." I told him, watching him grow very confused very fast.

"It's your birthday. Shouldn't you be the one getting a surprise?"

"Trust me. You'll like this surprise." I told him. He shrugged his shoulders but nodded. He gave me an awkward side hug before leaving and I flopped onto my brother. "Hey, Toshi. I never got to ask you, but why were you giving him the evil eye during dinner a while back...?" My words trailed off as a certain rock caught my attention. "Dad?" I asked in a whisper as I slowly walked closer to the words written in french, engraved into a rock.

"Onryo? What's the matter?" He asked and I slowly sat down.

We need to talk alone. Maybe get Nedzu in here too.

"I need to have a word with Onryo, alone." He said firmly, waiting for Hitoshi and Denki to leave before crouching next to me. "Onryo?" He asked again.

"Call Nedzu." I mumbled, staring at the words in shock.

"What does it say?" Nedzu asked gently, staring at the rock beside me, Dad on my other side.

"Il faut se méfier de l'eau qui dort." I read off the rock. "Beware the water that sleeps or there is no worse water than sleeping water. Layman's terms, still waters may run deep." I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. "This isn't good." I whispered.

"It's a good thing you know french." Dad commented but I shook my head.

"Aoyama wrote this. He's the only other one in the class that knows the language. Or would be able to engrave it in a rock." I licked my lips nervously. "So much for sleeping tonight. It's a warning."

"A warning?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, it basically means it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for, a wolf in sheep's clothing situation." I confirmed. "That's the old meaning, at least. It's a proverb stemming from Latin, now it's usually used for something about placidity hiding a passionate or subtle nature. It used to refer to something else though, can't remember what exactly." I explained. "I'm worried."

"Understandably so. But try not to dwell on it." Nedzu told me. "We're on top of this and will look into why he wrote this." I nodded slightly but still stared at the words, racking my brain for what the old meaning was. "Tsukare. Don't stress yourself over it. We'll figure this out."

"I'm trying to remember what it was. Like, specifically. The synopsis was a warning. Similar to sleep with one eye open, know your enemy, everyone is a suspect no matter how they appear type thing. I just, I can't remember what it was commonly referenced to." Dad looked at me confused for a minute.

"You never fail to surprise me, but when did you learn about that?" He asked as he turned back to the french engraving.

"Sometime in junior high when I was learning french and spanish. Had a mental block on them for a few weeks, so I figured if I studied stuff about latin since it's the base language, it'd come easier. Didn't work, but read some cool stuff." I mumbled almost inaudibly, racking my brain for what the hell I had read.

"You're going to give yourself an aneurysm if you keep stressing over it." Dad stated in his typical dry sarcasm. I rolled my eyes but stared at it with just as much intensity. "You're not sitting here all night." He told me with no room for argument. "Go back to the dorms and get changed, you're staying the night with your Pops and I."

"I hate to come off as nosy, but is everything alright, Shouta?" Nedzu asked and I chuckled under my breath.

"No disrespect, but you loving being nosy. You have an intelligence quirk, it's what you live for." I told him. "I didn't sleep last night, so he probably wants me to stay the night so I actually sleep and he can erase my quirk if I have another nightmare where I wake up screaming."

"You'd be right." Dad confirmed and I nodded. "So go get changed." I groaned and stood up, taking my time to get back to the dorms.

"Tsukababes! Oh em gee!!" I rolled my eyes and checked my phone as I felt it buzz.

From Pikachu <;3: You look hot in grey sweats

I felt my face light up a bright red and I shoved my phone in my pocket.

"I-I'm gonna go change." I stumbled over my words, earning a few giggles from Mina and a smirk from my boyfriend. My brother looked confused and I saw Aoyama trying to give Izuku more cheese.

I rushed around my room haphazardly as I changed into a baggy long sleeve and a pair of basketball shorts. I tossed my hearing aids on the charger and grabbed my laptop, putting it in its case before heading back downstairs. I set it on one of the tables and wrapped my arms around my boyfriends waist while he was brushing his teeth in the commons. He leaned back into me and tapped on my wrist, pointing towards Mina.

"Tsukababes! What happened to your leg?!" I could hear the very faint mumbling of her yell, clearly shocked. I followed her gaze down to my calf and realized what scar she was talking about.

"That's when Tsukare was a total badass during the licensing exams and ran a lady out of a collapsing building." Jirou added, coming up behind Mina and resting her forearms on her shoulders.

Izu. What happened?

We talked everything out and we're friends now! He said that he could realize my body wasn't made for my quirk, and he's just like me with his. His body doesn't have the right constitution for it either and he said he wanted to comfort me and let me know I wasn't alone.

I looked at Aoyama, analyzing him. I didn't trust him.

Hey, what happened?

Something's off about him.

Well, yeah, he's Aoyama. He sparkles, like, literally.

Not that, it's something else. I don't trust him.

Do you want me to not be friends with him?

I'm not saying that, you can be friends with whoever you'd like. I'm just saying my truth on it, I don't trust him.

Izuku nodded and Denki tapped my arm again. I dropped my arms and watched him walk to the bathroom before coming back without a tooth brush.

"Everything okay? Your Dad kinda rushed us out of there." He asked as he got closer to me.

"Yeah. Yeah, he uh, wanted to talk to me about my grades. He was worried that they're going to start slipping because of everything." My stomach churned as I lied through my teeth to him. He looked at me in dismay and I felt even worse. "I'm sleeping at my parents tonight, my Dad is basically forcing me to. But I'll text you, okay?" He nodded a little and looked sad. I gently cupped his face and pressed my lips to his, hoping to convey my sincerity and trust through a small action.

"Okay." He mumbled and pressed another kiss to my lips. I grabbed my laptop and saw my brother fake gagging in the corner before following me out the door.

To Pikachu <;3: I'm sorry for lying, I just didn't want our friends to interrogate me if I said what actually happened or if I said I'll tell you later

From Pikachu <;3: You had me really worried for a minute, it's not like you to lie :(

From Pikachu <;3: So what did your Dad want to talk to you about?

To Pikachu <;3: Denki, I trust you so much, and the reason I'm not telling you isn't because I don't trust you or anything like that

To Pikachu <;3: It's just that, right now, I have no idea whether or not I'm even allowed to talk about it

To Pikachu <;3: I pinky promise, I trust you, I just need time to get back to you with an answer because it's in such a weird grey area that I don't know how much I can say

From Pikachu <;3: I trust you, too, so you can get back to me on it whenever you can

From Pikachu <;3: I see why you didn't say something else though, Mina would've pestered you until the end of time

To Pikachu <;3: Exactly

I tucked my phone away and took off my shoes after walking through the door to my parents place, my brother hot on my trail.

"Can someone please fill me in on what happened earlier? Because now I'm even more fucking confused." My brother said immediately, clearly frustrated as he signed messily.

"Woah, back it up, what happened?" Pops asked calmly, trying his hardest to be the voice of reason.

"I don't know, first Onryo short circuited after training, then Dad sent me and Kaminari out of the TDL, Onryo told Izuku he doesn't trust Aoyama and then I watched him lie to Kaminari!" He said, clearly exasperated.

"Okay, let's sit down in the living room while we wait for your Dad. Sleepy head's getting out of the shower." Pops said soothingly, resting his hands on Toshi's biceps. My brother plopped his head on his chest and let out a full body sigh. "But why did you lie to Kaminari? Is something wrong?" Pops asked while looking at me.

"Because I didn't know how much I was allowed to tell him or anyone so I said Dad wanted to talk to me cause he was concerned about my grades slipping after everything that's happened and I didn't wanna say I would talk about it later cause I knew Mina would be relentless about asking what happened and I know it comes from a place of love but I didn't want to have her trying to figure it out." I explained, my words rushed and coming out in one breath. "I already texted Denki apologizing and explained that I can't talk about it right now cause I don't know how much I can even say and explained my reasoning and he said he understood and he doesn't fault me for how I handled it."

"Wow, I gotta say I'm not used to my teenagers acting like teenagers. So this is new and refreshing. You probably did the right thing, not the lying part, but communicating to him why you did." I nodded and plopped my head on Hitoshi's back.

1 note · View note

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 89

Warnings: More therapyyyy Word count: 2994

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 88 | Volt 90

The next day classes dragged on and on, my boyfriend even short circuiting during Uncle Ecto's math class and saying 'start by carrying the yay'. Then before we left for the cafeteria, I saw Aoyama putting cheese into Midoriya's mouth.

I watched closely for a minute to make sure he wouldn't try anything else, but once I saw Iida had it under control, I went to the cafeteria. Denki saved a spot for me beside him, my brother and Kiri sat across from us, Bakugou on the other side of the red head. Sero sat on Denki's other side followed by Mina.

Where's Izuku?

He got trapped talking to Aoyama. He should be here soon if you want to sit with everyone else.

I'd rather sit with you today. Bro talk later?

Bro talk later.

Bakugou watched annoyed, glaring as he aggressively ate his food. Most of the table talked comfortably, bouncing words back and forth, but I couldn't keep up. Everything felt muddled. Denki slowly moved his hand into my thigh, his palm resting up and allowed me to fidget with his fingers.

I glanced at Kirishima and saw him blushing wildly and stammering on and off for the right words. Sero was concealing one of his smirks and Mina looked proud of herself.

Poor Kiri. He got set up.

I leaned around my boyfriend and flicked Hanta, giving him a pointed look. He gave me a guilty smile in turn, knowing he had been caught. My brother threw a grain of rice from his lunch at me.

What's going on?

I can't say anything, I promised I'd keep my mouth shut. I'm sorry.

He rolled his eyes but accepted the answer, knowing how much I took privacy seriously.

"Everything okay?" Denki mumbled into my ear and I nodded, scooching a little closer to him.

"Yeah, might have to go code yellow on one of our friends." I said jokingly, loud enough for Sero to hear and make him pale.

"Oh gods." He laughed out, oblivious to what all had happened.

"You two." I said in the commons at almost midnight, pointing at Mina and Sero. The group of us hanging out since none of us could seem to get some sleep.

"Who? Us?" Mina asked.

"Whatever for?" Sero said with just as much sarcasm, a hand splayed on his chest.

"Upstairs. Now." Sero rubbed his elbows nervously and took the walk of shame up to his room, Mina following behind him while I was in the back. They awkwardly sat down on the bed and stared at the ground. "Why would you two put him in that situation?" I asked.

"Look, it's not as bad as you thoug-"

"Cállate." I said firmly, watching Sero's eyes widen. "I will go full hispanic mother on you right now, he was extremely uncomfortable back there." I said defensively.

"Okay, so, Ei told us that he was confused about his feelings between Bakubabes and Toshibabes, so we figured a nudge in the right direction would help." Mina explained, going on for another fifteen minutes to explain her elaborate plan that she thought of.

"I'm not even going to ask what you just called my brother. The point is, is that Kirishima was so clearly uncomfortable back there. This is something he needs to figure out on his own, I understand where you both were coming from, and I know you both wanted to help, but when it's something like that you need to talk to him first." I explained.

"But we did the same thing with you and Kami." Mina pouted.

"That was different. I already knew what my feelings towards Denks was. You knew my feelings towards him. Everyone basically knew except him somehow. Kirishima is still trying to figure out his feelings and I know you like to get involved with people's love lives. I understand that, but you also need to know when to step back, or at least keep me in the loop so I can help you take a step back." I told her. She slowly nodded.

"I'm sorry." She said softly.

"You need to apologize to Kirishima. And you." Hanta looked at me with wide eyes and sat completely still. "Why?"

"Mina talked me into it." He said solemnly. "She just wanted to help Kiri, so I agreed and asked Shinsou to sit with us at lunch when we saw Midoriya wasn't there yet."

"And you both are very well aware that my brother likes Izuku." I said firmly, stating the clear as day fact. "You also know that my brother and I are both fairly antisocial. We have our comfort people. Yes, all of you have become my comfort people in one sense or another, but for Toshi, outside of family, his main comfort person is Izuku. And I would be willing to bet that he's going to ask me if you guys were messing with him at lunch."

"I'm sorry for not thinking things through." Hanta said softly. "And I'll make sure to apologize to Kirishima."

"Thank you. Now who the hell is blowing up my phone after midnight?" I sighed, taking my phone out of my pocket, fully prepared to see a multitude of texts from my family, or Kiri and Denki texting in the group chat to figure out if this was a true code yellow or if I was bluffing earlier. Instead, I saw multiple messages from Izuku.

From Rayquaza: 911

From Rayquaza: Emergency

From Rayquaza: I'm freaking out and I need you to come to my dorm

From Rayquaza: I texted Hitoshi too

From Rayquaza: I feel like I'm going crazy

"Can one of you tell Denki I'll meet him in his room in a little while? I have to go to Izuku's room." I told them before ducking out of the room. My brother was about to step into the elevator until he saw me running towards him. "Do you know what happened?"

"No, I was hoping you would." He said, the both of us impatiently waiting for the elevator to hit floor two. We rushed to his room and let ourselves in to find him anxiously pacing with his hands in his hair.

"Hey, what happened?" I asked him softly as I turned on his All Might lamp.

I think Aoyama was on my balcony. I don't know. What if I imagined it? If it was him I don't want him listening in.

"Okay, let's go to my room. Yeah?" He nodded and followed us over one door to help ease his racing mind. "Okay, walk us through it, what happened?"

"I've been having a hard time sleeping and I heard something on my balcony. I could hear footsteps so I pretended to be sleeping just in case. A- And I opened my eyes just a little bit to look in my mirror so I could see who it was and I saw Aoyama on my balcony just staring at me. I waited for him to leave before texting you and he left a message on my balcony in cheese. It said 'I know' but I don't know what that could even be about and what if I just imagined it? What if it didn't really happen?" He rushed out and I was relieved that I turned on my light so I could read his lips.

"Breathe. If you say you saw him then we believe you." Hitoshi said slowly, trying to help ground him a little more.

"Izuku?" His head shot towards me and the panic in his eyes made my chest contract. "When was the last time you properly slept?"

"I don't know. Not since the raid." I nodded and kept my demeanor soft so he would feel more relaxed.

"Okay. Look, I believe you. Hitoshi believes you. We don't think you were imagining anything. I want you to sleep in Hitoshi's room tonight, so you're less freaked out and you get a little more sleep. I promise it'll help. It will clear your head a bit for when you think about it in the morning and run through what happened ten more times. Okay?" I asked softly.

"Okay. Yeah, yeah that makes sense. I'm not crazy."

"You're not crazy. You've always been extremely observant and tactical, it wasn't a dream, it wasn't imagined. If you say it happened, then it happened." He nodded along to my words, and I watched the weight slowly come off of his shoulders.

"It happened. I'm not crazy. He is. He was on my balcony and left a message in cheese." He mumbled, starting to relax a bit.

"It happened." Hitoshi echoed to him. "Let's go to my room." He followed with softly.

The two slowly walked out and I got changed into something that wasn't starting to mess with my sensory issues. A pair of basketball shorts and no shirt. I texted my boyfriend and waited patiently for him to respond before heading to his room. As soon as he saw me, he pulled me into a hug and not so subtly checked me out.

"Everything okay with Midoriya?" He asked, making sure he was in my line of sight.

"Yeah, he's sleeping in Hitoshi's room tonight." I told him, resting my head on his shoulder a little. One of his hands came up and combed through my hair, making my entire body relax almost immediately. He slowly guided me over to his bed and we sat down, my head laying on his shoulder still.

"Do you wanna put anything on to watch?" He asked, grabbing my attention before talking.

"Sure. Anything in particular you wanna watch?" He thought about it for a moment, but half shrugged. I slowly lifted my head and watched as he grabbed his laptop, pulling up a streaming service and let me get comfortable with him.

I laid down next to him and curled into his side a bit, trying my hardest to fight any walls my brain had reinforced in the last week. He scrolled through the different movies until we both agreed on one and he immediately clicked the subtitles button.

"Can you see?" He asked and I nodded a little. "Hey, you okay?" He asked and I nodded again. He paused the movie and looked at me. "What's going on babe?"

"It's nothing, just dumb stuff." I mumbled, not daring to look him in the eye.

"Even if you think it's dumb, I wanna hear about it." He told me earnestly. I slowly started drawing shapes on his stomach, hoping to distract my racing heart for a minute.

"Just in a depressive episode." I mumbled, not used to talking about my emotions with him.

"I had a feeling, I just didn't want to say anything and put you on the spot after everything that happened with the raid." He told gently, his eyes trailing to my hand that was still tracing shapes on his abdomen, growing visibly confused when I stopped.

"Recovery Girl also said that the raid was a major setback for me." I managed to get out and he let me take my time. "Uh, th-this is how I used to act when I was a kid."

"What do you mean?" I chewed on my bottom lip nervously, kicking myself mentally for opening my mouth.

"My Pops told you how when I was a kid, I was really quiet and stuff." He moved his hand towards mine gingerly, playing with my fingertips. "I was always scared of using my quirk cause I was told it hurt people, so I avoided talking." I explained, looking at the wall as I spoke. I looked back up at him hesitantly, not knowing how he might react.

"You're scared you're going to hurt me?" I slowly nodded against his chest. "Ryo, you won't hurt me. Especially not on purpose."

"But I already did. And I hurt Izuku. I don't want to hurt you again." I said, practically pleading with him.

"Onryo." He mumbled and I curled into him a little more.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm really trying to get past this mental block. I promise." His face softened and he placed a kiss on top of my head.

"I know you are. You don't need to apologize for struggling." I let my body relax a bit and sink into his side fully, I placed a chaste kiss to his abdomen instead of reaching up.

A few times through out the movie I let my eyes fall shut, but after a few minutes my body always jolted back awake until I gave up on sleep. I sat up a little more and gave him a kiss on the cheek, his sleep filled eyes looking at me confused.

"Can you stay?" He asked in what I could only imagine being a groggy voice.

"I'll stay. Do you wanna get comfy?" I asked him and he nodded. After a moment, he had his face buried in my stomach and his legs tangled with mine. His right hand came up and he sleepily starting tracing some of my scars and for once, I didn't let myself be scared about what he thought.

What's this one from?

He showed me what he typed on his phone before pointing to the thick on on my side just beneath my ribs.

"Those ones are from the Nomu in Hosu." I told him softly. He tapped another one and I looked at it. "That one I think was from one of my foster homes." He tapped a third one and as soon as I saw it I started laughing a little. "That one actually has a bit of a story. I tried to jump off a swing." I could almost feel the confused expression on his face. "I was about nine or ten and living with my Dad's. Toshi and I were at the play ground and I got really high on the swings, so I jumped off without thinking cause it was fun. I landed a little funny and rolled my ankle. Unbeknownst to us, one of the stakes in the wall of the platform was sticking up and pointed and I rolled right into it. My Pops was freaking out, Toshi looked like he saw a ghost and it resulted in a day trip to the hospital." He softly laughed, his eyes finally starting to flutter shut all the way. "Good night, baby." I whispered, moving my hand up to play with his hair. Eventually my phone buzzed quite some time later, and my guess was correct that it was Hitoshi texting me.

From Espeon: Bro talk?

To Espeon: Bro talk, what's going on?

From Espeon: What was that about in lunch? Were our friends messing with me or am I just not getting their humor.

To Espeon: No they weren't messing with you, it's something I can't get into because I promised I wouldn't and it's not my place to anyways, but I promise they weren't messing with you

From Espeon: You're sure?

To Espeon: I'm sure

To Espeon: What else is going on?

From Espeon: My depressions been getting worse again.

To Espeon: When did it start getting worse?

From Espeon: Technically a month ago, but more recently in the past few days and I don't think stressing about my birth family is helping. I've been thinking about talking to Dad and Pops about trying antidepressants.

To Espeon: Why didn't you say anything sooner?

From Espeon: I guess part of it is the same reason you don't say anything. Worrying about putting more on their plate. But the other part is it's not a constant. I can handle a depressive episode that lasts a week. So I just tried to ignore it and carry on with life because it's nothing new. But then it started getting worse and I'm at the point where I know I need more help and if I ignore it anymore then it'll only get worse.

To Espeon: If you think medication will help regulate it, then I say go for it. Dad and Pops are going to ask a million questions though, so just be prepared for that, and you know I'm always here if you need someone

From Espeon: You're with Kaminari a lot of the time now.

To Espeon: Shinsou Hitoshi

From Espeon: Oh shit.

To Espeon: I don't give a singular fuck. I don't care who I am with in the moment, whether it be Denki, Dad, our friends, Nedzu, whoever. If you text me saying you need me, I'm coming to wherever the fuck you are to help you. Yknow why? Because you're my brother. You're my family. I'm always gonna have your back. And if our friends or my boyfriend gets bent out of shape because I'm there for my brother, then that's a separate issue and conversation I get to have with that person.

From Espeon: Thanks man.

To Espeon: Now who the fuck do I have to beat up that made you think I wouldn't be there for you because I have a boyfriend?

From Espeon: My overthinking brain.

To Espeon: I will curb stomp that small portion of your brain so that doesn't happen anymore

From Espeon: I think that would kill me.

To Espeon: Never mind then. Antidepressants it is.

From Espeon: Is there anything I should expect with antidepressants?

To Espeon: Be prepared for one or two of them not to work and for your body to slowly build a tolerance to them once you find the one that does work

From Espeon: That sounds somewhat manageable.

To Espeon: For the most part it is, but you have to be completely honest during your med checks and you have to let someone know immediately if you're getting any bad side effects.

From Espeon: Fuck.

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 88

Warnings: The true start of big brother Tsukare!!!! Mini therapy session Word count: 3785

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 87 | Volt 89

The next few days passed by in a blur with little to no sleep and multiple therapy appointments. Everyone involved in the raid was invited to Nighteyes funeral. It was a quiet and solemn service, but Mirio tried his best to hold himself together. And I admire him for that.

The work studies ended up being put on hold after the raid.

As upset as a lot of us were, we understood why and couldn't argue the facts. It was a large danger that none of us as students should have been a part of.

But if I was given the opportunity to save Eri again, I would do it without any hesitation. Then the day after the service, Eri pulled out of her fever and was moved out of a stricter quarantine.

"Onryo." Dad said at the end of class on Saturday, calling me over to his desk. "How would you feel about visiting Eri?" He asked softly.

"Yes, absolutely. When are we going?"

"We can leave now." I nodded excitedly and gave Denki a quick hug and told Toshi I would see him later before following my Dad to his car. "Eri isn't supposed to be having any visitors. I was able to sway the hospital staff on bringing you since I believe it might cheer her up and because I will be there to nullify her quirk if she loses control."

"Do we know how her quirk works yet?" I asked him as I watched the buildings pass by.

"It's indicated by the horn on her head. It seems to power quirk. The larger it is, the more strength her quirk has. Right now, it's about the size of a small bump. She was also transferred to a closer hospital, that way if something does go wrong with her quirk, I can be there sooner." I nodded and sat contently, waiting for us to arrive. "How much sleep did you get last night?" He asked out of nowhere. I looked down at my lap awkwardly, knowing he would be worried no matter what.

"A few hours maybe?" I hesitantly responded.

"Nightmares again?" I nodded and turned my head towards the window. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked softly.

"Just wish they would stop." I mumbled. "Wednesday night was a major setback."

"I know." He sighed. "You've been acting a lot different, and you haven't been talking as much." I licked my lips awkwardly, not knowing how to get around this.

"I've just been tired." I tried to brush off, not wanting to concern him anymore.

"That's expected. You haven't been sleeping much." I nodded a little and fiddled with my fingers.

"Hey, Dad?" I started, cursing myself for being so anxious to ask him something so menial. "F-For uh, my birthday dinner next week, I invited Nakami and wanted to see if that was okay."

"You invited someone?" He asked rhetorically, seemingly shocked. "Wow, I'm impressed. I wasn't really expecting that. I don't see why not, I'll make sure Nedzu knows he's coming so he doesn't get shut out at the entrance." I nodded a little and got excited as the hospital came into view, a sentence I never thought would apply to me.

We got checked in and got our visitor passes, walked up to the second floor and I stopped at a nurse's station.

"Hi, uh, sorry I just have a quick question." I said meekly, the nurse turning to me with a soft smile. "I'm here with Eraser Head to visit Eri and I was wondering if you had any spare coloring sheets and crayons, that way she could have something to do."

"Of course, honey." She hummed and passed me a small stack of sheets with different pictures and a few paper cups with crayons.

I followed the other nurse into her room and was given the rundown of do's and don'ts.

"Eri? You have a visitor." The nurse said, piquing the girls interest. I slowly walked in and gave her small smile.

"Hi, Eri. It's good to see you again." I told her softly.

"Hi." She mumbled.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her gently, watching out of the corner of my eye as the nurse quietly left.

"I'm okay." She said nervously.

"Doctors are a little scary, huh?" She nodded slowly. "Is it okay if I sit?" I asked her.

"Yeah." I slowly sat on the edge of her bed.

"I brought something for us to do." I told her softly.

"What did you bring?" She fearfully asked and I showed her a few of the pictures and the crayons.

"I figured you would be a little bored, so I thought we could color together." I told her cheerfully and watched as she perked up a little bit. Slowly, I pulled the bedside tray around and set the stuff between us. "Go ahead and pick a picture you want to color." I told her, knowing she might need a bit of guidance still.

We colored in a comfortable silence for a bit until I saw her looking at me confused.

"What's your name? I know the one who got really hurt is Lemillion, but I don't know what to call you." She timidly confessed.

"So my hero name is Sonus, but my given name is Onryo." I told her happily, hoping to ease any of her fears even a little.

"Onryo?" She asked, testing it out on her tongue as she got used to it. "That's a nice name."

"Thank you, Eri. You have a very nice name too." I told her.

"Onryo?" She started, gripping her crayon tighter.

"Yeah, Eri?"

"Thank you, for helping Lemillion and for getting me out of there." My face softened a bit, and I gave her a warm smile.

"You're welcome. I'm just glad you're safe now."

"Is Chisaki coming back to get me?" She asked my in a wobbly voice.

"No honey, he's not coming to get you. And he'll never be able to hurt you again." I explained, watching her slowly process it.

"I'm scared." She weakly told me, and I looked at her softly.

"What has you scared?" She rolled her lips together nervously.

"I don't like it here... And I don't want to hurt you." Her watery red eyes looked up at me and I felt my stomach twist.

"I know, I don't like hospitals either. They're kinda scary." I told her gently.

"They scare you too?" I nodded a little.

"Yeah, they give me the heebie jeebies." I told her, watching her breathe out a semblance of a laugh. "But then I realized that the nice people here just want to help me, and it didn't feel so scary anymore." She slowly nodded. "And you won't hurt me. But if you do, I know you don't mean to, and it was an accident. I've accidentally used my quirk and hurt people a lot of times when I was your age, it's part of learning. And do you want to know the amazing thing?" I asked her, watching her eyes light up a little bit. "When you do start learning how to control your quirk, you'll have a pretty great teacher."

"Really?" She asked and I happily nodded.

"Yep!" She nodded along and continued coloring. Slowly, after about twenty minutes, one of her tiny, cold hands rested on top of my free one. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, not moving or saying anything. I just let her be comfortable.

"You're really warm." Eri ended up mumbling.

"I get told that a lot. Hospitals are always so cold, and I don't understand why." I told her and she nodded mindlessly. "Are you cold?" I asked her, testing the waters on how much she would open up.

"Yeah." She mumbled cautiously.

"Well, I have an idea. I will be right back." She slowly nodded and watched me walk out of her room to the hallway. "Could I get two blankets, please?" I asked the nurse who stood watching. She shrugged her shoulders but went to the nearest supplies closet and grabbed two blankets. "Thanks." I said before walking back into the room. Eri looked at me curiously and slowly sat down her crayon. "Here is your new blanket." I said dramatically, she slowly grabbed it and set it on her lap. I took my own and wrapped it around my shoulders like a mini cocoon, along with flipping part of it over my head. Eri curiously followed suit, managing to stick out one of her tiny, bandaged arms to keep coloring. "Better?"

"It is, thank you."

The two of us relaxed and chatted a bit while coloring more pictures over the next hour or two, she slowly started letting her guard down around me and I tried my best to contain my excitement. I watched as she tensed up, her head snapping towards the door, and I assumed someone knocked lightly. I looked where she was and saw a different nurse walk in, a lean man with medium brown hair that was neatly trimmed but still grown out a little bit. I felt Eri retract a little and curl in on herself, I stole a glance at her and saw her cherry red eyes wide with fear. I slowly stood up, only stopping when I felt her small hand grip mine.

"Please don't go." She whispered, lip reading being my saving grace since it was so quiet, I couldn't hear her.

"I'm not leaving. I'm just going to talk to the nice doctor out in the hall and I will be right back, okay?" She gave me a shaky nod and I sent the man a look, reluctantly he followed me out of the room.

"Mind if I ask why the hell you aren't letting me do my job?" He asked me, arms crossed over his chest.

"Because seeing you almost sent her into a panic." The doctor scoffed and looked down at me, which wasn't hard for him to do seeing as he was a little taller than my Dad.

"Look, I don't need a kid telling me how to do my job." He went to walk past me but I stepped in front of him.

"You're, what? 25? 26 years old? I doubt you've dealt with an abuse case or someone, let alone a small child with PTSD this severe." I saw my Dad standing a fair distance away incase he needed to step in.

"Kid, I saw you on the news, I get this might be personal to you, but that doesn't mean you know more than I do." He bit out.

"I think it does. I'm sorry, were you slapped around? Beaten until you blacked out? Insulted for any tiny inconvenience? Tossed around like a volleyball from home to home?" He paused as he started taking in my words. "Were you starved or refused water multiple times for no reason that resulted in you going to a hospital where none of the doctors thought anything was wrong because it was looked over? Was your body blasted apart by a man's quirk, someone who was supposed to be a caretaker to you, only to be put back together so he could continue his science experiment because he realized cutting you open repeatedly could only get him so far?" He licked his lips and slowly shook his head. "Exactly. She's already terrified of being here because she's worried about you guys using her like that, because she has known nothing else in her life up until this point. For six years, that is all she has known. So I'm requesting she has a different nurse come in for this shift to take care of her, preferably someone's who's female. Because you saw the news. You saw what her abuser looked like. You're almost the same height as him, similar build, similar hair cut, similar hair color. And I'd be willing to bet in her mind, where she is still living in her own personal hellscape and paranoia, she only saw you as Chisaki. You saw how scared she looked, you saw her heart monitor spike. Do the right thing." I told him softly, making sure to keep my voice low.

"Okay. Fine, yeah." He mumbled and walked away. Dad walked over to me and gave me a hug.

"Good job, I'm proud of you." He said and I hugged him tighter.

"I'm gonna get back in there for a few minutes before we leave, so I can properly say goodbye to her and stuff." He nodded and let me walk back in. "Hey Eri, I'm back."

"Hi Onryo." She murmured and I slowly sat back down at the foot of her bed.

"Are you okay now?" I asked her softly, to which she nodded. After another minute or two, a different nurse walked in, a lady with blond hair who looked to be in her thirties. She started taking her vitals and I noticed Eri's confused look at what was going on. "You can ask what she's doing if you're curious. There's no harm in asking questions." I lightly told her, hoping to ease her nerves a bit.

"What's that?" She asked in a small, shaky voice, pointing to the doctors neck.

"This is a stethoscope. It helps me listen to your heart and your lungs." She explained softly to the child.

"It doesn't hurt?" She asked, worry flooding her face.

"Not at all." I told her. "If you want, she can show you how it works on me." I offered, watching her nod. The nurse smiled softly and placed the metal disc on my chest, instructing me to take a few deep breaths. I watched as she tried to hide her concerns, making me giggle. "See? Doesn't hurt, just a little cold."

We went on explaining different medical equipment to her, which I think helped her relax a lot more when she realized none of them could hurt her.

"Hey Eri, I have to go back to school now, but I'll be back to visit you. Okay?" She sadly nodded. "Do you want a hug?" I asked gently, until I realized by the look on her face, she didn't know exactly what I meant. "Okay, so open your arms really really wide. And then we hold each other." I told her happily. She slowly opened her arms and leaned forward. I wrapped her in my arms and rubbed her back until she pulled away.

"I think I like hugs." She hesitantly told me.

"I like hugs too, so if you ever want one, I will happily give you one." She nodded and waved goodbye to me as I left her room with the nurse.

"Sonus?" She said after the door shut. "I'm really glad you came to visit her. That's the most cheerful she's been all week." She told me softly.

"I'm glad I could cheer her up."

"You're a natural with kids. That's the fastest anyone has been able to put her at ease or get her to open up. Feel free to come and visit her anytime. As long as you're with Eraser, we don't mind bending the rules a little."

"Thank you. I'll be sure to visit again. And uh, I'm sorry that I snapped on your coworker." I told her awkwardly and she waved her hand.

"No need. You were doing right by the patient and that's what counts." She told me nonchalantly. "Well, I'll see you around when you visit again. Have a nice day."

"Onryo." Dad said as he walked over. "Before you go back to the dorms, we have to have a family meeting. I already texted Hitoshi and Sunshine."

"Is everything okay?" I asked concerned.

"Yes. Everything's okay. We all just need to talk about something."

I slowly nodded and followed him out to the car. My anxiety slowly started creeping up on me the longer I thought about why we were having a family meeting.

'The raid is over, so it's not about that.'

'My grades are fine and I only have a little bit of homework.'

'Maybe one of them have another large mission coming up?'

'Maybe it has to do with Nedzu?'

'Does it have to do with my bio family?'

'Maybe Toshi's bio family? I know Dad and Pops reached out, but to my knowledge they haven't responded yet.'

"Stop overthinking it." Dad chided softly from the driver seat, the gates of U.A. coming into view.

"Sorry.." I mumbled out.

"You don't need to apologize, I just don't want you worrying yourself sick over a possibility you come up with." I chuckled a little under my breath and nodded while I followed him inside.

"Sho? Is everything okay?" Pops asked as soon as we walked in the door. I took off my shoes and walked to the living room, giving Pops a small side hug.

"Everything's okay. There's a lot we all need to discuss, so if you two want to get reinforcements, I suggest doing it now." Dad said, directing that statement towards Hitoshi and I.

My brother and I got ice cream and coffee, while Pops grabbed blankets. We all gathered in the living room once again, all of us ready for whatever was about to happen.

"So, first, Hitoshi." My brother's eyes widened almost comically, and he pointed to himself with a spoon hanging out of his mouth. "Your birth parents got back to us yesterday. They were wondering if you were still interested in meeting and if we could set up a day for that." I watched as my brother's face fell into one of shock and disbelief, clearly still taking all of it in.

"Yeah, yeah I wanna meet them." He managed to get out.

"Okay, then we'll talk more about that later. I'll make sure Onryo can go with you as well." Dad paused, both of us nodding in agreement. "Second thing, Nedzu called me into his office today. I told him I would have to talk to everyone first because it's a big decision. For safety and emergency reasons, Sunshine and I have been asked to foster Eri. Her quirk is rewind, and her lack of control poses a true safety issue for people around her, when she got her quirk, she wiped her father out of existence. Her mother walked out after that. I'm the only who can ensure everyone's safety and I will be the one to work with her on how to use her quirk. So, how would each of you honestly feel about Eri coming into our family? Hitoshi?" My brother looked at him blandly.

"Yeah, I'm okay with that." He said casually, seemingly unfazed about it.

"Okay. Onryo?" Dad asked, turning to me.

"Yeah, absolutely." I told him, trying to contain how excited I was. We all turned to Pops, who was bordering on bouncing in place with joy.

"Sunshine?"

"Yes! A thousand times, yes! We're gonna have another kid and our family is getting bigger! And, oh my gosh, can we do those cute family photos? Please, Sho?" Pops started, Dad ended up having to use his quirk when Pops got a little too enthusiastic, starting to talk about shopping therapy.

"Sunshine. Relax. It's probably going to be a few weeks until she can come home. That gives us time to talk to Nedzu about living arrangements, set up a room for her, figure out what she does and doesn't like. Okay?" We all agreed, understanding fully well where he was coming from. "And third, Onryo." I looked at him with wide eyes and slowly took a bite of my melting ice cream.

"Yeah?" I asked in a drawn out voice, looking between my parents.

"I asked Sho if we could talk to you. We're really concerned." Pops said while looking at me intently. "What's been going on?"

"A lot but nothing at the same time." I mumbled, picking at my fingers.

"Dude, you're acting different, we all noticed it. We just want you to be able to talk to us. Or just, someone in general." Hitoshi told me before inhaling the rest of his coffee.

"I know. I think... I think you were right, Dad. About the mental toll it would take on me after. Some of the things that happened, I wasn't prepared for." I admitted finally.

"Onryo. You've been acting more and more like you did when we first adopted you. You haven't been talking as much, more cautious with what you say and how you act, you haven't been interacting with your friends as much." My leg started bouncing with my nerves.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, mentally cursing myself for proving his point.

"We aren't mad or upset. We're worried about you and your mental health." Pops said and I nodded along.

"I know. I just, I don't want to hurt anyone again." I finally told them, making sure to stare at my hands. "First I hurt Denki because of a nightmare. Then I hurt Izuku. All because I couldn't get myself to stop screaming after a nightmare. I don't want to keep hurting the people I care about."

"You didn't mean to hurt them." Toshi told me.

"I know I didn't mean to, but I did." I said in a wavering breath. "Maybe it's just a bad mix right now, with being in a bad depressive episode and everything that happened." I tried to brush off, not wanting to talk about this anymore. "Can I go back to the dorms?" I asked weakly, feeling extremely drained, physically and mentally. Dad nodded and pulled me into a hug, Pops and Toshi joining in on it before I walked back to the dorms.

My boyfriend immediately greeted me with a warm hug and a loving kiss, I held onto him tight and buried my face in the nape of his neck.

"Everything okay?" He asked softly and I nodded into his chest. "Do you wanna go do something to distract yourself from whatever is on your mind?" He gently offered and I could feel my heart melting.

"That would be amazing. Let me grab my wallet just in case." I told him and placed a kiss to his cheek. "And get changed... Where are we going?" I asked him, wanting to dress at least somewhat decently.

"Just out and about. So dress a little warm." He suggested and I nodded, going upstairs and letting myself feel at least a little excited.

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 87

Warnings: Nightmares, third person POV and more PTSD Word count: 1705

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts Leafeon is Nakami's contact

Masterlist

Volt 86 | Volt 88

Those who weren't already sleeping, were awoken to the building shaking along with Tsukare's broken, crying screams.

Midoriya was the first one there, Shinsou, Kirishima, Sero, Mina and Kaminari all arriving around the same time as their tired but panicked homeroom teacher. Aizawa canceled his sons quirk immediately, him and Shinsou going into the room to comfort him and give him his inhaler. Tsukare sobbed into his father's shoulder, clinging onto him like he was a scared eight year old again.

"They killed everyone. The League." He sobbed, shoulders shaking with every breath and tear. "They turned me into a nomu. I tried to make it stop, but I couldn't control my body anymore. And-" He cried out, but Aizawa stopped him, simply holding him tighter. He knew where it was going.

"It didn't happen. That's the important part. None of that happened." He soothed his youngest son, rubbing his back softly.

"I'm sorry." He managed to get out, choking on his own breath.

"Don't apologize. You're okay." Aizawa reassured him. "It's okay. You didn't mean to." He said, moving to crouch in front of his son so he could see him better.

Do you want to stay here with your friends, or do you want to come to mine and Pops'?

He froze up as he tried to make the decision, looking between his dad and his brother with a concerned look. The same look he had as a kid whenever he was asked to make a decision. Fearful of choosing the wrong thing, worried that it was a trick question that would inevitably get him in trouble.

Whatever you choose, you aren't in trouble. I just want you to feel safe and comfortable.

I'm sorry. He signed shakily, resting his head in his hands, starting to grow frustrated and disappointed with himself.

How about we stay here for a bit and if you want to go see Dad and Pops, we can go there later. His brother suggested, more hoping to be of any help possible. Onryo nervously nodded and Aizawa gave him a hug.

"Okay. Text or call me if you need anything." He said, Onryo nodded again. "I love you both."

I love you too.

He watched as his Dad walked away, saying something to his classmates before leaving. Then he saw Midoriya's ears, blood dripping down them,11 trickling down his freckled face and he willed himself not to cry.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you.

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean to." Midoriya told him while signing, truly not upset with his friend, more concerned with his wellbeing.

'I keep hurting people. My voice hurts people.' Onryo hung his head in shame and rubbed his watering eyes, the derogatory phrase he had grown up with playing on loop in his head, weighing down his chest to a pit forming in his stomach. His brother tapped his shoulder m, temporarily pulling him out of his thoughts and pointed to Sero.

"Do you want to go relax in my room?" He offered and he looked between his friend and his brother nervously.

"I- uh, I don't.." He trailed off, looking to his brother for a bit of guidance.

Do you want to?

I don't know.

How about we go, and if you want to leave then we can, okay?

Okay.

Onryo gave Sero a small nod and all of them moved up to his room. His boyfriend gravitating to his side and slowly holding his hand. He gave his boyfriends hand a small squeeze in turn but really, he was terrified of hurting him. It was the last thing he wanted to do. He had already hurt him once and part of him was relieved that he took the precaution he did, but someone still got hurt because of him.

Sero slowly opened his door and let everyone inside, mindful of not freaking out his topaz haired friend.

Did I break anything?

I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

So, I did. Shinsou gave his brother a sad smile and a small nod. Where's Izuku?

He's getting checked over by Recovery Girl.

Guilt swirled around in Tsukare's stomach, his voice caught in his throat. He slowly sat down and curled into his boyfriends side, almost hesitantly. The two of them sitting on Sero's bed, not wanting to attempt solid coordination for cuddling on the hammock. Tsukare didn't dare to look anyone in the eyes, small shakes and tremors still leaving his body. Kaminari turned to Shinsou for any advice possible. In the months he had known and fallen for the boy tucked into his side, he had never seen him at this level of despair or disarray. Shinsou simply nodded and crouched down in front of his brother, subtly waving to grab his attention.

Do you remember when we were kids?

Yeah, but what specifically are you talking about? He nervously signed, hands shaking with each motion.

All of the ADHD word plays?

Tsukare sniffled with a small laugh, nodding slightly.

What did you call the microwave the one day?

I think I called it the food radiator. He signed with a sad laugh.

Didn't you call the light switch the inside sun control?

You didn't let me live that down for almost a year, how could I forget?

Kaminari relaxed slightly after seeing Shinsou cheer him up even a little bit, more happy to hear even a small laugh come out of his lover.

Do you wanna talk about what happened?

Tsukare quickly shook his head and started to shut down again.

Okay, just please go see Chiyo tomorrow, alright?

Okay.

Shinsou accepted that answer and moved back over to the floor at the foot of the bed, leaning against the bed frame for a smidge of support, the sleepy red head sitting beside him.

Midoriya soon came back and Sero put on a Studio Ghibli movie, hoping to relax everyone's nerves and remaining anxieties. While the intro played, he grabbed blankets and pillows for everyone out of his closet, passing them to Kirishima, who handed them to everyone else on his behalf. Everyone except Tsukare looked at the door curiously when a knock sounded, Sero slowly opened it, expecting to see their homeroom teacher, but instead saw Bakugou standing there with his usual glare.

"Earbleed woke me up and I can't fall back asleep." He grumbled. Sero wordlessly let him in, watching in disbelief as he didn't even attempt to antagonize Midoriya. He grumpily plopped himself beside Kirishima, Shinsou on the red heads other side, followed by Midoriya.

Tsukare didn't even notice Bakugou come in, he only felt how tense the atmosphere became and soon saw why. Midoriya, Shinsou, Kiri and Bakugou all sitting beside each other in that order, Midoriya using Shinsou's shoulder as a pillow.

Poor Kirishima.

Sero moved to sit with Mina in the hammock, knowing she would request a cuddle buddy, and he was not about to interrupt Kirishima from whatever situation he got himself trapped in. He didn't even know the details, but he could tell it was messy.

Eventually, Tsukare pulled out his phone to check the time and saw he received a text over an hour ago from Nakami.

From Leafeon: I heard about the raid you were in. Are you okay?

To Leafeon: I'm alright, thankfully no major injuries

From Leafeon: I see your sleep schedule hasn't changed.

To Leafeon: Same for you, how come you're up so late?

From Leafeon: Couldn't sleep, so I started doing homework.

From Leafeon: Why are you up so late?

To Leafeon: Couldn't sleep, too much going on in my brain

From Leafeon: I'm sorry to hear that.

To Leafeon: No worries, it happens

To Leafeon: How's it going with your new foster brother? Did you talk things out yet?

From Leafeon: I've been trying to. So I've opted to what you taught me as kids. Do what annoys them until they break. So I haven't been talking around them unless I need to.

To Leafeon: Oh gods, this should be interesting

From Leafeon: I think it will be. I've also reached a point of exhaustion from it where I don't have the energy to talk to them.

To Leafeon: I get that, I'm there with you right now

From Leafeon: What happened?

To Leafeon: I've been getting nightmares again

From Leafeon: I'm sorry.

From Leafeon: Would talking about it help?

To Leafeon: It's just been a major set back, and I don't know what to do

To Leafeon: It's similar to what you said last time, how you're close with people but it's different because we went through that stuff together. Hitoshi is the same way, same with my Pops. I just feel guilty worrying them. I want to get better, but I'm just stuck.

From Leafeon: Maybe talking about it would help.

To Leafeon: I know talking about it would help. I know that. But I don't want to keep remembering it. I remember so much of it that it hurts. It's exhausting.

From Leafeon: Maybe a mental health day would help a little?

To Leafeon: Maybe, thank you

To Leafeon: And I'm sorry, for dumping all of that on you

From Leafeon: You don't have to apologize. I know that you empathizing and sharing your experiences is how you express the best that you care.

To Leafeon: I have a question

To Leafeon: My family's throwing a small party for my birthday on the 19th. Do you want to come?

From Leafeon: But you hate your birthday.

To Leafeon: I've been working on it. Still not a fan but my family likes to celebrate it

From Leafeon: Who's going to be there?

To Leafeon: My parents and my brother, some of my aunts and uncles, they'll probably show up for a little bit at different times. My boyfriend, Denki, maybe my friend Izuku, the one with the broccoli hair, and Yoru might be there

From Leafeon: Sure, I'll go. Just remember to send me the details.

To Leafeon: Will do

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 86

Warnings: Kinda crappy cops Word count: 2712

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 85 | Volt 87

I stared at my feet as I watched the segment on the news about Chisaki. The League got the drop on him as they were transporting him to prison and he lost his arms, along with Snatch, a smaller pro-hero who still had a good reputation, was killed.

"This is the only thing they've reported on since yesterday." Recovery Girl said, I sat with her in the lobby of the hospital, visiting my friends and classmates that were in the raid. Dad stood beside us and Izuku ended up wandering down at some point.

"It isn't something either of you should feel responsible for." Dad told us. "Please try not to blame yourselves." I simply nodded and Izuku agreed softly. "Good news is, most everyone's headed back to class. The doctors wanna monitor Togata a little while longer. But Recovery Girl was able to completely heal the rest of the students involved in the raid. They're gathering their things now."

"I'll stick around a little while longer and heal a few more patients since I'm here." Recovery Girl said while standing from her seat.

"I'll stay, too." Izuku chimed in. "I want to be here for Eri whenever she wakes up."

"I'm afraid she's still too dangerous for that. Right now, we need to trust that the doctors will help her." Dad explained.

"Yeah, I get that, but I was hoping I could..." Izuku mumbled and I rubbed his back a little.

"She'll be fine." Dad told him.

"Okay, then. I wanna see Togata before I leave, though. I'll be right back. Please watch my stuff!" I gave him a thumbs up and stayed seated.

"I know you guys are leaving soon, so I'll watch his stuff." Dad sighed and ruffled my hair before leaving. Recovery Girl gave me a soft pat on my hand and a knowing look. "I'll be in for therapy later, I don't want to get lectured." She sighed dramatically and walked off.

"Hey, Tsukabro!" Kirishima called out as he walked through the lobby.

"Hey, Kiri." I said softly.

"How are you doing after the raid?" He asked, sitting next to me.

"I'm tired, but I'm bouncing back." I told him earnestly.

"Did Recovery Girl not give you any energy gummies?" He asked and I shook my head.

"All that was wrong was the cut on my back and strained vocal cords, I told her not to use her quirk on me, save the energy for someone else. Just slept like shit last night." He frowned a bit and looked at me concerned.

"I'm sorry man." He mumbled and I shrugged.

"It's not your fault." I told him, not wanting him to feel guilty for anything. Eventually, Midoriya came back down and grabbed his stuff.

"Midoriya! Hey!" Kiri greeted him happily. "Did you get all healed up?"

"Yeah, I'm all good now. Thank you." He told him as we started heading back to the dorms.

"Midoriya Izuku, Eijirou Kirishima and Tsukare Onryo?" An officer asked as soon as we stepped out of the hospital and I froze for a moment. "I'm sorry to bother you three right after your discharge. But we'd like you to come down to the station with us. We have some questions for you about the incident."

"Yes, sir." Kirishima responded. The three of us clambered into the back seat of the cop car and sat in silence as we drove down to the station.

We were all placed in separate rooms, all to be asked what I assumed were the same questions and fill out the same paperwork.

Two officers came in and I froze up as I watched the second one lock the door behind him.

"Tsukare Onryo?" One asked and I slowly nodded. "Pleasure to meet you, we just wanted to ask you some questions about the incident from yesterday." I gave him a tight lipped, fake smile and gestured for him that he had the floor, my eyes continuously glancing to the door that remained locked. "So we have that you were working under Fat Gum, and the raid started at 8:30 in the morning, correct?"

"Yeah, we had a few briefings beforehand." I murmured, fingers starting to fidget in my lap.

"Thank you, and the League made an appearance, correct?"

"Yes, Toga and Twice showed up." I confirmed, my eyes still bouncing to the door.

"And just to confirm your identity, would you mind answering a question for me?" I lightly nodded, not surprised about the precaution. "Your last time here, you met with Detective Tsukauchi, what was the reason Shigaraki couldn't figure out the contact names on your phone?" I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"That's a pointless question. If I were Toga or Twice, they would both know that considering they were both present for it." I quipped, already tired of this.

"Well, I hope you'll understand my wanting to ask. Especially because you are acting fairly suspicious right now." I raised an eyebrow at him and just stared, waiting for him to elaborate. The other cop tossed a stack of photos in front of me, most consisting of the compass.

"We have your prints all over this and it's been claimed to have belonged to one of the League of Villains members, more specifically, Dabi. Including the fact that the League has a special interest in you. On top of that, your eyes haven't stopped looking over at the door and you're fidgeting like you're anxious about something." I rolled my eyes again and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Behavioral analysis. Cute." I said plainly. "And good cop, bad cop? I see you both wanted to put a spin on the classics. But you two jumped the gun on so much. The compass? Dabi gave it to me when I was a little kid, Kamino was the first and last time I saw him since. I gave it to my parents to hand over to Tsukauchi because I didn't want it anymore and hoped something beneficial would come out of it. I see that wasn't the case." I mumbled sarcastically, cop number two standing up aggressively and slamming his hands on the table.

"You watch your mouth." He snarled at me and I raised an eyebrow.

"Then watch your attitude. We're on camera." I told him while waving to the camera behind me. "And to answer your points on why I'm fidgeting, I have anxiety and ADHD, I struggle to sit still and my eyes keep going back to the door because your buddy Mister Wannabe-Good-Cop over here, locked it on his way in. I have complex PTSD, enclosed spaces make me nervous, and I have had to give multiple statements, that's not standard procedure. So either you two don't want someone coming in because you're not supposed to be here, or you're scared I'm going to hurt someone out there. But, if that were the case you probably would've cuffed me to the table. So, I'm not answering any more questions unless it's with Tsukauchi or someone else more qualified than you two. And while you're at it, call one of my parents down here." They both glared at me, cop number two kicking his feet up on the table.

"We're not calling anyone until you start talking, kid." He smirked, thinking he had the upper hand.

"Fine by me, just know that you two are currently restricting a minor from leaving the premises with no reason along with wrongfully interrogating when no guardians were informed, plus you're denying me a phone call, so I guess you've forced my hand this time." I sighed dramatically and pulled out my phone that I had recording since I walked into the building. "Now I have your names, badges and faces on camera." Cop number one leaned forward to try and grab it and I leaned back. "Ah, ah, ah, do you wanna tack on illegal search and seizure to everything else? So, either get my parents here, or Tsukauchi." I told them, sending my parents a text in the group chat before pocketing the device along with my hearing aids.

I sat there for a little over an hour, twiddling my thumbs and watching my surroundings before the door opened. Dad walked in looking furious, glaring at the two cops.

"Eraser head!" One of the cops exclaimed, the other taking his feet off the table.

"Both of you, out, now. Someone else will be taking his official statement." He said to them in a dark tone.

"Sorry sir, but we don't take orders from you." Cop number one tried to reason.

"I'm his father, and you idiots turned a statement into an interrogation without any direction, while he didn't receive his legal rights. So you're taking orders from me since you won't take them from your boss." The two cops awkwardly shuffled out of the room and Dad sat beside me. "I take it we're going to their supervisor after this?" I laughed softly and nodded.

"You know Pops would be disappointed if we didn't." I told him. He laughed lightly under his breath and we waited a few more moments before a different officer came in.

"Tsukare Onryo?" She asked as she sat down. "And Eraserhead, which one of you gave my guys a run for their money?" She asked sarcastically while I put my hearing aids back in.

"That would be both of us, ma'am." She cocked an eyebrow at me and crossed her arms.

"I'm impressed. Eraserhead, I hope you don't mind if I ask you to wait in the viewing area?" He nodded once and stood up, leaving the room quietly. "So, I've been asked to get your statement on the Hassaikai incident, I hope you don't mind if I record this."

"Go right ahead, you're already doing substantially better than the last guys that were in here." I told her, making her laugh under her breath as she set the recorder between us. "My name is Tsukare Onryo, hero name is Sonus." I said once she hit the button.

"I see this isn't the first time you've given a statement that's been recorded. Can you walk me through everything involving the raid, anything leading up to it or that may have impacted anything?" She asked and I obliged, starting from the beginning and going into detail until she interrupted me. "I'm sorry, but you said that the explosion you were in was caused by the Hassaikai?"

"Yeah, plenty of people can corroborate, but Setsuno told us that Chisaki wanted me on his side and planned to revive my body after I died." She looked at me in shock but nodded.

"And can you explain what happened during the explosion?" So I informed her of the details. "How could you tell it was a trap?" She followed up.

"Single panel dry wall is notoriously easy to install as long as you have a nail gun or a power tool. Or in Chisaki's case, a quirk that can rearrange anything the way you want it. Everything was staged, set up to mirror every single room and not change. By the time I realized, the door to the room I came in from was locked and the other room had the grate to the air ducts glued. I would've broken the walls after I felt the first explosion but it was highly unlikely to work, between the thickness of the concrete and the already fragile stability of the building, I would've been trapped either way as soon as I set foot in there." Her face softened a bit and she nodded, so I continued to tell her about the rest of the raid.

"Thank you for giving your statement, it truly helps. If you'd like to do the paperwork in the lobby instead of in here, that's perfectly fine." I nodded and followed her out, Dad meeting us there.

He sat with me, Izuku and Kirishima as we filled out our paperwork, it took almost two hours before we collectively finished them. My friends waited while Dad and I stayed to talk to the supervisor.

After everything, we didn't get back to the dorms until late at night, everyone waiting up for us, Uraraka and Tsu arriving seconds after us.

Everyone came up to us worried, expressing their concerns about us. Denki came over to me and wrapped me in a firm hug, even though he saw me yesterday, I think it's partially because he didn't want to indulge in too much PDA around my parents. He then turned and went off on a tangent to our classmates about how we're always getting into crazy situations and it scares everyone.

"Yeah. We're sorry." Izuku said awkwardly.

I nervously tapped Denki's hand at a quick pace, slowly getting overwhelmed by everyone surrounding us. Soon, Iida jumped in front of us and yelled.

"Enough of this! I know everyone was worried! But calm down!" He exclaimed, blocking us off with his arms. "We all saw news coverage. Our classmates have been through an ordeal. If you want to help, you should console them quietly and let them rest their bodies and their minds. Because I'm sure today wasn't taxing just physically, but mentally as well!"

"Hey, um, Iida. Thanks for that. But really, this is okay." Izuku told her delicately.

"Then, if I may." Iida started, adjusting his glasses, before going to Midoriya and shaking him. "Do you have any idea how worried I was for all of you? It was awful! What if you'd never returned?"

"Take your own advice and chill out!" Sero butted in.

I stepped back a bit with Denki while Sato was trying to shove the double chocolate cake into his mouth, Momo running off to make tea. Sero came over to Kiri and I, asking why we blind sided them like this.

"Sorry. We were sworn to secrecy." Kiri said and I choked on air laughing as his hair poked into Sero's eye.

"I'm glad you two are okay." Mina said softly while holding Koda's bunny for comfort.

"Yeah. Getting there, anyway." He responded.

"Right. Got it." She said softly. I leaned over and gave her a hug.

"We'll be okay, Min. Promise." I told her, watching my boyfriend run off to pester Bakugou, only to fall face first onto the couch. Bakugou and Todoroki talking about how they had to go to bed.

"Huh? Since when am I surrounded by geezers?" Denki asked them.

"I understand Bakugou, but Todoroki wants to leave the party this early, too?" Tsu asked for everyone.

"They've got their provisional license training course tomorrow. But still, it is pretty early." Jirou commented.

Iida started pestering us to go to bed and try to get some rest, so I walked with Denki to his room, knowing this would upset him.

"Hey, what are you doin' waiting at the door?" He asked teasingly.

"Denks, I don't think it's a good idea for us to have a sleepover for a day or two." I said weakly.

"Because of the raid?" He asked while holding my hand and I nodded tiredly.

"Yeah. With the League showing up, I- I don't know if it triggered anything or not. I couldn't really sleep last night. I don't want to risk hurting you." I managed to get out. He looked upset and I started beating myself up more. "I'm not upset with you, I know you're probably overthinking a bit because we always sleep in one of our rooms, I just... I don't want to hurt you again. And I'd rather take that precaution than anything else." He nodded and pulled me into a tight hug. I leaned back a bit and cupped his face, giving him a gentle kiss. I sulked back to my room and opened my laptop to see him calling me.

"Is it bad that I have a hard time sleeping without you?" He asked and I shook my head. "Okay." He said, already on the brink of passing out.

I sat up with him until he fell asleep, I didn't fall asleep until a little while later.

1 note · View note

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 85

Warnings: Some emotions but mostly fluff, and Mic finally getting to do a cliche parent-child embarrass stunt Word count: 4054

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 84 | Volt 86

Dad and I walked into his and Pops' apartment a few hours later, Spots and Mittens ran up to us and rubbed against our legs. The two of us were wiped after the mission, physically and mentally. Thankfully, when Pops came to the hospital earlier, he brought me a spare change of clothes, so I wouldn't have to sit around in my hero costume that needed repair, again. But also, the baggy t-shirt and sweats were significantly more comfortable than my hero costume.

I plopped myself on the couch and took my ears out, letting myself relax a little bit even though I couldn't fully do that. Dad flicking the lights to the living room caught my attention, I turned around and smiled when I saw Denki standing there awkwardly with my brother. I stood up and walked over to him, pulling him into a tight hug. His arms cradled around me, holding me securely to his chest until I pulled away. I popped my hearing aids in and turned back to my boyfriend.

"I asked him to come." Hitoshi chimed in and I looked at him curiously. "I knew you wouldn't want to talk about it multiple times and figured bringing him, it would cut back on how much you talked about it." I pulled him into a hug and smiled widely.

"That's why you're my favorite brother." He shot me a look and I simply smiled wider.

"I'm your only brother, doofus." He let out a breath and walked to the kitchen, presumably to make a cup of coffee.

"Kaminari." Dad said, making both of us freeze. "Are you allergic to cats?" He asked tiredly.

"Uh, no sir." He stammered out and I gently grabbed his hand, playfully leading him to the living room.

"This is Spots, and that was Mittens." I said, picking up Spots while gesturing to Mittens who ran and hid somewhere.

"She's so cute." He cooed, scooping Spots out of my arms. I heard the door open and saw Pops walk in exhausted. He gave Dad a kiss on the cheek and slowly started taking off his hero gear.

"Hey, little listener. Oh, hi Kaminari, I wasn't expecting to see you here." Pops said cheerfully, walking over and giving me a side hug.

"Toshi brought him over for the family talk, is that okay?" I asked softly, not even knowing if this was okay with our parents.

"Yeah, of course. I've been waiting for you to bring him over!" He cheered as he walked to the master bedroom. I blushed furiously and ducked my head, I should've expected Pops to say something like that.

"I have to go get reinforcements, do you want to come with?" He looked at me confused, probably not understanding what I meant.

"Sure?" He slowly agreed, setting Spots on the couch and following me. He took half the blankets I grabbed from the closet and we got them on the couch before joining Hitoshi in the kitchen, who was pouring three mugs of coffee.

"Alright, so, you have a few choices, ice cream, hot chocolate and or coffee." He smiled softly and suppressed a laugh but eventually said ice cream. "Good choice." I told him, moving to the cabinet and scaling the counter to grab four bowls. I could hear him stifling his laughter. "Hey, don't laugh! This is normal!" I said through my own laughter, setting the bowls down on the counter top. Denki came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, swaying us back and forth as I scooped ice cream.

"So, why ice cream?" He asked softly, pressing a kiss to my shoulder.

"When I got adopted, my Dad found me muzzled. My first night home, my Pops looked at me and asked if I wanted ice cream because he said it would help with the pain. I was eight and more excited about having ice cream rather than making the pain stop, but it helped a lot. A few months later, Hitoshi came home and we went through the same thing. After that, it became more of a comfort thing. If someone had a bad day or there was stressful stuff going on, ice cream became a comfort snack and eventually integrated into most of our talks. It makes the stress of all of it seem... calmer, I guess. As we got older, we added in coffee for our Dad, and then Toshi and I. Figured I'd just offer hot chocolate for you cause I know you don't really drink coffee that much." I explained delicately, still mindlessly swaying with him.

"That's actually kinda wholesome." He commented.

"Kaminari, don't make me say this again, watch your hands." Dad said. Denki quickly lifted his hands in a mock surrender and took a step back.

"Dad, he was just hugging me." I said in a dragged out breath to over exaggerate it while I placed spoons in each bowl. He huffed and walked over, grabbing a bowl of ice cream and his mug of black coffee before walking out to the living room.

"He still scares me." Denki mumbled to me. I laughed a little and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Could you grab two bowls for me? One's for you and one's for Hitoshi." I told him while I grabbed my bowl and my coffee. He nodded and grabbed the two bowls, following me out to the living room. I set my stuff down and sat on the floor, grabbing a blanket for Denki and I. He cheekily wrapped it around our shoulders and passed me my bowl of ice cream.

"So, who's starting?" Hitoshi asked.

"Well, clearly, today was the raid, hence why I've been so out of it and why I got trapped in the rubble." I said, starting off the conversation. Dad sighed and started explaining why we were there and what the mission was.

"Sorry, I'm a little lost on something." Denki hesitantly added.

"What's up, Kaminari?" Pops asked, throwing in a finger gun.

"How does the raid tie back to 'Ryo getting trapped in the building?" He asked slowly, trying not to beat around the bush.

"Uh, the whole Reservoir Dogs thing was the cover story. Fat Gum, Kirishima and I were on a stakeout for the raid on the yakuza, so I went in. I was the only one who could fit in the vents properly, plus with him as my Dad, I have some stealth under my belt. Something didn't feel right, so after getting confirmation from Nighteye, I went in. It was a set up, they set bombs in the basement and trapped me in before I could leave. The walls were too thick to break safely. We found out why during the raid." Hitoshi and Pops practically flung forward at the news. My fingers nervously tapped against the bowl and I took a steadying breath. "Chisaki wanted me. Probably because of Shigaraki. He wanted me to die down there so he could come down and refigure my body so he could take me." I licked my lips and ducked my head down, not wanting to see the horror on their faces.

Denki grabbed my fidgeting hand and gently held it, rubbing his thumb back and forth over my marred skin.

"Onryo and I also need to have another lesson on impulsive decisions." Dad commented and I groaned.

"Woah, what'd you do to deserve a lesson?" Hitoshi commented.

"He jumped in front of a gun." He said and the room fell silent before erupting in chaos. Everything I was expecting thrown at me and I sat there, I was expecting this.

"Onryo, you never do that." Pops said sternly, but I could hear how scared he was.

"I made a calculated risk." I said weakly. "His finger wasn't even on the trigger yet, he was originally pointing the gun at Dad. I knew I had back up and I exploded it." I told them.

"This is why you and Izuku earned the nickname 'problem child'." Hitoshi said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know." I sighed out, rubbing a hand down my face. "Dad? Was he right?" I asked weakly, the words still spinning in my head.

"Was who right?" Denki asked.

"One of the gang members, uh, Setsuno, he said I would've fit right in because I was crazy." I mumbled.

"You're not crazy." Hitoshi said firmly and I licked my lips hesitantly.

"He said I looked insane and that I had to be crazy to jump in front of a gun like that." I told them duly.

"You're not crazy. You reacted. Was it in the best way you could've, no. But also, you've always been fond of adding a subtle dramatic flare." Dad reasoned and I sadly laughed. He went on to explain the rest of the raid, up until he got stuck with the rewind guy. Then I explained the rest, Pops, Toshi and Denki took a moment to let everything sink in.

"He forgot to tell you the best part." I said sarcastically. "He couldn't figure out how to use my glasses." I told them, watching Dad roll his eyes but Hitoshi started chuckling a little.

"Next time we have training, I'm trying them on." He said through his chuckles.

"Pops designed them, so good luck." I told him before taking a sip from my mug.

"Little listener, you know I have to ask. How are you holding up mentally after the League showing up?" Pops asked softly, piquing everyone's attention.

"I'm fine." I said softly.

"Nobody is expecting you to be. Especially after everything that's happened." He told me gently and I nodded once.

"Look, I- I'm fine. Might just have a few more nightmares, nothing new." I said dismissively, hoping that would be the end of the conversation.

"Does Kami-" Pops started but I shook my head.

"I don't like talking about Kamino. The only thing I've talked to him about from it was Toga taking me to the other room and cutting me up." I said emotionlessly. "I had to explain how she got so much of my blood. Aside from that, I don't talk about it. Not even with Chiyo."

"Kaminari? Have you asked him about it?" Pops asked, holding up a finger when I gave him a bewildered look.

"Yeah. But I don't push him to talk about it." He said calmly.

"And why's that?" Pops followed up and I saw where he was going with it. Him and Dad were testing him.

"I don't want to make him uncomfortable, he already lives through it every time he has a nightmare and I don't want to be the reason he has to live through it even more. I've told him if he wants to talk to me about it then he can, but if he's not ready to, it's not my place to push." He elaborated and I tucked my chin down to hide my smile.

"Good answer." Dad said. "We have something else to talk about though." I looked at him confused, not knowing where this was going, until it hit me and I groaned.

"You're evil. Talking about this in front of Denki so he knows when it is." Dad gave me a maniacal grin and chuckled.

"B- Onryo? Why is your Dad smiling like that?" Denki asked fearfully, careful not to call me a pet name in front of my parents.

"My birthday is next Friday, the 18th." I grumbled, throwing my head back dramatically.

"What? And you didn't tell me?" He asked, completely baffled.

"I'm weird about my birthday." I mumbled out.

"You two can talk more about that later. But, Kaminari," Pops started, grabbing both of our attentions, "we wanted to invite you to his family birthday dinner on the 19th."

"Yeah, I'd love to." He said happily.

"Great! I'll make sure to have a plate for you. Do you have any food allergies?" Pops asked him and Denki shook his head. "Okay. Also, Onryo, Fumikoto has still been reaching out." I groaned loudly and slouched.

"Joy. Is it about Sota's party?" Pops nodded and I sighed.

"Yeah, his party is the 20th and the smaller party is the 25th. Fumikoto's wondering if you want to go to both or either, she said you told her it would depend on work studies and stuff."

"Who's Fumikoto? It sounds familiar." Denki said.

"Remember after camp how Hitoshi texted the group chat code yellow because of a social worker at our house?" I asked him, watching as he slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, well, found out the social worker was Shiroka's sister and Shiroka called in a favor. Her son, Sota, is turning a year old." He looked at me with wide eyes, clearly processing it.

"That's fucked." He mumbled before completely freezing, realizing he just swore in front of two of his teachers. "Sorry." He awkwardly apologized.

"I don't think we can actually scold you for your language." Dad said lackadaisically.

"If you go, do you want one of us to go with you?" Denki asked softly. I looked at him with wide eyes, my heart melting at the fact he would offer that.

"If Kaminari can go with you, I'm okay with not going to a toddler's birthday party." Hitoshi commented.

"Really?" I asked him quietly and he nodded.

"Of course." He mumbled and I smiled widely, tackling him into a hug.

"Okay, so should I tell her you're going to the big party and maybe the small one depending on classes?" I nodded happily and sat back up. "Okay, I'm glad we got that sorted out. Little listeners, Kaminari? Do you three want to stay for dinner?" I looked between the two, not wanting to overstep on Denki's behalf. Hitoshi nodded and I turned to Denki, watching him nod as well, so I joined them in the action. "Then I'm going to get started on dinner, Sho, do you wanna help me?" Dad begrudgingly agreed and followed Pops to the kitchen.

"Y'know, I bet Kaminari would love to see you play the drums." My brother slyly commented, making Denki pipe up with excitement.

"Wait, can you? Please?" My boyfriend asked happily.

"Make sure to get it on video!" Pops called out from the kitchen. I dramatically sighed and stood up, watching stars form in Denki's eyes.

"Okay, let's just rinse our dishes and put them in the sink first." I said while grabbing my bowl and mug, my brother and boyfriend each doing the same.

Once in the music room, I took my hearing aids out since they were going to die soon anyways, and put them in their case. Denki happily sat on one of the stools and watched as I slowly found my beat. I already knew Hitoshi was recording it to send to our family group chat and our friends, but I paid no attention to the electronic device pointed in my direction.

I let the vibrations run through my body and my bones, feeling the percussion echo in my chest with every hit of the drum sticks. I guess Hitoshi knew I needed a release after today, and this would be the best kind. I glanced up through my eyelashes and saw Denki sitting there in awe. I smirked at him before picking up the beat, letting out my stress about everything with every single hit on the instrument.

Once I slowed down, I felt my chest lock up and I curled into a coughing fit.

Toshi. Inhaler.

My brother stuck his head out the door and yelled something, I tried gasping for a solid breath between every hacking cough. Denki moved to stand beside me, rubbing my back lightly until Pops came rushing in with my spare inhaler we agreed to keep here. I quickly took a puff and counted to three before exhaling, coughing a bit more as I got my breathing back.

"I had to use it once, during the raid, after running so much. But drumming, for ten minutes? Really? That's bullshit." I said between clustered breaths. Pops sadly laughed and held one of my hands firmly. "I'm okay." I whispered, leaning back into Denki's chest a little for extra support. "I'm okay."

"You scared us, Hitoshi yelled to us that you couldn't breathe, and to grab your inhaler. I'm just glad we decided to keep a spare here in case of emergencies." He said with worried eyes, taking a deep breath of his own.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm okay." I whispered, finally getting a majority of my breathing back in order.

"Since yours is broken, you might just wanna hang onto that one." Pops suggested, to which I nodded. "How about you boys hang out in the living room until dinner's ready, okay?"

"Okay." I mumbled, waiting for Pops to stand before I did, Denki slowly dropping his hand to my waist. We made our way out to the living room and sat on the couch, we talked for a few minutes until Pops came out again with Dad in tow, mischevious grins on their faces. "Oh gods. This can't be good."

"Oh, this is gonna be great, I have dinner in the slow cooker so we have time to kill. And we'll do the same with Hitoshi when he has his first partner over here." Pops said coyly. I groaned and leaned my head on Denki's shoulder while Pops sat on the other side of him with the photo album. Hitoshi sat on the arm of the couch by Pops to interpret for me and Dad leaned over the back of it. "This is the picture I showed you in the hospital, his third night home." Denki placed one of his hands on mine and I saw a small smile on his face. After that, the pictures showed less smiles for a few pages, all of my firsts with them. A picture of when I learned how to ride a bike. My ninth birthday. My adoption day. Christmas. New Years.

"You were so tiny!" Denki exclaimed, tapping my hand so I would look up and read his lips.

"Gods, how did you let my hair look like that?" I asked, feeling embarrassed already and we were only three pages in.

"You hated having your hair brushed and you never wanted it cut, what were we supposed to do?" Pops asked sarcastically and I sighed, knowing he had a point.

Then he showed pictures of me at the park, Hitoshi and I goofing off together. A picture Dad grabbed when I was learning how to braid hair on Pops. Mittens and Spots making quite a few appearances.

"Woah, is that the sensory room?" Denki asked, pointing to the picture in the top right corner.

"Yeah, Onryo was 11 or so, that's when Nedzu asked him for his help and he wanted to organize all of it." Pops chuckled. Pops flipped the page and I broke out laughing.

"What?" Denki asked, not able to get any other words out through his own laughter.

"I didn't know you guys put that in there! Oh my gods, I look so bad." I said through my giggles. "Okay so, that was a part of doctor week when I was a kid. I had to go to the cardiologist and I knew I had to get an EKG done and I hate the feeling of hospital gowns. So our Dad asked if I brought a button up shirt, if I could change into that and they agreed to it. He gave me one of his old ones that he never wore, clearly it was drowning me." I managed to get out.

"You said you looked more ridiculous than you felt with all the wires and sensors on, so I took a picture so you could see what you looked like." Dad finished, all of us laughing. In the picture, I had a miserable look on my face with two thumbs sticking up out of the sleeves. Electrodes and wires going all across my chest and bunched to the side and secured at my waist with some velcro. The next one being me passed out on the couch with Spots and Mittens, the words next to it saying 'Doctor Week: Success'. Multiple birthdays and celebrations thrown in the mix throughout everything, and we still were only three quarters of the way done. A few more goofy pictures in, there was a picture of Toshi and I in our Aldera Junior High uniforms.

'First day at a new school!!' I read next to it, not surprised that there was a large gap between a few pictures. That's when things started getting bad. The next picture was one Izuku's mom took and sent to our Dad of me, Hitoshi and Izuku all laughing on the couch over something.

"Woah, Midoriya hasn't changed at all!" Denki laughed.

A few other pictures were thrown in before a picture of me sitting in the car with Pops pointing at me with comically wide eyes. 'First fight!' I snorted out a laugh reading that and Denki joined in.

"That's the day I gave Bakugou a black eye and told off the principal." I explained, making him laugh harder.

Pops flipped to the next page, showing a picture that Inko took again, one that she sent to our Dad one of the days we went to clean up the beach. Midoriya smiled widely, Hitoshi giving a thumbs up next to him, I stood behind the two with a smile and flexing my biceps in a tank top.

"'Community service?' From punching Kacchan?" Denki asked, confused, making me snort out a small laugh.

"One of these days he's going to send an explosion when I'm not around if you keep calling him that. But no, it was Izuku's idea, something about working out and cleaning up the beach." My boyfriend hummed but nodded, a few more pictures thrown in before we got to our entrance exams. A picture of me, Hitoshi and Izuku, all standing nervously next to each other. Anxious, tense smiles on our faces, but Izuku looked utterly terrified.

"Hey, that's the day we met." Denki commented, sending me a cheeky smile.

"I quite literally bumped into you." I laughed, blushing a faint pink. "Woah, I didn't know you guys got pictures of the exam." I said as Pops flipped to the next page, showing a few highlight moments of the exam. Including a picture of the girl I saved, the two of us on the robot as I was making a plan to get her off. "Her! She was my gay awakening!" I exclaimed, all of us erupting in laughter.

The next page was my acceptance letter, followed by a picture of Hitoshi and I sitting in the classroom near the windows and I looked at Pops, confused.

"You two wouldn't let me get a first day photo, I had to improvise!" He defended himself. I simply laughed and fully lifted my head off of Denki's shoulder. Pops went to put the album away, Dad walked away to check on the food in the kitchen and Hitoshi just scrolled on his phone. Denki poked me and sent me a large smile. I gave him one back, only to start laughing loudly when his fingers started tickling my sides. He eventually stopped and I opened my eyes again, a genuine smile still etched on my face, mirroring his own, but then I saw movement in the corner of my eyes. Pops was taking a picture. "What? It has to go in the album!" He exclaimed. I leaned forward and rested my head back on Denki's shoulder.

"I can't wait to go through your album again, Toshi." I said to my brother and watched him cringe.

"Some of my pictures are so bad." He grumbled and turned the television on, flicking through channels until we settled on something.

The rest of the night went by smoothly and surprisingly, Dad didn't bite Denki's head off.

So all in all, I'd call it a success.

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 84

Warnings: The raid part two Word count: 2910

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 83 | Volt 85

I took a breath before diving into the chaos I saw in the room. A monstrous pit of spikes, Nighteye holding Mirio and Eri in his arms, the blond being severely beaten and battered. Izuku was sitting in the spikes, evading Overhaul's impending attacks and anything else was out of sight. Chisaki, however, was morphed into something else entirely. But I still couldn't see my Dad.

"...and now your quirk is lost forever." I caught Chisaki say as I stepped in, stealthily moving towards Nighteye. "If you'd only backed down sooner, you could have held on to your pathetic dreams. But instead you fought, refusing to give up even after your quirk was gone. And now, thanks to your heroics, your friends will die along with you!" He yelled, lunging forward. I grabbed Eri and let Nighteye move Mirio, Izuku broke off a piece of a spike and used it as a weapon against Overhaul. The pro moved Mirio towards me and lunged into action. I moved the two over to the side and crouched down.

"Hey, your name is Eri, right?" I asked the girl softly, watching as she fearfully nodded. "You're really popular, we actually all came to see you and get you out of here so you don't get hurt anymore. Is it okay if we start moving on out of here?"

"What happened to Eraser Head? Did your lackey take him somewhere?" I heard Nighteye ask.

"I'm interested in heroes who can erase quirks, so he's been shown to the VIP room." Chisaki said and I felt my stomach churn.

"I'm getting Eri and Lemillion out of here. I'll be back." I informed Nighteye and Izuku with my quirk. "Hey, Eri," she looked at me with her big, red eyes, "let's get moving, yeah?" I asked her, offering her my hand.

"I don't want to hurt you. That's all I do." My heart crumbled at her shaky words, having said them myself when I was her age.

"You don't hurt people, honey. I could actually really use your help with something." She looked up at me and gave me a small nod, thankfully following me out into the hallway. "Just wait here for a second, I need to grab Lemillion." She nodded again and I grabbed the injured blond, sitting him up against the wall in the hallway. "So Lemillion got really hurt back there and I know that can be scary. But we can actually help him. Do you want to help him feel better?"

"Yeah, he needs help." She mumbled as she knelt beside me.

"He does, and in here," I said while shuffling around in my belt pouches, "I have stuff that can help him. So what I need your help with, is for you to hand me the stuff I need." She nodded hesitantly and watched as I sat everything out. I hummed in between pauses, making sure to blast something in the monsters head as he fought so it might throw him off balance. I used the last of the alcohol and some peroxide on Mirio's wounds, watching his eyes squint shut in pain. "I'm sorry, I know it hurts, but the hard parts over." I reassured him. "Eri, could you hand me some of those squares, please?" She slowly grabbed a few and passed them to me. "Thank you very much." I told her, watching her eyes water a little. "And could you pass me that roll?"

"This?" She asked, holding up the bandages.

"Yep, thank you so, so much." I said, wrapping the bandage around his torso and tying it off. And then I saw it.

Nighteye being impaled by a giant spike.

"Eri, look at me please." I said gently, making sure her back was turned from what just happened. "You and Lemillion need to get out of here. You two keep walking, okay?" She slowly nodded and grabbed Mirio's hand. "Mirio. Look at me. Amajiki told Midoriya and I to look out for you and we failed, but you need to take it easy walking back. Even if you don't make it completely out, the farther away you are the better. At least make it to Rock Lock. Something just happened in there that's going to hurt you a lot, but you need to keep moving. I have to back up Midoriya." He swallowed hard but nodded, starting to walk away with Eri. I rushed back in and used my wires to fling me into the air and kick Chisaki in his mask.

"So you're the one that's been messing with my head." He drawled out as he turned to me.

"What, want me to turn up the volume?" I asked, watching as he backpedaled from my quirk at full blast.

"Sonus! Can you level the ground?" Izuku asked as he flung himself into the air again.

"No, not with Nighteye the way he is. It would do more harm than good." I rolled out of the way as more spikes emerged, breaking some of the new ones to spare Midoriya the dodging.

The two of us fought side by side, taking turns attacking and breaking the new spikes, until we tag teamed on him. The two of us dodged as much as we could to tire the young head out, hoping to frustrate him.

We communicated through glances and head nods, I distracted Chisaki while Izuku launched into the air, aiming to send a forceful kick into his head, only for Chisaki to dodge.

"Deku!" I yelled as spikes shot towards him. He dodged most, the ground breaking, leaving two small ones in him, an arm and a leg. With a low hum on my quirk, I managed to break the spikes to where they were shorter and less likely to get snagged.

"Someone else is about to die because of you! Is that really what you want? Eri!" The mouth that appeared on one of Chisaki's hands called out, and I felt the bone chilling fear and dread that I hadn't truly experienced since I was a small child flooded my body.

"You're a monster." I spat out, wiping the blood of my own ears off of my face.

"Wait." I heard Eri say, watching as she stepped back in. "It's not... I don't want this!" She said in a shaky voice.

"Eri, it's okay. We know you don't want this. Chisaki does, not you. None of this is your fault." I told her with my quirk, tears welling in her eyes.

"Eri." The mouth on his hand spoke again. "Look at these two, injured and broken. You don't really think they can defeat me, do you?"

"No, I don't." My heart broke from those three simple words. She wanted to have hope, I could see it in her eyes. But Chisaki was the monster under the bed, nobody had been able to get rid of him.

"Smart girl. So then, what do you suppose you should do?" He asked tauntingly.

"I'll come back." Her shaky voice responded. "But if I do, I want you to make them all better again!" She cried out.

"Eri, you need to go back to Lemillion. Chisaki might say he'll make us all better but he won't. We can beat him, we have more heroes coming to help, but you need to get back to Lemillion. Please." I begged from across the room.

"Ah, yes, it's so much easier to be hurt yourself than to watch while others are hurt for you, isn't it?" He asked sardonically. "These two understand that perfectly. But she doesn't want you." He gritted out.

"Maybe what he said is true." Midoriya mutter while ripping the spike out of his leg. "Maybe you think you don't want our help, but we won't let you down, Eri. I'm not letting anyone die!" He called out, crushing the spike in his hand, when the roof suddenly caved in. Ryukyu, Katsukame, Tsu and Uraraka all came crashing in.

"Ryukyu! You guys came!" I exclaimed.

"Deku!" Uraraka cheered. "Wait..."

"If you're here, who's the Deku we just saw?" Tsu asked.

"That was Toga, the League is here, we'll explain in a minute!" I called out.

"Uravity! Look!" Tsu called.

"Nighteye!"

"Ryukyu!" I yelled up, catching her attention. "Chisaki's trying to manipulate Eri back to him. Nighteye, Rock Lock, and Lemillion got hurt. I don't know where Fat Gum and Kirishima wound up, but I'm going to try and find Eraser Head." I called out before pillars launched up and debris clouded most of my vision. The only thing I saw after a moment was Eri jumping into Izuku's arms with Mirio's cape. I kept searching until I found a hole in the ground, a small explosion rattled around and I jumped into the hole. One of the members of the inner circle stood above my Dad who was blindfolded. "Fancy seeing you here." I told him, watching him clutch his ears reflexively. "We beat your boss, stand down." I told him, hoping my bluff would work.

"No you didn't, that's impossible." I scoffed and sent a harsh kick to his temple, watching him black out. "Dad, are you okay?" He paused for a moment before letting out a very long 'yes'. I slowly undid the blindfold and watched as all of his movements were slow. "I take it this has to do with his quirk, so let me get you to the surface." I told him and picked him up, getting him settled over my shoulder before using one of my wires to get us out. "Ryukyu! Wait!" I called out, rushing over there as fast as my fatigued body would let me. "Get him to the surface, I'll meet you up there. I knocked out another guy from the inner circle." She nodded and waited for me to get him situated on her back. I ran back to the hole and tied a spare bit of rope around the yakuza members wrists, tossing him over my shoulder as well. But once I got back to the hole leading to the surface, I realized I might not be able to get up there. My strength was fading fast, all the adrenaline starting to wear off. But also the distance, I couldn't measure it properly. Especially with the debris falling off the sides, I wouldn't have anything sturdy to grab onto. "Shit." I mumbled under my breath. I sat impatiently waiting for Ryukyu to return since I saw Tsu with Mirio walking over.

"Onryo, you're okay!" She called out.

"Yeah, just a little banged up. I'll be okay." I told her as Ryukyu landed back down, the four of us flying to the top. We landed as the dust settled, revealing Eri wrapped around on Midoriya's back. And a very transfigured Chisaki knocked out on the ground. "Midoriya!" I called out as he crumpled, a yellow light glowing around him.

'Is that her quirk?'

He yelled in agony and I ran around to my Dad, Chisaki broke apart and Uraraka grabbed his original body.

"You gotta look up and use your quirk." I told him calmly as I angled his head up and towards Midoriya and Eri. I watched as Eri passed out immediately after, wiped after losing control of her quirk.

I helped with the aftermath, directing people to where we may have a few stragglers inside, damage control, emotional support.

"Kirishima!" I called out, coughing harshly. "Holy shit, dude." He gave me a weak smile as he was pushed out on a gurney. I turned around as a coughing fit started, aiming it into my elbow out of instinct. I tried finding my inhaler but all I found was it in pieces.

"Hey, I need you to breathe." One of the EMT's said as he came to my side. I couldn't get the words out, all I could do was show him my broken inhaler. He swiftly guided me over to one of the ambulance's and found one of the spares kept in there. I inhaled as much of the aerosolized medicine until eventually my diaphragm calmed down. "There ya go." He mumbled, patting my back. I let out one final cough and spit the pooling blood onto the black top. "Let's get you checked out." He told me and I sighed. Fatgum came rushing over after Kirishima was loaded into his ambulance.

"Kid, are you okay?"

"Yeah, broke my inhaler. Used my quirk too much and scratched up my throat." He sighed a bit and visibly relaxed. "Is Kirishima okay?" I asked him, still slightly winded.

"He's banged up, but he should make a full recovery." I lightly nodded and let the EMT do his job.

"Was the inhaler for asthma?" He asked and I shook my head, briefly explaining the why. "And the coughing up blood? Don't tell me that's normal." He said sarcastically.

"Only when I overuse my quirk, which I definitely did." I mumbled.

"And it looks like, nevermind. You're just full of surprises. You don't feel any pain in your back?" I shrugged a little and he sighed. "You have quite the laceration on your back going across your shoulder blades, you don't feel it?"

"It's uncomfortable I guess." I told him and watched him internally break.

"Okay, let's get you to the hospital." I sighed but sat on the gurney. The doors shut and I let my shoulders slump.

'We did it.'

Pops met me in the hospital, my discharge went by quick and we soon met up with Dad who seemed to be doing much better already. Pops pulled us both into a hug and took a deep breath.

"You two sure know how to scare me." He said jokingly.

"I'm okay. Just some bumps and bruises and a cut on my back. I'm okay physically." I said, watching as his eyes dropped.

"We'll go over the details at home. Okay?" I nodded into his chest and held him a little tighter.

"Onryo did great, he bandaged up Rock Lock, myself and Mirio." Dad added on and I nodded in confirmation.

"I'm glad you two are okay, but I have to get back to the school before lunch ends."

"Sunshine, do you mind waiting a moment? I want to fill in Onryo and then have him go back to the dorms with you."

"I can sit with Kirishima, Dad. I'm sure he'd like some company. That way we don't hold him up." He nodded and we said our goodbyes.

"Sorry I couldn't be with you both at the end, when it counted." Dad said softly.

"It's alright. How are all the others?" I asked him.

"Kirishima's covered with bruises and lacerations from head to toe, but he'll live. Amajiki cracked a bone in his face, and he has some other, minor injuries, but none of them should leave a scar. Fat Gum has a few broken bones, too, but he seems mostly fine otherwise. Luckily, the blade the stabbed Rock Lock didn't hit any vital organs, so he should make a full recovery." He said, relieving most of my nerves.

"I'm glad." I responded softly. "So what about Eri?" I asked, hoping she was okay

"Still feverish and sleeping fitfully. She's being quarantined for now."

"Quarantined? So does that mean we can't see her?" I asked.

"You know, they made that call based on Midoriya's description on what happened back there. She's got a dangerous quirk and no control over it, making that the most dangerous part. If something provokes her enough to activate it again, I'm the only one who can stop her. Teaching her control will be especially hard since her quirk only seems to work on people. When you're training on live subjects, the danger is exponentially greater. Her emotional state will be a factor, too. With so many unknowns, it makes sense to keep her quarantined for now."

"Could try old animals, if it's a biological feature she needs, she would probably have the same effect on animals. And if they're old or injured, she doesn't risk any true damage." I commented, watching him mull it over while we still walked through hallways to Kirishima's room.

"Once she wakes up, I'm thinking about having you there to talk to her. She'll probably be scared, and having someone who understands and can relate to her might help. It also seems you've made an impact on her based on your statement." My heart swelled at the news and I smiled softly.

"I'm glad I did. And can you do me a favor?" He hummed as we stopped outside of Kirishima's room. "Don't tell Pops about the gun?" I asked and he sent me a dull look. "I figured. How's Mirio and Nighteye?" I asked.

"Mirio lost his quirk, we're hoping to find a way to restore it. Aside from that, a few broken bones and lacerations. As for Nighteye, it's not looking good." He said and I could tell by the look in his eye what he meant. I stepped forward and gave him a hug, wrapping my arms tight around his torso. "I have to go get Midoriya, I'll stop in here before I leave." I nodded a little into his chest and went into Kirishima's room.

"Hey, bro. Figured you might want some company."

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 83

Warnings: It's the start of the Hassaikai raid, so violence Word count: 4350

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 82 | Volt 84

We stood outside the compound at exactly 8:30 in the morning. A large amount of cops standing behind all of us.

"Once they've read the warrant, then you're free to move! I'm counting on everyone to act swiftly." The detective told us.

"What's with this guy? Over here actin' like we don't know our jobs." Rock Lock said, clearly aggravated.

"He's just worried about something going wrong, stop reading into it so much, it's not that deep. It's a big operation." I told him while using my quirk, almost laughing as his head snapped around to find who was talking.

"Not funny, ginger." He grumbled. "The real problem is that these Yakuza bastards are good at livin' in the shadows. They see all these heroes and the police, they might just disappear." He said, a large man in a plague mask punching through the door as if it was on cue.

"Think that counts as probable cause?" I asked sarcastically while I stared the large person down, my quirk on full power.

'That's Katsukame.' I thought to myself.

"Whaddya want? It's too early for visitors." He asked sluggishly.

"Aw man! You kiddin' me? How do they already know we're here?" Rock Lock asked.

"Told ya not to underestimate them!" I called back, ready to go in.

"That's good. I'm waking up a little." He said as his arm grew, readying a punch. Ryukyu turned into her dragon form, going toe to toe with the behemoth of a man. "Why are you people here?!" He bellowed. I shot my wires into the ground and anchored myself in place as the air force knocked people back.

"Listen to me!" Ryukyu called as the dust cleared. "We shouldn't split up too many of our forces yet. The Ryukyu Agency will take care of this villain." She said before shoving him into the ground. "The rest of you. Go!" She ordered. I gave Uraraka and Tsu a glance with a single nod before following Fat Gum, Kirishima and Amajiki inside with everyone else.

"This is the heroes and the police! We have a warrant to search your premises on suspicion of manufacture and sale of illegal drugs!" The detective called to the three standing in the pathway to the front door. Kesagiri Man took down one guy who tried to shoot thorns at us, two cops grabbing the other two so the rest of us could run on by. I stayed by Fat Gum's side, Nighteye on his other. People came out swarming us, trying to slow us down.

"Fat! I got a plan! Throw me up into the air!" He looked at me like I was insane but picked me up and did it anyway. I sent one of my lines to the roof and swung over to the lowest awning. "Shattering Waves!" I yelled as loud as I could, aiming my quirk at all the people resisting and making a mock human barrier. A majority keeled over, cupping their ears in pain. "Everybody, stand down! Now! We have a warrant! Anything you say or do, can and will be used against you, act wisely." I crouched on the ledge of the beam, estimating how I should land the jump when I saw something flying at me through my glasses. I reached up a hand and caught it before jumping down, rolling in right beside Fat Gum. The object in question being a shoe.

"Good thinkin', Sonus!" He said as we ran inside. "I haven't seen any signs of suspicious activity yet!"

"Same here. But, hey, we're in it now, right? We got no choice but to see it through." Rock Lock agreed.

"Fat, this feels suspicious to me!" I jumped in, keeping pace easily.

"How?"

"You threw me up into the air, when I swung over to the building, nobody was upstairs. Only one guy in a mask came out so far! Aside from that? Bad gut feeling." I told him firmly. Him, Kirishima, Izuku and my Dad looked at me with concern. "Not 'explosives bad' gut feeling, but something feels off. They were ready for us. That doesn't sit weird with you?" Fat Gum stayed silent for a minute.

"The kids got a point." Rock Lock said hesitantly.

"Is it possible that somebody leaked our plans for the raid?" Amajiki asked. "There must be a reason they all came pouring out like that. Sonus has a point."

"No, if there had been a leak, I think they would be fighting more cohesively. Groups like this are used to working together." The lead detective said.

"There's nothing that matters more to these guys than their bond with their boss and their brothers. Being part of the underworld only makes loyalty that much more sacred to them. All those people outside, but we haven't caught sight of the top brass yet. They're probably underground hiding or getting ready to flee." Dad replied, voicing my thoughts on it.

"How's that supposed to be loyalty? Forcing their henchmen to fight for them while they run away isn't manly at all!" Kirishima barked out, enraged at how they viewed it.

"Those guys are loyal to the boss and his plans. They feel like they owe him their lives. They're willing to do anything to prove they should have a higher rank." I told him, stopping once Nighteye did.

"This is it." He said, staring at a shelf with a flower vase. "There's a device here that opens a hidden passage. You press down the floorboards in a specific order, and then..." The wall pushed back and opened up.

"Thank goodness for your quirk, sir. Guards up. We don't know what we might be facing in there." Centipeder said, only for three guys to try and lunge out. I shot out my wires and wrapped them around one of the guys while Centipeder went from the other two, holding them up in the air in a flash. Bubble Girl came over to the one I had trapped, my wires wrapped around his wrists and holding him in place. She grabbed his wrists and put a knee to his back, letting me retract my wires.

"We'll make sure these guys don't follow. You go on ahead." She told Nighteye.

"You heard her!" Nighteye called, the rest of us running into the passageway. "We're almost there. Hurry!"

"It looks like a dead end. So, what now?" The lead detective asked. Mirio checked the other side and let us know the path continues on like in Nighteyes foresight.

"I got this." I said confidently, zoning in on the dead center, the weakest point. "Pin point accuracy." I said slowly, watching the wall crack and splinter before it crumbled. The floor shook underneath us as the concrete fell away in chunks.

"We need to keep moving." Mirio said firmly but I grabbed his cape.

"Wait a minute." I told him, reaching a hand up to zoom in with my glasses. "Irinaka's up there, he just injected a drug and is going into the wall. Everyone, get ready for an earthquake. We don't know how much he'll be able to move now." I announced, knowing everyone can hear me. We started forward, the floor starting to twist and turn beneath us. The walls and ceiling moving as well.

I shot a wire forward, watching it sink into the cement of a wall and I took the leverage to fling forward, rolling on the landing with the twisting of the floor.

"He's not supposed to be able to control anything larger than a damn refrigerator." Rock Lock said, clearly annoyed.

"Gotta love drugs!" I yelled back sarcastically.

"Remember who we're dealing with here! Eraser Head! Can't you stop him?" Fat said.

"I can't do anything without seeing his real body." Dad said, clearly starting to feel sick.

"Expect the unexpected and everything seems normal. Rock Lock! Can you lock this place down?" I asked, using my wires to secure me to the ground. The walls suddenly stopped and Mirio gave a speech to Amajiki and started running ahead.

"We need to move!" I called out before the floor gave way. We all fell down to the lower level, I landed on top of Fat Gum and thankfully missed the concrete. "Dammit." I mumbled under my breath, rolling off of Fat Gum to pull Midoriya to his feet.

"Now where are we?" My green haired friend asked.

"Somewhere even farther from the target. Those guys're really screwin' with us." Rock Lock said, frustrated at how this was going.

"Well, what have we here? Looks like some state-authorized thugs crashed our party! Isn't that strange?" A yakuza member said, three of them now standing at the other end of the room.

'Setsuno. Larceny. Hojo. Crystallize. Tabe. Food.'

"These guys are obviously ready for a fight! Let's see how long petty criminals can last against the strength of a pro—" Fat Gum said, cracking his knuckles. But Amajiki stepped up, a determined look in his eye.

"The pro's should save their strength for when we reach the target. These guys just wanna slow us down. Go on, I can handle them myself." He said, ready to fight.

"You don't have to, we'll work together!" Kirishima exclaimed.

"Please, everyone stay. I'll kill you all." Setsuno declared, flicking his sword in the light menacingly.

"Setsuno! We can't use our guns on him. It's up to the pros." The lead detective announced.

"You've done your homework. Oh, well. That just means I'm free to let loose!" He exclaimed, charging towards us with his sword drawn. I shared a glance and a head nod with my Dad.

"Think again. Lay down your sword!" Dad commanded him while using his quirk to diminish the villains. A hand ready on his capture weapon just in case.

"Power erasure? He's just an inferior version of Eri. I'd heard that a hero with your abilities existed. But our job's to slow you down. Quirks or no, we still have fists and weapons." Hojo said as he cocked a gun, pointing it at my Dad. I sighed loudly and raised my hands, feigning surrender and stepping in front of my Dad.

"Ah, my weakness, weapons." I said dryly, watching the man stare at me closely. "I'm petrified of when guns go boom." I stated, staring at the pistol in his grasp as it exploded in his hand. Amajiki's tentacles extended, wrapping around each of them as he threw them across the room.

"I can take these three on." He said while holding them there. "We eat tons of Takoyaki at the Fat Agency, so octopus has become one of my specialties. And you know, I gotta say I'm pretty down on guns since I was shot in the street. It's not smart for all of us to fight them. They want as many heroes stalled here as possible. Let's just give them one. We should save all your Quirks, especially Eraser Head's for later. Fat Gum, I know this is something I can do on my own!" The three slowly started standing up, still trapped in the tentacles. Casually, I walked over and sent a forceful kick into Tabe's head, watching him fall unconscious.

"That was just cold, kid." Rock Lock said.

"Tabe. Quirk is food, he can and will eat anything and everything, it's borderline compulsive for him. There are octopus tentacles directly in front of his face, the longer he's out, the better. You heard Suneater. Let's go."

"I see why the boss was so thrilled to get you alone in that warehouse." Setsuno laughed, making me freeze. "He's probably gonna be so mad when he realizes you're here and not in the hospital still. He was so upset that you made it out, he was going to gather your remains and everything!"

"You're only digging your grave deeper." I said blandly.

"You would fit right in, too! What, with that look in your eyes when you exploded Hojo's gun? You looked insane!" He cackled. "You don't jump in front of a loaded gun like that unless you're crazy, kid." I turned around fully and kept walking, getting to the doorway so I could leave.

"Before you go! You have to take care of Mirio!" Amajiki called out to Midoriya and I. "He's definitely going to try too hard. So please keep him safe." He said weakly.

"We will." I reassured him before Izuku and I followed everyone else. We quickly caught back up to our mentors.

"Fat Gum! You're really gonna leave him alone back there?" Kirishima exclaimed.

"He's from your agency, so I left the decision to you. But are you sure he can handle them? Seems kinda risky." Rock Lock followed up.

"I have faith in him. He's stronger than anybody here. His only weakness is self confidence. The pressure to do things perfectly sometimes leaves him feeling crushed. Breaking his spirit. And yet, he's risen to become one of UA's Big Three under those conditions. So I trust him when he says he can take down those thugs on his own. If he believes in himself, I believe in him." Fat Gum clarified and I was glad to know Fat had Amajiki's back. "Sonus." I sent Fat Gum a nervous smile, knowing exactly what this would be about.

"I know." I said preemptively, hoping it would end the conversation sooner.

"You shouldn't jump in front of a gun like that." He yelled.

"I know, I'm sorry for the stupid and reckless decision. However, I knew Eraser had my back, if I didn't think I would have proper back up, let alone any, I wouldn't do that. Plus, his finger wasn't even on the trigger yet. Rule number one about guns, finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot. Double plus, I exploded the gun." I called back out of breath, reaching into one of my pouches to take a puff of my inhaler.

"You alright, kid?" He asked, a few eyes on me concerned.

"Yeah, still getting some side effects from the rubble. I'll be fine." I told him blandly, finally catching my breath again. Dad shared his theory on why Mimic hasn't moved anything in a while, how he might only be able to control sections or he has to stick his eyes or an ear out, until a pillar shot out of the wall right towards him. "Eraser!" I called out, turning around from where I got ahead with Midoriya and Kirishima. My red headed friend and I both dove, but I landed in my Dad's chest while Kirishima disappeared into the wall with Fat Gum.

I'm okay.

I nodded lightly and gathered my balance again, the majority of us taking off down the hall.

"I hope those two are okay." I mumbled under my breath, keeping my pace steady. Then the walls started moving again.

"They're closing in, fast!" The chief yelled as I anchored myself to the ground.

"He's trying to crush us." Dad clarified and I took a deep breath, not letting myself remember what happened a little over a week ago.

"We'll be flattened like damn pancakes!" Rock Lock exclaimed.

"Guess it's true, you can't teach an old dog new tricks." I said sarcastically, trying to find a way out. "Eraser! Switch glasses with me!" He looked at me curiously but nodded.

If they can extend my quirk, they should extend yours too. If you can see any part of him, you can shut down his quirk. These should clear out all of your blind spots.

He sent me a curt nod and handed me his goggles while I handed him my glasses.

"Locklock, do something!" Nighteye ordered.

"Stop giving orders! This is all your fault. Listenin' to you is what got us into this mess!" Rock Lock yelled back. "Fine! This oughta do it! Deadbolt! Once I lock somethin' down, it ain't goin' anywhere." He said, the walls and floors ceasing in movement. Thankfully, I pulled my wires out in time so I wouldn't be trapped there. "C'mon! Let's go! This stretch won't shift around anymore. It's narrow but deal with it." I sent him a single nod and continued ahead with everyone. "My Security Max Deadbolt is strong, but it can only hold so many spots. I'm already hitting my limits." I looked ahead and kept a low hum at the wall starting to move towards us. "Watch the spots I didn't lock down! He's comin' at us!" I watched as Izuku flew forward and sent a forceful kick to the wall, ultimately shattering it. "Shame we lost Fat's team. This'd be a lot easier with them here."

"Yeah, but you still got a few of us able to break stuff. Don't be a pessimist." I told him as we came to a halt.

"We're not makin' any progress here. He just keeps cornering us!" Rock Lock said.

"Thanks for stating the obvious!" I called back, starting to get antsy without seeing my blind spots.

Izuku broke another wall launching towards us. As he recouped himself, I let out a yell towards the moving wall, watching as it crumbled again. He sent another kick to counterattack but then it all stopped.

"What do you think they're planning this time?" One of the cops asked.

"The boost may have worn off finally, or maybe he's plotting, who knows." I said hesitantly. "No, something's not right." I mumbled, my gut clenching.

"Sonus? What's your verdict?" Dad asked.

"I- I don't know. It's just, something's not right. It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop." I mumbled, only for a wall to come up and separate us. Dad threw Izuku and I out of the way from being crushed. Most of us were separated, until we heard a scuffle on Rock Lock's side. Izuku broke down the wall and we saw two Rock Lock's.

"Hey, this imposter clone just appeared out of nowhere and attacked me. Be careful!" The one crouching said, the other on the floor and bloody with a stab wound. Dad went to run forward, but I stuck an arm out.

"Let's see. Toga, or Twice?" I asked callously.

"What? Have you lost your mind? Do I look like a part of the League to you?" The one crouching said in fake shock, moving to stand.

"One more move and you lose your eardrums."

"Sonus." My Dad said in a warning tone.

"I'm sorry, let's try again. If you're really Rock Lock, then you should be able to answer a simple question. You should understand, I mean, we talked about it during the briefing and everything." I said non-chalantly.

"Fine. Whatever. Just ask."

"Eraser." I called, watching as sludge started dripping down, revealing Toga.

She dove forward with a knife and I rolled out of the way.

"Toga Himiko!" Izuku yelled, bordering on getting a bloody nose.

"That's me! Your darling in the flesh. You both remembered me!" She giggled, trying to stab Izuku with her knife.

"Cover me! I'm bandaging him up!" I called back while I got the gauze out of my mini first aid pouch.

"Let me get to Onryo! I want to see him again and cut him up some more! Doesn't the scar I left him just look so cute! I'm just so happy to see you both again!" She squealed. I bit back my bile trying to come up as I wrapped up Rock Lock's stab wound. I turned around and saw Dad had her trapped in his capture weapon.

"This is as far as you go." He said firmly, keeping her trapped, but she swung up and behind him, stabbing him in the shoulder.

"Eraser!" Izuku and I called as my Dad grabbed his own knife.

'The knife has his blood. Is it enough?' I thought to myself in fear while I finished bandaging up the Lockdown hero.

"Eraser, your turn, I don't care if you think you don't need it. You're getting bandaged while Deku finds that knife." He huffed and watched as I packed some gauze on his shoulder before wrapping a bandage around to hold it in place.

"Here, take your glasses back. I wasn't too good at using them." He said, handing me my glasses. I handed him his goggles and crouched in front of him. "How's Rock Lock doing?"

"He lost quite a bit of blood, knife went right into his side so his kidney and spleen are at risk right now. Aside from that, I stopped the bleeding and got him patched up well enough to hold until the medics get here. We should get regrouped with the others." Dad nodded and stood up fully, only for the walls and floor to start moving again. Bits of dirt and concrete flying out in beams, the walls separating us came down.

"That yell. You both heard it, right?" Dad asked. I gave a small nod and got ready for whatever was coming.

"Eraser!" I yelled, pointing to the new hole in the ceiling. Izuku went flying to the top to break the hole open more and fully expose him, allowing our teacher to use his erasure. Nighteye threw something to knock Irinaka unconscious. I ran forward and caught his falling body. "I got him."

"The League betrayed them?" Eraser asked.

"Seems so. And they used us to aid in their scheming. Though at least we're on solid ground now." Nighteye chimed in.

"I need to fill you guys in on something." I announced. "Toga got the jump on us. She stabbed Rock Lock and Eraser. She has a large amount of my blood from Kamino. If Eraser isn't around and I don't seem like myself, ask me detailed questions, something not a lot of people would know. Deku might be the best one for that. The more detailed I answer, the better."

"I wish we knew sooner, but we can't change that. Is Rock Lock okay?" Nighteye asked me.

"Yeah, I patched him up. It should hold him steady until he gets to an EMT. We might want to get ourselves resituated though, our directions are probably all thrown off."

"I'm positive Eri's bedroom is located in that direction." Nighteye replied, pointing one way.

"Irinaka! I want you to straighten out these hallways again, you hear?" The lead detective ordered and I rolled my eyes. "What? You got something to say Ginger?"

"Yeah, open your eyes, they're better than my ears. The drug has worn off and he probably has a concussion. He's in withdrawal. Look at him, cold sweats, his skin is flushed, shaking, bloodshot eyes, if he tried to walk he'd probably be disoriented." He mumbled something under his breath and I turned to the two cops holding him. "You two, if he has a seizure, roll him on his side and get the rope off of him, make sure to time it. We don't know how strong whatever he took was. Got it?"

"Loud and clear." One of the cops responded.

Everyone started having a discussion on what League members might be here and who is definitively. Based on how fast Mirio was running, and if he didn't run into anyone, he should be to Eri soon.

"Why are you fools talkin' instead of actin'?" Rock Lock piped up from where he sat.

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked.

"The cops can deal with the League! You're wastin' time, so ignore them and keep on movin'. Or did you morons forget our mission's top freakin' priority?" He snapped back.

"He has a point. That would be for the best." The detective said.

"I'll hang tight. Someone has to stay behind to keep an eye on Irinaka. And thanks to the crazy girl with the knives, I'm not goin' anywhere anytime soon. Well, go on! Finish what we came here to do. Ryukyu and the other heroes up top. The cops we got separated from down here! Suneater! Red Riot! Fatgum! Lemillion! They're all still fightin' for us. You gotta know that, right? We worked too damn hard to fail that girl now. So go on!" Everyone turned around and headed off.

"I'll catch up, gimme a second back here." I said with my quirk, directing it to all of them with my glasses.

"Sonus!" The detective yelled.

"Unless you know how to check a wound properly, be my guest! If not, then I'll catch up!" The detective paused but nodded.

"You should go on ahead. I'll be fine." Rock Lock tried to press.

"I'm the only one here with any sort of medical experience. You got people to go home to. I'm making sure you do. So work with me for a damn second." He sighed but nodded and moved his hand off the bandage I administered earlier. I slowly took the haphazardly placed dressing off and grabbed my travel size alcohol bottle. "Deep breath, it's gonna sting." I told him, waiting for him to do so before I poured it on the wound. He groaned in pain and tossed his head back, biting his teeth together. I replaced the gauze pad and wrapped him back up quickly. I quickly went into another pouch and grabbed two naproxen, handing them to him. "Naproxen, won't be anything like morphine, but it's the good over the counter stuff and will take a little bit of the edge off." He nodded and swallowed the two tablets dry.

"Sonus." He said. "Thank you. For realizin' that crazy girl wasn't me and making sure I can see my wife and my son again." He told me earnestly.

"Any time. Your son needs his father." He gave me a small nod and I was off towards the others. The only thing audible were my footsteps through the hallway when I saw Sakaki knocked out on the ground, someone from the inner circle. Then I saw the broken wall and the mess inside.

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passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 82

Warnings: It's a small filler chapter cause next chapter is the start of the raid!! Word count: 1946

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 81 | Volt 83

My first day back to class was uneventful. Dad and I sparred in front of most of the class. I used my inhaler once during the entire match, but he deemed he felt comfortable with me going on the mission.

The call came the next day in the middle of the night.

My phone buzzed on my chest, Denki sound asleep on my laptop and I rushed to get my shoes on. Midoriya and I left our rooms at the same time and only gave each other a nod while we rushed to the elevator. Kirishima, Uraraka and Tsu standing in the commons with their phones.

"Alright. You too?" Kirishima asked us.

"We got it." Tsu confirmed.

"It's happening." Midoriya said.

"Hey, you okay? Did you sleep last night?" Denki asked as I came down to the commons to eat breakfast.

"Yeah, I got a little bit of sleep in." I told him lackadaisically.

"What's going on?" He asked gently, careful not to draw anyone's attention to us.

"I'll explain later, I promise. I can't talk about it right now." I told him softly while looking into his eyes. He took a breath but nodded and dropped it.

Kirishima, Midoriya, Uraraka, Tsu and I sat in silence, all of us mentally preparing for today. I gave my brother a hug and Denki a quick kiss and soon left with the others to Nighteye's agency.

"They're keeping this Eri girl in their stronghold?" Rock Lock asked incredulously.

"And by stronghold, you mean..." Fat Gum trailed off.

"The headquarters of the Hassaikai. It's their leader's residence." Ryukyu confirmed.

"So you're tellin' me all that time we spent investigating was for nothing then?" Rock Lock jabbed.

"Not at all, we gained plenty of new information as well." Nighteye corrected.

"How'd you confirm she was there?" Fat Gum asked quickly. I bit back my laughter as Nighteye pulled out Gung-Ho! Glitter Squad 10! box.

"A member of the Hassaikai visited a nearby department store the other day. He purchased a toy favored by young girls." Nighteye stated casually.

"What?"

"That's pretty sparkly." Rock Lock said.

"Listen, maybe the guy just likes cutesy stuff. Different strokes for different folks, Nighteye." Fat jumped in. "You wanna tell us what you're doin' with one, though?"

"Yes. I was there when he made the purchase and overheard his conversation with the store clerk." He explained how he used his foresight on the guy and saw Eri.

"You ended up using Foresight anyway?" Rock Lock jabbed.

"If you recall, I said I'd use it when our path was more certain." Nighteye stated calmly.

"Whatever, this means we've got the data we need, right?" Fat Gum interjected.

"Yes. And we know for sure when they'll be there thanks to our stakeouts." Centipeder confirmed.

"We also worked with the police and already got a warrant to search the place!" Bubble Girl told us happily. "Next step..."

"... is to barge in there!" Fat Gum exclaimed.

"So what's the deal with ginger back here?" Rock Lock asked, turning around from the front to look at me.

"And that means?" I replied dully.

"Last time you went out and these guys were involved, they almost killed you." I sighed at the statement while everyone turned to me in silence.

"Yeah, they almost killed me. Had Fat Gum radio the school so I could say my goodbyes and everything. I don't believe that was just the Hassaikai though. They're working with the League, we can assume that much. As we are all well aware, the League has an interest in me. My bet is they persuaded the Hassaikai to help trap me or take me out, especially since Kirishima and I caught the guy who shot Sun Eater. For what reason, I'm not sure. But I can almost guarantee that the news coverage pissed off the League a lot." Rock Lock took a few steps forward, arms crossed over his chest.

"What makes you say that, Shortstack."

"Shigaraki is a power hungry, egotistical maniac with a loathing for heroes. He wants attention. He functions much like a toddler having a tantrum, that doesn't mean we should underestimate him though. So if he was behind that, or had anything to do with it, the fact that he got zero recognition, it would send him into a frenzy. He thrives off of chaos, whether it be in society or the chaos he makes. I'm aware of the risks, I'm not daft, but my only concern at this moment is getting that girl out of there. And it's Sonus, not Shortstack." Rock Lock licked his lips and nodded, dropping the issue right then and there.

I stood off to the side as Mirio worked on cheering up and pep talking with my classmates, Amajiki looking at him lovingly.

'They're cute together.' I thought to myself, mostly focusing on keeping my heart rate calm.

I followed everyone to the men's locker room, my suit having been repaired fully since the last time. I felt stray eyes on my back, and I already knew who they belonged to without looking up as I got in my costume.

"What?" I asked dryly.

"I- How did you..." Rock Lock trailed off.

"Just because I don't have my glasses on doesn't mean I don't have eyes in the back of my head. What do you need?" I asked again, my tone colder.

"I just wanted to say, it was nothin' personal back there." I scoffed under my breath and popped my glasses on.

"Sure it wasn't." He looked taken aback by my comment. "You don't feel like you can trust me cause I'm a kid. Personally, I couldn't care less who you are. I don't care about your age, your fighting style, who you like, what you look like, what your quirk is, none of it. As long as I know at the end of the day you're gonna have my back out there, couldn't care less about any of that. You saw my scars in person, so what? Now you're convinced I'll have your back and you feel the need to tell me because you felt bad?" He sighed and hung his head for a moment, waiting until I turned to face him.

"You're a good kid, you have a good head on your shoulders. You got morals and I can respect that. So, Sonus, next time work studies come around, I'd be proud if you reached out to me." He said, handing out a card to me. I let a small smile slip as I grabbed it and tucked it into my hero costume.

"Glad to know you aren't rescinding your offer from the Sports Festival." I told him, the two of us starting to walk out of the locker room.

"You saw that I sent you an offer? I'm sure you got loads."

"Almost four thousand to be more precise." He looked at me baffled.

"And through all those, you remembered mine?" He asked in arrogant disbelief. I sent him a cheeky smile and tapped my temple with my index finger.

"Don't forget, high IQ, gotta use it for something." He sighed and shook his head.

"Well played."

"Now then. Let's begin." Nighteye said before we all left, gathering in front of the police station at 8 am.

"As you know, Nighteye was able to use his quirk on a Hassaikai member. Through it, he saw underground facilities, and we believe them to be this Yakuza group's headquarters." The lead officer on the case started, briefing us and all of the cops behind him. "We were also able to confirm that the girl we're trying to rescue is currently being held in one of the rooms there. Although we were unable to map out the entire layout of the underground hallways, we believe the man Sir Nighteye saw took the shortest route to our target. This is the best intel we have at the moment concerning the Hassaikai's stronghold. It's the basis of this mission. Stay smart. These guys are dangerous, and we can expect them to bring their quirks against us, full force. We're passing around a list of current Hassaikai members and their quirks according to our registration databases. Commit this to memory."

"It's solid information to have on hand. Thank you for this." One of the heroes in the front said, an officer handing me a paper. I gazed over it, remembering the key points as best as I could.

"We don't wanna give them time to hide." The detective stated. "Our aim is to identify and apprehend all members as quickly as possible while securing our target."

"Things are moving fast now, huh?" Kirishima asked excitedly.

"Yeah, just remember to stay more focused than me and you'll be alright." I told him.

"You two are energetic, considering how early it is." Amajiki commented.

"Bold of you to assume I slept after we got the message this morning." I said sarcastically.

"I'm getting nervous." Uraraka expressed.

"No joke, first detective work, and now we're cooperating with the police. There's so much I don't know. Onryo seems to be the only one in our class who understands all of this." Tsu said, a finger pushing into her cheek nervously.

"I've dealt with the police too many times and after being a victim in a hero raid that needed to be rescued, it really tends to clear things up. Y'know, like looking at things in a different perspective." I rationed, seeing my Dad behind me look at me curiously.

"All the pros seem like they're pretty chill, huh?" Kirishima asked Midoriya and I as we walked away from the girls studying with Ryukyu. "So brave!" He cheered.

"Hey. I haven't seen Gran Torino around here this morning. You know where he is?" Izuku asked hesitantly.

"Apparently he won't be joining us today." Sir Nighteye said as he walked up.

"Tsukauchi's been keeping an eye on the League. According to him, it looks like they're on the move. Fortunately, we have plenty of heroes here, so we can afford to send Gran Torino." The detective said, walking up beside Nighteye.

"I was wondering where Tsukauchi was, but that answers my question." I told him blandly.

"Maybe we can take down the Hassaikai and the League of Villains at the same time!" Kirishima cheered.

"Oh, yeah!" Izuku returned with excitement.

"Whaddya think Tsukabro?"

"That's the hope, and I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but I won't hold my breath on taking down both groups today." I said in a colder tone.

"Let's do this." Midoriya said, more to himself than anyone.

"Not yet." My Dad said as he walked up to us.

"Ah! Mr. Eraser Head, sir!" My green haired best friend exclaimed in shock.

"I'm teaming up with Nighteye Agency for this. Do you understand me?" He asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"And Sonus. I'm watching you, too. Make me proud." He said before walking off. I swallowed the lump in my throat, my nerves starting to climb.

"Now! Heroes!" The detective called. "Things could get violent quickly out there. If you encounter even a hint of suspicious behavior or resistance, call for help immediately! We're up against gangsters who've avoided capture until now. It is imperative that each of you carry out your respective assignments. And stay sharp in there! We will commence the operation at 0830 hours. Heroes, move out!" He said while him and the rest of the cops saluted us.

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 81

Warnings: Fluff, therapy, more fluff, Dadzawa, Tsukare actually being a teenager Word count: 3932

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 80 | Volt 82

After two nights passed in the hospital, I was cleared to go back to the dorms with a temporary inhaler. My stitches had been healed by Chiyo and removed after the first night, the second night I spent getting caught up on a majority of my homework. I still had a split lip and a mostly healed black eye since Chiyo didn't want to overwhelm my body anymore.

As soon as I stepped in the door with Hitoshi, everyone was out of their seats and to the door. Kiri, Mina and Sero all tackled me in a group hug making me laugh, a lot of my other classmates gave me a hug afterwards, but Denki waited so he could spin me around. Kirishima pulled me into another hug, clearly shaken up about everything still.

"You scared the shit out of me, dude." I gave him a pat on the back while I hugged him.

"I know, I'm sorry. But I'm alive." He nodded and stepped back, wiping a stray tear with the back of his hand.

"Tsukababes, you had us all so scared." Mina said sadly.

"I don't know who you think you're talkin' about pinky, but I wasn't fuckin scared for earbleed." Bakugou barked out.

"Oh relax Bakubabes, it won't kill you to care." Mina sighed and I tried my hardest not to laugh. But I failed, and I keeled over laughing, which turned into a coughing fit, followed by struggling to breathe. I quickly grabbed my inhaler and took a puff, slowly balancing back out to normal.

"Woah, you okay?" Denki asked, rubbing my back gently.

"Yeah, still getting all my air back but I'm good." I reassured him.

"Earbleed, let's go." Bakugou said firmly, hands shoved in his pocket. Everyone stilled, nobody knowing what to say.

"Tsukare, as class rep, but also as your friend, I'm obligated to ask, do you think this is a good idea?" Iida asked, breaking the silence for everyone.

"Yeah, it'll be fine." I brushed off, not knowing how this could go. I followed the blond to the elevator, the two of us going to the top floor. I followed him down the hallway to the roof entrance, confused as to how he knew about this but didn't ask. I just followed him to the ledge, leaning against the brick beside him. "What?"

"So you really almost died?" He asked, not beating around the bush at all.

"Yeah. My heart actually stopped twice during surgery." I told him softly. He stared out into the night sky with a blank face, his mask that he always wore dropping for once. Something I had never seen before.

"That's shitty." He commented, pausing for a minute as he thought over what he was going to say next. "Just let it the fuck out. This is your one chance. I still have to go to fucking therapy and he told me that opening up is supposed to help and shit, figured the old lady told you the same thing. So lay it on me. Get it out so we all stop waking up to you screaming." I stared at him in disbelief for a moment, twiddling my fingers as I thought about opening up.

"There weren't any windows or doors." I said before I could stop myself. "When I got warped away with Toga, we got sent to a room with no doors or windows, like it was a place meant to neutralize me and my quirk. There was one light and it barely worked. She grabbed her knife and told me that we were going to have fun. I couldn't yell because of the muzzle." I took a deep breath and reigned in my thoughts and anxieties. "She uh, she started on my chest and legs before turning into Shiroka, she didn't stop. I kept trying to yell but I couldn't. She turned back into herself after a little while and gave me the scar on my face. I ran out of energy, I felt like I could barely move. She licked the scar. All the way up, then started wiping some of my blood off with her fingers so she could lick it. I thought she was done until she made the scar a little deeper to fill up a few vials."

"That's fucked." He said and I simply nodded.

"What do you remember about Kamino?" He stared off again for a moment.

"I heard your bones when she snapped your hand. Why didn't you scream at all? Anyone under that level of fuckin' pain makes at least some sound." I licked my lips nervously.

"Didn't wanna give them that satisfaction. It makes them think they're winning."

"I thought you were gonna die back there, never thought something as easy as concrete woulda almost taken you out." I let out a scoff for a laugh.

"Nah, I woulda told you if I thought I was gonna die. That's why I had Fat Gum call the school, I wanted to say goodbye to my parents." He looked at me wide eyed before turning back forward.

"Don't get sappy on me, ear bleed."

"Dude, I fuckin' cried on you before, and you're gonna call this sappy?" He huffed and shook his head in what appeared to be slight amusement.

"You're one of the least sappy extras I know. At least you know how to throw a punch." I laughed at his words, the cold autumn air soothing my lungs from any struggle.

"At least you know how to make someone lose their hearing." He barked out a laugh and relaxed a little more.

"So you were really muzzled as a kid?" He asked out of nowhere.

"Yeah, that's why during the sports festival I was so pissed off about it. Especially cause my Auntie Nem knows, she's best friends with my parents and everything." I paused, trying to figure out how to word this. "Nedzu knows too, which is why I'm still confused on who authorized it."

"Pretty sure All Might did." I rolled my eyes.

"Figures." I scoffed. "He's gotten better but he's a prick." I stated blandly.

"Can't believe I actually liked the guy. Shoulda figured he'd end up being a jackass." I laughed a little and nodded.

"Yeah, shoulda been a dead giveaway if you look up to someone." We both laughed for a moment, things feeling lighter between us. A new mutual respect formed. However his mask came back on his face in a matter of half a second when the door cracked open, Denki poking his head through lightly.

"Hey Kacchan, do you mind if I steal Onryo for a bit?" Bakugou scoffed and kicked himself off the side, shoving himself into Denki's shoulder as he passed by.

"Don't fuckin' call me that, Sparkplug." He sneered at him before leaving.

"It's weird that Midoriya is allowed to call him that without getting exploded." He said jokingly, walking over to me with a glint in his eye. I reached out my hands, delicately holding his while I tried to figure out what had him looking at me like this.

"What're you doing?" I asked coyly as he gently pulled me forward towards the center of the roof.

"Trust me?" He asked playfully, to which I lightly nodded. "Can I see your phone?" He followed with, confusing me but nonetheless, I unlocked it and handed it to him. He pulled out his phone and a speaker and started fiddling with a few things before I heard soft instrumental music. He extended a hand and looked at me admirably. "Can I have this dance?" I smiled widely and grabbed his hand, the two of us swaying gently before he spun me. "Between work studies, school and then what happened, we never got to do anything for our one month. I know how important dates and anniversaries are to you, and I wanted to do a little something. Then I thought about when we were on the roof together and I may or may not have asked Hanta and Mina to help me out a little with learning a few basic steps."

"Kaminari Denki, you are amazing." I told him sincerely, moving my hand on his shoulder to cup his cheek as I leaned in and gave him a long, passionate kiss. We both smiled into it after a moment and rested our foreheads together, swaying back and forth before the song changed.

"I may or may not have made a small playlist so that you could have it on your phone so you could hear it better." I blushed furiously and buried my face into his neck.

"How did I get so lucky?" I asked, my voice muffled. He placed a soft kiss on my head while we simply swayed.

"I think I should be the one asking that." I jokingly rolled my eyes and looked up at the sky, seeing the stars were nowhere in sight, everything blocked by clouds when a single drop of rain landed on my cheek. "We should probably head inside before it starts raining more." He suggested, eyes darting back and forth.

"One more song?" I asked, knowing all too well this song had started merely a minute ago.

"My quirk doesn't mix too well with water." He said nervously.

"I trust you." He looked at me with wide eyes but nodded, smiling brightly at me.

It felt right out of a movie scene, the two of us dancing and spinning around, giggling and smiling. The only thing making our giddiness multiply being when the rain started pouring down on us, going from a drizzle to a monsoon in a few seconds. I couldn't contain my laughter, not even caring if I got sick. It just felt right.

Everything about it felt perfect.

He pulled me closer to him to finish off the dance, we were soaked to the bone from the rain, but it didn't seem to matter. We were in our own little world for a moment. His golden eyes casting a trance on my sense of time, luring me into a safety net. The only thing dragging me back to reality was a crack of lightening in the distance.

"Now we really need to get back inside." He said through his stifled chuckles, and I happily rushed inside with him, I clung onto his arm with a smile and walked beside him, having him lead the way to whoever's room. Only to be stopped by Mina crying in the hallway.

"You- You two are so cute!" She sobbed, making me look at her confused. "You two just danced to music on the rooftop in the rain and I want someone like that but you two are so cute!" She said through her tears. I let go of Denki's arm and pulled my pink haired friend into a hug.

"It'll be okay, Min. I'm sure you'll find someone." I reassured her, not being good at handling emotions without a heads up to prepare myself. She sniffled and clung onto me tighter.

"The thunder also scared me." She mumbled into my chest.

"The storm should be passing soon." Denki chimed in, coming up to rub her back soothingly. "Why don't you go relax in Hanta's room for a bit? That way Onryo and I can dry off and change our clothes."

"Okay." She said with a wobbly lip before rushing to Hanta's room. Denki laced his fingers with mine and guided me towards his bedroom.

"Sorry if I overstepped, you seemed a little uh, frozen, I guess." He said gently while handing me a spare towel he had.

"You're alright, I definitely was. I wasn't prepared for her to be crying or anything." I mumbled and ruffled the towel on my hair to get an excess of the water out.

"Here." He said, handing me a small pile of clothes.

"Thank you, baby." I responded, giving him a swift peck on the cheek before ducking into his bathroom to change. I kept my eyes away from the mirror and just sped through the motions, putting on the t-shirt and sweats that almost fit me like a glove.

I walked back out and saw him in a pair of black joggers and shirtless as he searched for a top. I leaned myself against the door jam, admiring the beautiful blond boy before me while he moved around meticulously in search of a shirt. He finally looked up after a few minutes and blushed, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry for taking so long, I couldn't find the shirt I was looking for." He explained through his flushed appearance, fumbling with the shirt he was now holding.

"You're alright, I was just admiring the view." I said with a small smirk, watching him turn into a blushing mess.

'Okay, now I understand why sometimes he'll do this to me.'

"Mina texted asking for a group movie night." He informed me, pulling the shirt over his head. The article of clothing being a light grey, loose and flowy crop top.

"Do you wanna go to the movie night?" I asked gently, watching as he nodded his head quickly. "I'll go with you. Let me just wrap my brother into it really quick." He gave me a thumbs up and I pulled out my phone, quickly seeing the text he was talking about. I called my brother and as soon as he answered, all I said was he was going then hung up. Denki laughed lightly at my antics, the sound warming my heart before my hearing aids died. "My ears just died." I said, dramatically rolling my eyes before tucking the things into their protective case. "Ready to go to Sero's room?" I asked him, making sure I had everything I would need. He nodded and grabbed my hand, both of us going to the elevator and walking to Sero's room.

"There you guys are, was starting to wonder if you were coming." Hanta said as we walked in, a crack of thunder vibrating through the floorboards with a flash outside his window. Mina sat curled up in a blanket on his bed. Kirishima sat on the floor against the bed, a pillow behind his back.

"So what movie are we watching?" I asked while Denki and I made our way over to the hammock, gingerly sitting ourselves in it and finding our balance.

"I was told to be here." My brother said as he walked in the door, a coffee in hand and another in a travel mug. "Here." He simply said, placing the mug in my hand.

"Have I ever told you that you're my favorite brother?" I told him with a smile.

"I'd fucking hope so." He shot back, a sarcastic smirk on his face. I took a sip and let out a breath, my shoulders slouching a bit.

"Toshi, you're amazing." I said calmly, humming in delight at the cinnamon roll flavored coffee, one of the flavor pods that he rarely used because of how hard it is to find outside of the christmas season.

"Can I try a sip?" Denki asked after tapping my leg to grab my attention. I happily passed him the mug and watched as he took a small sip, his lips curling up in delight and surprise. "Cinnamon rolls?" I nodded excitedly as he passed me the travel mug back.

"You two are disgusting." Hitoshi commented while signing, still standing awkwardly near the door. I watched as Kirishima said something, sliding over a little and grabbing a spare pillow, just to offer the spot next to him to my brother. Hesitantly, Hitoshi sat down beside the faux red head and nursed his black coffee.

"So what are we watching?" Sero asked, I simply shrugged and took a sip of my coffee, looking at everyone else for a consensus.

Mina asked for a rom-com and Kirishima asked for an action movie, so the two played rock paper scissors as a way to settle it, Kirishima winning in the end. He picked Fast and Furious, a classic american movie that I had seen before.

Denki curled into me, his head resting on my shoulder, a hand on my chest, with his legs bent and resting on top of mine. I let my arm lay behind his back, my hand resting on his thigh. I stole a glance at my brother and saw him relaxing beside the red head. The movie started, my attention not fully on it since I'd already watched at some point, more of my attention placed on the blond sitting with me. Despite my many attempts of trying to watch the movie, my focus was more nonexistent than normal. My fingers started tracing small patterns on the outside of Denki's thigh, swirls and stars on top of the soft fabric. Different shapes and patterns, lines twisting and turning across the area. I pressed a small kiss to the top of his head, looking down at just the right angle to see a small blush coating his face with the light of the screen before us illuminating his face just enough.

He looked up at me, his beautiful, golden irises peering into mine. I leaned down and gave him a quick peck on his lips before he turned back to the movie. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him periodically glancing up at me and down at where my hand was on his thigh. Gingerly, I moved my hand and rested it on his exposed stomach, only for him to move my hand back to his thigh.

I smirked ever so slightly and continued to try and watch the movie but got distracted once again by Denki. His hand that was previously on my chest moving to trace lines and shapes up the sides of my torso and ribs. My chest stuttered with the jump in my breath, tingling jolts of electricity that didn't come from his quirk making my heart beat faster. He tilted his head up and pressed a saccharine kiss to my pulse point, a faint smile brushing against my skin when he heard my breathing hitch.

As soon as the movie ended, he stood up and I happily followed him to his room. As soon as the door shut behind us, my hands were on his hips and our lips pressed together hastily. We moved out of rhythm, merely focused on each others presence and how we felt in the moment. My knees soon hit the edge of his mattress, making both of us snap to reality and take a much needed breath. I sat myself down on his bed and before I could move, he was straddling my lap. His hands resting on my shoulders while mine immediately found his thighs again. His eyes simply bore into mine, my heart trying to escape my chest as I looked back at him.

"Is this okay?" He asked slowly, his hands trailing up to cup my face, his warm fingers splaying across my jawline and tickling against my undercut.

"Yeah." I whispered breathlessly before he pulled me back into a searing kiss, both of us going slower this time. We slowly started moving in a more reckless tandem until he froze and rolled over to sit beside me, resting his head on my shoulder. I felt him say something but also froze when I saw my Dad walk in.

"Onryo. Kaminari. Separate beds tonight. Now." He said sternly, giving each of us a pointed look. I sighed but stood up, giving my boyfriend a hug and a kiss on his head before following my Dad out of the room.

Head to bed, now, please.

Are you mad?

I'm not enthralled.

Dad.

What do you want me to say, Onryo?

I would like to understand why you just yanked me out of there out of the blue.

Onryo, tonight is not the time for that talk.

I think it is because I don't understand what you're getting at. He stood there for a moment, looking mildly uncomfortable. Oh my gods, you thought-

Enough, Onryo.

Dad, I'm not ready for that stuff. What happened to trusting me and the rule about me coming to you if I was pressured or uncomfortable or if I thought anything was going to happen that I wasn't ready for?

Can we please continue this tomorrow?

I'd rather have the conversation now. We need Pops.

He hung his head but we walked back in silence to his and Pops' place. We were greeted by a confused Pops, who immediately sensed the tension between us.

"What's going on?" He asked while signing.

"I think Dad overreacted a bit." I told them.

"Sho?" He asked, turning to Dad.

"I admit that I might have overreacted a little bit, but I saw the way you two were acting in the hallway, so I think it's fair that I assumed." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"Okay, how about we start from the beginning?" Pops suggested. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Denki and I danced on the rooftop in the rain. He knows dates and anniversaries are important to me, so he wanted to do that for our one month. Afterwards, we got changed and went to Sero's dorm with Kiri, Toshi and Mina and watched Fast and Furious." I said calmly, reminding myself that being level headed is better.

"I got an alert saying there was movement on the fifth floor, I wanted to make sure nobody was sneaking out again, so I checked and I saw Kaminari all over our son." I gave Dad a look and he sighed. "I don't appreciate seeing a loud blond all over you."

"Dad thought Denki and I were about to have sex when all we did was make out. And he came to Denki's dorm to tell us we had to sleep in separate rooms." I told Pops in a grumbling tone.

"You two, what?" Dad asked while looking at me like I had just grown two heads.

"Sho." Pops intervened. "This is new ground for all of us, we're all still learning how to work with this change. Onryo, I understand you're behaving like a kid your age and there's nothing wrong with that. I just want you to understand from our perspective, less than two months ago, you were telling us that nothing would come out of you liking Kaminari and you didn't believe it would be going anywhere. It's also your first relationship, and it's the first time seeing you or your brother being in one." I nodded, taking in what he was saying. "And Sho, we set rules with Onryo and Hitoshi for a reason. Can you agree that you jumped the gun and reacted a little strongly? Especially since we were doing much worse at their age?" Dad pouted but nodded. "Now you two talk it out."

"I'm sorry for accidentally blind siding you and Pops." I told him solemnly.

"And I'm sorry for assuming the worst and reacting a little strong." He said. I leaned over and gave him a hug.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm not ready for sex or anything like that yet." I confirmed for him, watching him deflate a bit.

"Thank the gods." He sighed. "That makes me feel a little better."

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 80

Warnings: More angst, a lot of medical and hospital stuff (i am NOT a medical professional, i’ve merely had bad experiences with doctors), talk of de*th, ptsd and a flash back, some fluff because I couldn’t bring myself to write all angst, we get back to business in the next chapter Word count: 4720

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 79 | Volt 81

The first thing Tsukare felt was the fog clearing in his head, the weight lifting off of his body ever so slightly. Then he fully felt someone holding his hand, it was no longer the sensation of it barely existing, he could feel the warm and comforting touch. Slowly, he peaked open his eyes, adjusting to the bright light of the room. Taking a shaky breath, he slowly took in the familiar surroundings of a hospital room before saying something.

“I’m never going in a vent system again.” Tsukare mumbled with a hoarse throat. He saw several people in the room. Dad, Pops, Hitoshi and Denki. Denki was already holding his hand when his Pops rushed over and cupped his face, slowly taking the oxygen mask off and setting it to the side.

“You scared us, little listener.” He said tearfully.

“I’m sorry. I heard most of what was said while I was out, I’m glad my plan worked.” Onryo managed to get out. His Dad held a cup of water for him with a straw and he gratefully took a sip. “How long have I been out?”

“Six days.” Denki said, making sure his lips could be read.

“Shit.” Tsukare muttered, the brain fog slowly lifting. “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t listen to my gut the right way, I had- I had a bad feeling. I wanted to find out why instead.” He said through heavy breaths, the weight not quite lifting.

“Don’t apologize for that. We’ve all done that. I’m just glad you’re alive.” He said, his face telling another story.

“Dad? What happened while I was out?” He asked, sitting himself up more, ignoring the pain in his side. Aizawa licked his lips nervously, eyes bouncing to Denki for a moment. You can say it in front of him. Tsukare signed loosely, knowing that’s where his current concern was being placed. He sighed and took a deep breath.

“Onryo, your heart stopped twice while they did surgery to find what was bleeding internally.” He said slowly while signing. It felt like the world stopped spinning on its axis, everything was now nothing and Onryo was floating in it.

“My heart problem caught up to me?” He asked weakly. Kaminari looked terrified hearing the news.

“The doctors said a lot of the stress caught up with your body, and mixing that with your heart problem..”

“It was a bad mix.” He finished for his Pops. He nodded slightly and I took a deep shaky breath. “How’re my ears?”

“Still the same. They took a look at everything and said the damage hasn’t changed.” Hitoshi said, finally speaking.

“What else happened?” He finally asked, knowing something else wasn’t being said.

“Can Onryo and I have a minute?” Aizawa asked, nobody argued with him. Denki gave Onryo a quick kiss on the cheek and left with Hitoshi and Yamada. Aizawa handed his son his hearing aids and watched as he slowly put them in. “I need to fill you in on the cover story.” Onryo simply nodded and paid attention to what he said. “You, Fatgum and everyone involved on the stake out were investigating a warehouse after getting intel that the Reservoir Dogs had a facility where they were illegally making drugs. You had a warrant and they sent you in to scoop out the area because of your quirk but there was a small leak in one of the gas lines. The fumes mixed with an open chemical and caused a chain reaction of explosions, trapping you inside.” Tsukare nodded along, the cover story not too far off of the real reason they were there. “The press was told that you’re in Matsushita Memorial Hospital, when in reality you’re in Hirakata City Hospital. That way in case they are trying to tail you, they’re led somewhere else. Fat Gum even talked to a reporter outside to make it more believable.”

“And what’s the real story?” Tsukare asked, needing to know what happened after he blacked out.

“Three bombs went off before you fell into the rubble. Your left hand was crushed in a pile of concrete and breathing in the debris, you needed a few breathing treatments. Even though Nedzu was able to pull a few strings, it took about an hour for Higari to get out there with Tetsutetsu. After that, it didn’t take long to get you out but your breathing was labored and your heart was barely beating. We believe that the Hassaikai started keeping tabs on you and Fat Gum’s agency because of the bullet the criminal had at Kirishima’s debut.”

“Okay.” He whispered, taking in everything he said.

“You know what I’m going to say.” Aizawa solemnly stated.

“The only way I’m not going on this mission is if Nighteye or Fat Gum tells me I’m not.” He told his Dad sternly. He sighed and hung his head.

“Once you’re out of here, we’re sparring. If you’re in good enough shape to spar me, then you can go.” Tsukare rolled his eyes but nodded.

“Win or lose, I’m still going.” He stated, he was already too involved in this, he can’t miss the mission now.

“Onryo, you almost died, just like him.” He paused and took a strained breath. “When you said you didn’t think you would make it out of there, it felt like the world stopped. It terrified me. We already almost lost you once, and to go through that a second time, I couldn’t take it. I know this is how you and your brother and Sunshine have felt before, I’ve had that same feeling before with your Pops, but I was never prepared to feel that with you and Hitoshi.” He licked his lips nervously and Onryo simply let him take his time. Opening up never was any of their strong suits. “I don’t have a good feeling about you going on this mission. At all. I don’t. Between the Hassaikai tailing you and the League being involved, on top of the League having an interest in you, something’s not right. I know this won’t change your mind, but I needed you to at the very least hear me out.” Tsukare reached up to give him a hug, his arms wrapping around his fathers shoulders.

“I’ll be safe, Dad. I’m always as safe as I can possibly be. A mission isn’t going to scare me out of this. I want to help people. It’s my dream.” He lightly nodded and ran a hand over his sons hair tenderly.

“I know, kid.” He sighed and gave him a small pat on his head before answering the phone. He curtly hung it up and turned towards Onryo. “Fat Gum’s here to check on you, he should be up any-”

“Kid! You’re okay!” Fat Gum announced as he swung the door open. “Heard that you just woke up, so I had to stop in and see you!”

“Hey Fat.” Onryo breathed out, giving him a weak smile.

“What’s the word? When you getting out of here?” He asked excitedly, clearly trying to keep his spirits up.

“I might be able to help with those questions. And you would be Tsukare Onryo, better known as Sonus, correct?” The topaz haired boy awkwardly nodded, Fat Gum giving him a firm pat on his shoulder before leaving. Yamada came in after him and sat beside Aizawa. “I’m sorry but per HIPAA laws, only immediate family is allowed in the room.” Onryo rolled his eyes and sighed, albeit a little dramatically.

“They’re my parents. Can we just hurry this up? I’m not a huge fan of hospitals.” She slowly nodded and stepped forward, closing the door behind her.

“I’m Doctor Endo, I assisted your surgeon in the operating room.” She went on to explain what his Dad did, about his hand and his heart, that he was in a medically induced coma, etcetera. “We currently have you on a saline drip to keep you hydrated and a naproxen drip to ease any pain or discomfort you might be feeling. And how does your hearing seem to be doing?” He stared at her blankly before taking out his hearing aids.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s changed, I still need these after all.” She awkwardly nodded and scribbled something on her clipboard.

“Alright, and do you feel any pain or discomfort?” He shook his head a little and popped his hearing aids back in. “Do you have any nausea, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, head aches, blurred vision, or difficulty focusing?”

“No, I just have shortness of breath and withdrawal symptoms.” She looked at her chart quizzically, merely glancing at it before looking at his parents.

“I’m sorry, is he struggling with addiction currently?” She asked hesitantly.

“He’s on a few medications and addiction runs in his genetics. After being on certain things for so long, his body has grown a dependency on them.” She slowly nodded and looked through the chart more thoroughly.

“Okay, and uh, you said you were experiencing shortness of breath? Mind if I just take a listen real quick?” Tsukare simply nodded and let her untie the front portion of his hospital gown. He had the displeasure of watching her eyes widen in silent horror at what she saw. “Take a few deep breathes for me.” She mumbled, lip reading saving him from missing what she said. He followed her instructions as she moved the stethoscope across his chest. “It sounds like you still have some of the dust in your lungs, I’m going to get you started on oxyg-” She paused while looking at the oxygen mask set to the side. “Did someone come in and remove this already?” She quickly asked, grabbing the offending medical equipment.

“We took it off. I don’t wear masks, I have PTSD.” She managed to repress a scoff before turning to Tsukare with it.

“Unfortunately, you have to wear this if you want to get the debris out of your lungs. Just lean forward for me real quick.” She said in a tone you would use to get close to a scared animal.

“Just lean forward for me. That’s it.” Kasumi said in a sickly saccharine voice before Tsukare felt the metal over his mouth and the leather across his face.

Muted screams left his body with hyperventilation. His breathing short, eyes blurry.

‘Take it off.’

‘I was good.’

‘I didn’t use my quirk.’

‘I promise.’

‘What did I do?’

‘Make it stop.’

He came out of the flashback with his hand gripping her wrist. Everyone in the room watched as he sat there unmoving.

“You are not putting that on me.” Onryo told her firmly, his voice cold, void of emotion.

“Onryo.” Yamada said gently, moving next to her and grabbing his sons hand. “Breathe. Breathe it out. You don’t have to put it on.” He said carefully, putting some distance between him and the doctor. Onryo took a shaky breath, his body starting to shake as well. “It’s okay, you don’t have to wear it.”

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” He managed to whisper. He saw his Dad sign something but didn’t process it, only hearing the muffled click of the door opening. His brother and his boyfriend came in slowly, concern and confusion written all over their faces.

“Onryo. Are you alright waiting in here with Hitoshi and Kaminari? Your Pops and I need to have a word with the doctor outside.” Onryo nodded slightly, able to see the rage on his Dad’s face.

Aizawa and Yamada walked out into the hallway with Doctor Endo, it didn’t take long before the sound hero started tearing into her.

“I have half a mind to get you fired right now, lady! You had no right to try and force that mask on you, especially after he confided in you! Did you even go to med school? Pass your boards? Anything! We want to talk to your supervisor, now!” He demanded, livid that she set off one of his children into a state of panic.

“Sir, I understand your concern, but please understand where I’m coming from with this. He needs oxygen.” She tried to reason.

“Then I suggest you look at it from our perspective. One of our children almost died, his heart stopped. Twice. He’s already terrified of hospitals because most of the time you treat him as inhuman. You looked at him as if he was a monster back there. He told you no to an option because he has PTSD, you’re meant to search for another option unless you hit a dead end. Then you tried to force it on him physically. So I suggest that you direct us to one of your higher ups before you lose your job and your reputation because my husband and I are not afraid of socially humiliating you and elaborating on how ignorant your actions were today.” The doctor seemed to pale at Aizawa’s demeanor and started leading the parents towards the chiefs office.

“How mad are they?” Tsukare nervously asked his brother.

“They aren’t mad at you. They’re pissed with the doctor.” Shinsou explained, sitting in one of the chairs.

Tsukare just sat there silently, shaking in his spot as Kaminari held one of his hands before he got an idea. He tapped on the back of his boyfriends hand, catching Onryo’s attention and making him weakly smile while he slid into the hospital cot beside him. An arm wrapped around the shorter boys shoulder and he curled into Kaminari’s side, melting into his warmth. Something he hasn’t realized he had been searching for until that moment. His breaths were still labored and his chest was heavy, but Kaminari was startled at how cold his boyfriend was. His boyfriend who normally ran warmer than a grandma’s oven during the holidays, was cold. He looked at Shinsou with wide eyes and mouthed a few simple words to him.

Get help.

In two seconds, Shinsou was out the door and to the nurses station, dragging a nurse back in with him. Denki slowly got up and sat next to his lover again, holding his hand gently.

“What seems to be the issue?” The nurse asked quickly, a young lady in her mid twenties, clearly meaning business as she thoroughly looked at his chart.

“I know this is going to sound crazy, but he’s cold.” The nurse looked at the blond confused. “He’s never cold. He’s having a hard time breathing and he’s freezing, something isn’t right.” Denki said, clearly distressed.

“Tsukare?” The nurse asked, getting a hum as a response. She grabbed her stethoscope and listened closely, eyes darting back and forth between the monitor and the boy on the cot. She hit the nurse station button, getting two more people in there immediately. “I need an oxygen mask and a crash cart, now!” She turned back to the teenagers frantically as she got her hair up and gloves on. “Both of you out, now, you don’t need to see this, where are his parents?”

“Our parents are talking to the chief cause the last doctor screwed up.” Hitoshi rushed out. Kaminari was already being ushered out by one of the nurses. “I’m not leaving, he’s my brother.”

“You aren’t going to help by being in here, kid. You need to get outside.”

“You can’t put a mask on him. He needs a cannula.”

“I promise you I know what I’m doing, your brother is in good hands.” She tried to reassure but he shook his head, shoving the hands of a nurse off of him.

“He has severe PTSD, you can’t put a mask on him. That’s why our parents are talking to the chief.” She looked at the other nurse and nodded.

“Okay, we’ll get him a cannula but you have to go wait outside.” Shinsou waited, eyes darting between his brother and the nurse but he finally caved and waited outside. The third nurse escorting him out.

“Hey, is there anything else we need to know?” The man that walked him out asked.

“He can’t have any opioids or addictive pain killers. He was born an addict. He has a heart arrhythmia and a history of blacking out.” The nurse nodded and stood up fully.

“I’ll let her know, you go to the nurses station and ask them to page the chief with a 911 and have your parents sent here.” Shinsou shot up and did just that.

“I can assure you, I hear your concern, but to further ensure the right thing happens-” The chief of surgery’s words slowly died off as he looked at his pager. “We need to continue this later, I just got paged a 911 for.. your son.” Aizawa and Yamada were running out the door and down to Tsukare’s room, finding their son and Kaminari sitting outside distraught.

“Hey, what happened? Tell us what’s going on.” Mic said, crouching down in front of the two.

“I noticed he was cold and he still wasn’t breathing right, so I told Shinsou to go get help.” Kaminari said tearfully. The parents shared a look and knew who had to sit with who. Aizawa sat beside his carbon copy while Present Mic sat beside Kaminari.

“I tried staying in there but they wouldn’t let me. I made sure to tell them to use a cannula and about his medical history.” Shinsou fully said, eyes blearily staring into the ground.

“You both did the right thing.” Aizawa told them sincerely. “When Onryo wakes up again, we’re going to talk to the chief again.” Kaminari and Shinsou nodded, waiting impatiently for the nurses to return. After another ten or so minutes, the door opened.

“Are you Tsukare’s father?” The nurse asked Mic.

“We both are.” She paused for a moment but nodded.

“Tsukare’s stable now. He wasn’t getting enough air, causing everything to slow down. We gave him some epinephrine, hooked him up to oxygen and he seems to be doing a lot better now. He’s already conscious if you’d like to go in.” Yamada thanked her and the four rushed inside.

“Hey.” He said weakly, taking a full breath that was only slightly labored. “Did I black out?” He asked, confused on what happened.

“You didn’t get enough air and it almost didn’t go well.” Aizawa filled in gently.

“Well shit.” He sighed out.

“Hi, Tsukare?” A new voice emerged from the doorway. A man stood there, waiting to come in until he was granted permission so he wouldn’t crowd the room. “I’m Doctor Hayashi. I heard you’ve had quite the turn of events today. How are you feeling?”

“I’m able to breathe easier, so I’m good.” He hummed and jotted something down in his clipboard.

“I’ve been assigned your doctor for the rest of your stay here, I’m also a psychiatrist here at the hospital. Do you mind if we have a chat?” Tsukare scoffed and sat up a little straighter.

“I do mind, actually. Every time I’ve had to go to the hospital, someone calls to get me a psych check cause they think I’m being abused again. I’m not. They’re heroes. I’m a hero in training. They’re my family. I’m safe. And I’m tired of doctors starting to act like they actually give a shit. Where was that when I was actually being abused? When I wasn’t happy in a family that you now want to take me out of?” The doctor paused and stood there awkwardly.

“Tsukare, all I want to do is make sure you have the tools available to help you flourish in life.”

“And I do, that alone tells me you haven’t properly read my chart. I go to therapy regularly, I’m on ADHD meds, antidepressants that double for my anxiety, panic attack medication, I have several doctors I see to ensure I’m healthy. I have resources and I’m using them. Are we done?” Tsukare asked, exhausted at the situation.

“With the psychiatric portion, yes. For my sanity, I’d like to listen to your lungs and check everything over along with making sure you know how to use a nebulizer.” Tsukare gave him a curt nod and sat up a little straighter, going through everything he did earlier with the other doctor. “Alright, everything seems to be looking better already. Do you have any questions for me?”

“What’s my diet?” He asked weakly.

“I’m sorry?” The doctor asked, confused that a child would ask that question.

“I’m gonna be honest, doc, this isn’t my first trip to the hospital, and I doubt it’ll be the last. It’s not my first surgery. It’s not my first recovery. And when it comes to something serious, I’m very blunt and I’d appreciate that same courtesy.” He paused and took a deep breath. “So what’s my diet?”

“I’d like to place you on a liquid diet for a few days to see how you’re stomaching those then gradually get you back to solids.”

“Okay, and uh, when am I getting my meds?”

“Within the next hour. Anything else?”

“Yeah, how long am I staying here for?”

“I want to keep you here for two nights for observation, ensure that once we take you off of oxygen you’re still stable and monitor you.” Tsukare shot him a thumbs up and slowly sunk back into the pillows a bit.

“Sounds like a plan.” He muttered, running a hand through his hair.

“Then I’ll be on my way. Let me or one of the nurses know if you need anything.” Doctor Hayashi said before leaving.

“Pops, did you really have to show the picture of me to Denki?” He asked with a huff of breath for a laugh.

“It’s not a bad picture.” Yamada reasoned, slowly reaching up and ruffling his sons hair.

“And ADHD word play?” Everyone laughed hearing that, something that only had good memories associated with it.

Everyone sat and talked for a while, enjoying the moment of knowing Tsukare was alive and well. Aizawa managed to put a lid on his distaste for his son growing up and having a boyfriend, knowing it was one of the few things bringing him joy and sanity at the moment. Kaminari stayed until visiting hours were over, him and Shinsou going back to the dorms for the evening. Once visiting hours were over though, the chief of surgery came down and asked to have a word with the parents again.

“Can I come?” Tsukare asked.

“Uh, I’m sorry, but I think this conversation would be best kept between adults.” He tried to reason gently but Onryo wasn’t taking that as an answer.

“And it’s about me. My health and the fact that I almost died due to medical negligence is what’s being talked about. I should be involved and allowed to have some sort of say or input.” He quipped, the doctor looking at Aizawa and Yamada in confusion.

“He’s always been a strong medical advocate for himself, we’re not going to stop him from wanting to know directly what’s going on with him.” Aizawa explained tiredly.

“Very well, better to learn sooner rather than later, I suppose.” He awkwardly chuckled and led the three back to his office, Tsukare being pushed in a wheelchair by his Pops. “I would like to start by saying, I assure you that this will be taken care of accordingly. This won’t be overlooked. To prove my sincerity, Doctor Endo is on her way to apologize for what occurred earlier.” Tsukare scoffed and waited until the door slid open to reveal the doctor from earlier, the girl looking nervous as she stepped into the room.

“I would like to formally apologize for my actions earlier, to you, the parents and to you, Tsukare. I handled that in a very unprofessional matter and I will ensure to do better in the future.” She said, her hands folded in front of her.

“I don’t believe you.” Tsukare stated dryly, everyone turning to him in disbelief.

“Now, son-”

“Don’t call me ‘son’.” Tsukare shot back to the chief. “That’s a bullshit, well rehearsed speech that every hospital makes staff learn in case something went wrong. Neither of you seem to be able to comprehend how horrific that was.” He turned his attention back to Doctor Endo. “I’m already terrified of going to hospitals. I grew up that way. But whenever I had to go, I always favored having a female doctor because compared to guys, you tend to look at the small things that may not matter. From my experience, woman take care of children at least a little better, and any time I’ve had a woman for a doctor they’ve been able to overlook me having two dad’s or being gay myself. Usually men get more dismissive and standoffish and overall perturbed at the fact unless they’re gay or want to think of themself as a cool bro-dad who’s cool with anything and everything under the sun. Doctor Endo, you lost my trust and respect today, and that’s not something easy to get back from someone. So aside from you getting clearly discomforted about me having two Dad’s, you couldn’t even try and hide the look of disgust and horror on your face when you saw my scars. But I still had a small amount of hope that you would be a good doctor towards me, despite the fact that you never even read my chart.”

“I’m sorry, but there’s no way for you to possibly know that.” The chief interjected, mildly offended at the child’s open statements.

“I told her I could feel my body going through withdrawal, her first question was if I was a recovering addict. If my family knows I have to go to the hospital, they bring my file with them to save time getting records from other hospitals and databases. It says in my file that I was born an addict because my birth mother was abusing opioids when she was pregnant with me. Aside from my list of medications, diagnoses and treatments, yeah, she didn’t read it.” The chief simply sat there in disbelief but didn’t say anything. “I was willing to overlook all of that. You knew I needed oxygen, and after I confided to you that I have PTSD, you brushed it off and tried to physically force it on me. You sent me into a flashback.” He said, his voice strained with emotion. “Do you have any comprehension how mentally taxing and debilitating those can be? I told you I took it off because I have PTSD and I don’t wear masks. I don’t wear masks because I was muzzled as a kid for a quirk I didn’t know how to control or because someone was in a bad mood. But to top it all off, you called for a psych eval after you were taken off my case, because instead of asking questions you assumed my parents were the one hurting me. So no, I don’t believe your rehearsed apology nor do I accept it.” The doctor looked ready to cry hearing that from a teenager.

“Tsukare, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I hope one day you can forgive me.” She said, her head hung in remorse.

“Doctor Endo, you’re free to leave. So, are we all done here?” The chief asked lightly, hoping that was the case.

“No, we’re not.” Aizawa said, turning back to the man in a white coat. “I’d like to request that you have all of your staff go through sensitivity training again, this time more thoroughly. What happened today was unacceptable. As parents, we put our trust in her because she was the main assisting surgeon for our son. Today, she simply traumatized him further. We don’t appreciate what her inability to be professional caused.”

The chief paled and knew this would be a long day.

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 79

Warnings: Much needed humor, a bit more angst in the start but it’s made up for Word count: 1969

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 78 | Volt 80

Everyone sat silently in the hospital waiting room. All of class 1-A, a large portion of the staff, Yoru, Fat Gum, Amajiki, even Nedzu made a point to be there. The principal sitting in Aizawa’s scarf nervously.

A majority had already been waiting for several hours. Some had only been waiting half an hour when a doctor walked out with a clipboard.

“Tsukare Onryo?” The man asked, ill prepared for a majority of the waiting room to stand up. Aizawa, Present Mic and Shinsou all stepped forward, ahead of everyone else.

“We’re his immediate family, everyone else is extended in a way.” The tired homeroom teacher explained quickly.

“Is he okay?” Yamada asked hurriedly. One hand holding his husbands, the other resting on his son’s shoulder.

“He made it through. Recovery Girl healed his arm, which reduced a lot of time and effort. But there were a few complications. Can we talk in private?” He asked the three gently. Nedzu hopped out of the scarf, effectively startling the doctor in order to go wait with everyone else. The family followed the doctor off to the side, waiting impatiently to hear the news. “As you are all aware, Tsukare’s arm was crushed under some of the debris. Recovery Girl managed to heal that immediately, saving a lot of time in the operating room. He had another piece of debris land on his abdomen, it caused some internal damage and bleeding, we went in and found the bleeder. He’s in the ICU for observation and we placed him in a medically induced coma. He coded twice on the operating table. In a few hours, we should have the rest of his scans back to see if we have to open him up again, but he looks like he should make a full recovery.” A few tears fell from the blond, the hand on his sons shoulder moving to cover his mouth. “Since he’s in the ICU, we can only allow in two at a time for visiting, so try and make it quick with how many of you there are today. I have to warn you, he’s really beaten up.”

“We understand. Let me talk to everyone and inform them of two at a time.” The doctor nodded and waited patiently. Aizawa walked back over with his hands in his pockets.

“Mr. Aizawa? Is he okay?” Kaminari asked first, everyone waiting for an answer expectantly.

“He’s recovering. Onryo is in the ICU. Everyone partner up, we can only go in two at a time.” Everyone nodded and turned to someone they would go with. “Hitoshi? Do you want to go with a friend or do you want to come with Pops and I and see if they’ll bend the rules a little.”

“I don’t think they’ll let me in with you two and Pops needs a shoulder to lean on. I’ll find someone to go in with.” Aizawa nodded a little and gave his carbon copy a hug before heading off with his husband to his sunshine child.

Yamada almost cried on the spot seeing one of his children hooked up to so many wires and a ventilator. Beaten and bruised, scraped up and worn down. He clung to his husbands arm for a moment before crouching down beside his child, tears welling in his eyes.

“Hey, little listener. I love you, so much. I know you’ll come out of this, just come back to us. Okay?” Yamada sniffled, his husband rubbing his back lovingly. “I’m here with your Dad, we used your plan. It went off flawlessly.”

“Everyone’s here to see you, so we won’t hold them up. We’ll be back after with your brother. We love you.” Aizawa said, resting a hand on his sons cold, pale hand before leaving with his husband and holding back his own tears.

Shinsou went in next with Oribuko, simply sitting next to his brother and holding his hand as the pro stood to the side.

“Hey. I feel stupid for talking but apparently when you’re in a coma you can hear people.” He started, not daring to look up at his brothers face. “You better hang in there. Who else am I gonna have bro talks and late night coffee with?” He asked sadly, siffling a little. “I love you. So you better pull through. We have assholes to fight together.”

Everyone went in one by one, saying their own sentiment.

Fat Gum and Amajiki. Kirishima and Sero. Midoriya and Todoroki.

Uraraka and Tsu. Yaoyarozu and Jirou. Mina and Hagakure.

Ojiro and Tokoyami. Aoyama and Koda. Sato and Tetsutetsu. Bakugou and Power Loader.

Midnight and Snipe. Cementoss and Ectoplasm. Nedzu and Vlad.

Recovery Girl and Hound Dog.

The last one to go was Kaminari.

The electric blond wanting to go in alone, but also wanting the time to talk to his boyfriend in private.

“Hey, babe.” He sniffled, sitting beside his lover and gently holding his hand. “You’d hate the way you look right now, especially when you wake up and they have the oxygen mask on you. It’s not your thing. You hate it.” He said sardonically. “The room is boring but it’s a hospital, so what can you expect? You’re cold, too. It’s weird. You usually run like a furnace.” He paused for a moment, rubbing his thumb back and forth across his cold hand. “I don’t know if you can hear me. It’d be really awkward if you can’t.” He laughed dryly. “I wish you never went into that stupid building today. I know I’m not allowed to know the details, but after this is all over with your work study, I wanna hear about it. Your Dad scared the shit out of me. He called me out of class and sat me down, said that you were trapped in a building and you didn’t think you would make it out. I was so scared that I was going to lose you.” He said in a wobbly voice. Making sure his voice was loud enough and he was close enough to his boyfriends ears that he might be able to hear him.

He kept talking until Aizawa came and gave him a gentle look. An odd one for the blond to receive from the normally grumpy man. He took a deep breath and placed a gentle kiss on Tsukare’s forehead before getting up and walking towards the door.

“Kaminari.” Aizawa said, placing a hand on his students shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let Onryo know this, but I’m glad he has someone like you. He’ll pull through. Just give him time.” Kaminari nodded once and walked back out to the waiting room to his best friend. Sero opened his arms and pulled the electricity user into his arms, holding him as the usually cheery blond finally cried. Kirishima sat off to the side, his head resting on Mina’s shoulder sullenly.

Everyone walked back to the train station and back to the dorms in despair.

Everyday, Kaminari went to the hospital to hold Tsukare’s hand and tell him about his day. A majority of the time, he crossed paths with some of the teachers, each time earning a sympathetic glance and a pat on the arm. He sat there, simply talking in hopes of making sure Tsukare wasn’t lonely. Placing gentle kisses on his knuckles and holding his hand. A number of times one of his relatives walked in and just sat with Kaminari.

“I never thought I’d see him have his first boyfriend.” Present Mic said to him on the fourth day, piquing Kaminari’s interest. “Sorry, for how out of nowhere that was. I’m just, it’s nice seeing him happy.” He hummed, his long blond hair up in a bun while his reading glasses were perched on his nose.

“How come you thought you’d never see him have a boyfriend?” Kaminari finally asked, the curiosity eating at him.

“He’s my sunshine child, but you know as well as anyone, he’s closed off. He doesn’t like to let people get close to him. Somehow you managed that.” He said happily, proud of how far his son had come in life. A small tear brimming his eye but he willed it not to fall. “Sorry, this all just hits a little too close to home.” He briefly said, closing off that part of the conversation.

“If someone told me a few months ago, heck, even a year ago, that I’d come to terms with who I am and have a boyfriend despite knowing my parents aren’t supportive, I never would’ve believed ‘em. But I’m stoked that it did and that it happened with Onryo.” He shared, placing another chaste kiss to the boys knuckles.

“You’re a good kid, Kaminari. And if things aren’t safe at home, I hope you know you can come and talk to someone.”

“I know, sir.” He confirmed, closing off his bit of information. “What was he like as a kid? I mean, I doubt he’ll ever let me see embarrassing childhood pictures or anything, but what was he like?” Mic smiled fondly, thinking back to everything over the years.

“He was quiet, barely said a word, he was always signing.” He started, relaxing in his chair a bit. “It took a little while for him to come out of his shell and start to feel comfortable, but once he did, he had so much energy. He’s always loved learning things and would come home from school with a different random fact. We don’t have baby pictures but, I do have this.” He said while fishing through his pocket for his wallet. He pulled out the slip of laminate that held pictures of his sons and pulled out the infamous picture from his third night home while he was laughing at something his Dad said.

The one where he looked just like Shirakumo.

“No way! How old was he in that?” Kaminari asked in pure excitement.

“He was eight, this was on his third night home. Shouta said something about cats and Onryo just broke out laughing. I couldn’t pass up getting a picture.” Mic explained fondly, admiring the memory the picture held.

“His hair was so…” Denki struggled to find the word he was looking for. “So.. so sticky uppy.” Yamada tried to control his laughter but couldn’t. Kaminari flushed out of embarrassment, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck since he couldn’t remember the word he was looking for.

“I haven’t had an ADHD word play in a while.” The english teacher let out between laughs, finally reigning himself in. “It happened all the time while ‘Ryo was growing up. Did you mean grown out?”

“Kinda? Like that’s part of it but it’s not.” He sighed.

“Oh! Untamed!” Mic called out.

“Yes! That’s as close as it’ll get!” Kaminari responded. Mic laughed a little and smiled fondly at his student.

“I haven’t done that in a while. One of Onryo’s best ADHD word play moments was when he called the light switch the ‘inside sun control.’ Hitoshi didn’t let him live it down for well over a year.” Kaminari let out a genuine laugh, smiling as he thought of his boyfriend who had such a way with words, fumbling over something used in everyday life.

“My best moment with it was when I was at Sero’s. I couldn’t remember the name for controller so I called it ‘button click click’ and he just awkwardly passed it to me.” That made Present Mic laugh a little.

“I see why you and Onryo work so well together.” Kaminari smiled slightly, feeling himself relax.

“Thank you, sir.”

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passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 78

Warnings: Injury, talk of death, big trigger warning for angst, I didn’t want to get too into it so I kept it shorter, it gets a little depressing Word count: 2066

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 77 | Volt 79

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Fat Gum asked me one last time as we stood outside a mainly concrete building.

“I’m sure.” I told him, determined to see this through. This was our second stake out since the meeting, everyone was putting in their all to narrow down the location. I had to help.

“Okay, gimme a run down of the plan one more time so I know we’re on the same page.” He said, crouching down to meet me at eye level.

“The walkie talkie is connected with bluetooth to my hearings aids, if I see anything, radio back for further instruction. If not, then I check in every half hour. I follow the blue prints of the building and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Keep quiet and don’t get found, if I am, radio in and tell them we have a warrant. Code red is for an emergency and I need to get out quick, code black, there’s an explosive and we need to clear the area. Code yellow, there’s people in there, code blue we all need to leave, questions later. And if something happens to the radio, you guys have thermal lenses to have an eye on me.” Fat Gum nodded once and gave me a pat on my shoulder. “I’m ready.” I confirmed, cracking my knuckles.

Everyone watched with a baited breath as I climbed into the ventilation system. I knew this was also a test for me from Fat Gum, probably advised by my Dad to help me determine easier if I wanted to be an underground hero or not.

After I made my first turn, I heard the buzz of the radio fill my head.

“Testing, Sonus, can you hear us?” Fat Gum asked over the radio. I grabbed the walkie and took the flashlight out of my mouth.

“Loud and clear. Just made my first turn to go around the perimeter of the building.” I replied.

“Radio back in once you check the first room.”

“Copy that.” I told him, getting situated again while looking closely at the map. I followed thoroughly where to go until I came across a grated bottom ten feet in front of me. “Coming up on the room.” I said over the radio, moving slower as I approached the small opening. I scanned the room over for five minutes, noting everything I could until I came to the conclusion nobody was there. “First room is clear. There was a desk, a stack of papers, a few filing cabinets, the door was open, nothing stood out though.”

“Copy that, Sonus. Keep it up.” Fat Gum said.

I continued on the route I mapped out, stopping for five minutes at every room and ten minutes at every hallway corridor. After the third room, though, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach and stopped between rooms, just to ensure nobody would hear me outside of heroes.

“Fat Gum?”

“What do you see kid?”

“Nothing. That’s what’s making me so uneasy right now.” I mumbled, trying to wrap my brain around it. “Just, I know this sounds crazy, but it feels like everything is being staged. All three rooms I’ve looked at are carbon copies and we aren’t in an office building. I got a bad feeling.” I licked my lips nervously. “I have a request. You’re my superior. Do I have permission to walk around the building to get a closer look?” I asked delicately, not knowing how this would go. “By the looks of it, there’s nobody inside.”

“Let me check in with Nighteye and let’s go from there.” Fat Gum responded. I waited patiently, not knowing if it would even be allowed. “Sonus.”

“What’s the verdict?”

“I got in touch with Nighteye. He said after you’ve cleared the area through the vents, you can check it out on foot. You’re only allowed in if nobody is there.”

“Copy that.” I told him cheerfully.

Well over an hour and a half passed of me checking through the vents and everything looked the same. All of the rooms exactly the same, the same desks, chairs, set up, filing cabinets. They were spitting images of the first one I saw.

“Last room is clear. I’m goin’ in. Cause now I’m determined to figure out why everything was staged.” I calmly said, my brain itching at figuring out what’s going on.

“Be safe, Sonus, and keep us updated.”

“Got it.” I took a deep breath and got everything situated, pocketing my flash light and map, putting the walkie back where it goes. Slowly and quietly, I removed the grate from the ceiling, testing my grip on the edge before lowering myself down. I landed with a soft thud and grabbed my radio and flashlight. “I’m in.”

“What do you see?” Fat Gum asked me over the radio.

“Okay on the desk, the paperwork is all blank. It’s all just loose leaf paper. And I’d be willing to bet all of the other desks are the exact same.”

“What about the filing cabinets?” I walked over to the nearest one and opened it, going through each drawer and feeling around for false bottoms.

“All the drawers are empty.” I told him in defeat. “I’m looking around more, nothings adding up. This has bad news written all over it.” I mumbled, making my way out of the room slowly. “Keep an eye on me with the thermal, just in case I miss something.”

“Gotcha.”

I took a steady breath and went down the hallway, keeping my eyes ready for any movement. The next room, everything was the same. And each room after.

“Sonus, I think this was a bust, let’s just keep eyes on the outside for now.” Fat told me over the walkie.

“Fat Gum, something isn’t making sense. I can’t put it together in words. I just, I need you to trust me. Please. This is gonna sound crazy, but when I have a gut feeling this strong, it’s rarely wrong. And if I can’t trust my gut, then I’m screwed. Somethings… holy shit.”

“What do you see?”

“Nothing. I- I see nothing and that’s the point. Where’s the best place to hide something? When you want something to get overlooked?” He paused for a minute, clearly letting my words sink in.

“You hide it in plain sight. Kid, I’m trusting your gut right now. Go find it.” I gave a small nod and grabbed a bag out of my pocket, grabbing a pen off the desk and tucking it away.

“I grabbed a pen just in case we can get a print. Someone had to set this up, so if they were careless enough to not wear gloves, we might just have a lead.”

“Good thinking kid.”

I took a deep breath and knocked on the wall of one of the rooms, a hollowed thud resounding through my hearing aids.

“It’s drywall.” I muttered, scrambling for the radio. “Fat, it’s single panel drywall.”

“What are you getting at?”

“It’s a trap.”

“Sonus, get out of there, now!” He called back. I felt the ground shake beneath me as I took off running.

“Code black!” I called back over the radio, running through the halls back to the room I came in from.

“Get out of there kid!” I ran as fast as I could back to the room, but the door was not shut and locked.

“Shit.” I said under my breath, running for the next room. I got on top of the desk but the grate wouldn’t move. “Fat, they trapped me in. I can’t get out.” I called into the radio. I watched as cracks formed across the floor. “Fat Gum. I’m not getting out of here. It’ll take too long to break a wall this thick and the whole building will crumble on me anyways. Get a team down here, I’m gonna be trapped for a while.” I said right before the floor gave way under me.

When I came to, everything was dark. A small gleam from the outside light came in and my whole body hurt. I let out a few painful coughs, my chest wheezing and heaving with every breath. I reached for the radio, pulling it to my face.

“Fat?” I said weakly, feeling light headed.

“I’m here kid.”

“How long have I been out?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Six minutes. It’s good to hear your voice.”

“Same to you.” I said meekly. I shuffled for my flashlight, finally finding it after a minute. I looked around, almost seeing nothing but the rubble. Then I saw my left arm pinched under some concrete. “Fat?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to ask you a favor.” I licked my lips and took a shallow breath. “Call U.A. please. Tell Nedzu what happened and get my family on the same frequency as us.” A stray tear slid down my cheek. “I’m not getting out of here.”

“Don’t talk like that, Sonus. We’re getting you out.”

“Please?”

“Tsukabro?” I heard Kirishima’s voice cut in.

“Hey.”

“Don’t give up, man. We still need you. You’re one of my best friends.” I could hear the tears in his voice.

“I’m not giving up. We still have to hit the gym together so you can get a new PR.” He let out a weak laugh.

“Fat’s calling your parents.”

“Thank you.” I mumbled, starting to struggle with keeping my eyes open.

“Onryo?” I heard Dad say after a while, another tear falling.

“Hi Dad. Are Pops and Toshi there?” I asked weakly.

“Hey little listener.”

“I’m here.” The two answered.

“I’m sorry.” I said, letting the tears fall willingly. “I don’t think I’m gonna be home in time for dinner.” I told them with a sad smile on my face even though they couldn’t see me.

“Don’t talk like that, we’re gonna get you out of there.” Dad said softly.

“There’s only one plan I can think of but it’ll take too much time.” I said, starting to chase my breath.

“Lay it on me.” Pops said.

“Uncle Higari and Kirishima. Maybe Tetsutetsu, too. Get a hole dug to me while those two get the rocks off my arm. It would take too long though.” I sniffled. “Look, I don’t think I’m gonna get out of here. I wanted to say I love you guys, and Dad, thank you for finding me that day.”

“I love you too, Onryo.”

“I love you, bro.”

“I love you little listener.”

“And in case I can’t make it to the party, Dad. Give ‘em hell for me. I’m sorry. I walked right into their trap, by the time I realized, it was too late for me to get out.” I said sadly, not even bothering to wipe my tears.

“You can give ‘em hell yourself. You’re making it to the mission. You signed on, you fought me for this, you’re gonna see it through to the end.”

“Can one of you tell Denki I said goodbye? And Izuku? And Mina and Sero and the rest of our class? And our aunts and uncles? And I guess my blood family?”

I started fading in and out of consciousness. I could hear my family talking here and there, the bits I heard I couldn’t make out. Just their voices. But that was all I needed.

I wasn’t scared.

I felt at peace almost.

Like I was floating around in the nothingness.

Then my thoughts turned.

To Dad and Pops and Hitoshi.

All my aunt’s and uncles.

Spots and Mittens.

The people I’ve saved.

Yoru and Nakami.

My class.

My friends.

Denki.

I was prepared to die. I have been for a while. But I never thought of what I would regret leaving behind. Of how much I would regret it.

I can’t leave them yet. This isn’t how I wanted it to happen.

I’m not ready yet.

I never thought this was something I’d want…

But I want more time.

I want to do more.

I want to save more people.

I don’t want to die.

I want to live.

0 notes

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 77

Warnings: A bit of repetition but I promise there’s a point! Stress and a little anxiety, Onryo has a panic attack Word count: 2992

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 76 | Volt 78

Classes dragged on throughout the day. It was finally the last class, lunch having already passed. Denki and I had an arduous conversation last night of why we can’t have sleepovers for a few days, but we compromised on sleeping on the phone together. Except I didn’t get any sleep. I couldn’t risk seeing those things again, the fears of that and risking breaking more things was enough to spark my anxiety and make my heart race faster than it already does. My brother kicked my chair, pulling me out of my aimless staring and spacing out.

What’s going on with you?

Nothing.

Bullshit.

I dismissively shook my head and turned back around, Dad’s eyes trained on us as he continued his lecture.

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion at the moment, everything weighing on me. Hurting Denki, the nightmares, the girl in danger. My heart panged against my chest violently, my arms and hands started tingling, traveling up to my nose and across my face. It was like someone was standing on my chest. I shakily raised my hand, catching a glimpse of a concerned look from Dad.

“Yes, Onryo?”

“Can I go to Recovery Girl?” I breathed out, hands trembling against my desk. He gave one nod and I hurried out of my seat and past the door. Despite rushing to her office, it seemed to take longer than normal to get there. My vision slowly became blurry and breathing was a chore through the hyperventilating.

“Tsukare? Dear, take a seat for me. I’ll grab your meds, just sit tight.” I followed her instructions and sat on the cot, my legs bouncing a thousand kilometers a second. I ran a hand down my face, wiping at any stray tears. I quickly downed the two pills she handed me and waited impatiently for the medicine to go into effect. “Did anything trigger it, dear?” I fervently shook my head and looked at the ground. “Would you like me to call one of your parents down here if they don’t have a class?” I gently nodded my head, sniffling a little.

My Pops shouldn’t have a class right now.

She gave me a small pat on my hand and went back to her desk, making a quick phone call. In a short amount of time, Pops was sliding open the door and sitting next to me.

“Hey little listener, everything okay?” He asked gently, crouching in front of me. I nodded a little and took a shaky breath. “Onryo? How long have you been up?”

I don’t know, probably around 38 hours?

“Onryo. You need to get sleep.”

I will.

“Onryo.” He said slightly sterner.

I know, Pops. Just couldn’t sleep last night.

“You already know what your Dad and I are going to suggest.” I sighed but nodded.

Sorry.

“You have nothing to apologize for.” I huffed out a mildly sarcastic breath at his words and sniffled.

Can you let Dad know I’m spending the night? I froze and another round of nausea came over me at a sudden realization, a memory popping up out of seemingly nowhere. I need to go talk to Nedzu about something, family meeting later. Love you.

“Onryo, slow down. What’s going on?” He asked lightly, blocking me ever so slightly with his body.

“Pops, I just remembered something big and I need to talk to Nedzu about it. It’s about the family meeting later.” He sighed and gave me a kiss on top of my head before letting me go. I rushed down to Nedzu’s office, knocking on the door and waiting for it to slide open. My principal cracked it open, clearly surprised to see me.

“Tsukare, pleasure to see you. What brings you to my office? Take a seat, is everything alright?” He asked calmly as I sat on one of the couches.

“I just remembered something. A-And it’s important. I think I repressed it, so it didn’t come up when I gave my statement about Kamino. I’m sorry.” I choked out, my throat feeling like it was closing slightly.

“Tsukare, take your time. You’re not in trouble for something you couldn’t remember. What about Kamino is this about?”

“It’s about Toga, sir.” His face scrunched a bit, an odd look for the intelligence oriented principal to have. “She- When-” I couldn’t get the words out, my heart pounding against my chest deafeningly. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could hear it, too. “When we were warped into the room and this happened,” I started, gesturing to the scar going down my neck, “I saw her drink some of my blood.”

“I remember reading that in the report.” He confirmed, waiting patiently for me to continue.

“She collected some of it in a few vials.” I said weakly, terrified for what this could mean. The room was so quiet, our breathing sounded exaggerated.

“You’re sure of this?” He asked softly, not doubting me but to confirm.

“I’m sure.” I whispered, my voice trembling. “I had a nightmare the other night, of Toga and she turned into Denki. I think that’s what sparked the memory. I might have mentioned it to Tsukauchi, but I don’t know if I did or if I said how much. It’s a blur.” I told him hesitantly. “I came to you right away, hoping we could implement a system of some kind to be sure it’s never her impersonating me.”

“I’m glad you came to me. I’m going to figure out a definitive way to ensure that never happens. I’ll call you down when I do and we can fix anything that may need tinkering.” I simply nodded and clenched my hands tight, hoping to ground myself. “Tsukare? Is there anything else you would like to talk about with what happened in Kamino?”

“I’m kinda glad she missed my jugular and carotid.” I said in a somewhat joking tone.

“Tsukare. Part of recovering from it, a vital part, is talking about it. More than once. Have you spoken to anyone about what happened?”

“I talked to Tsukauchi for my statement, my family listened to it so they know. And Bakugou knows because he was there.” Nedzu gave me a pointed look and I sighed. “I really don’t want to talk about it, but thank you for the advice.”

“Tsukare.” I looked at him briefly. “My door is always open if you’d like to talk about it.”

“Thank you, sir.” I said softly before leaving. The final bell ringing, meaning school was officially out. I sent a text to the family group chat, calling a family meeting before walking to my parents place. I let myself in with the spare key I was given and sat on the couch, waiting patiently for everyone to get there. In ten minutes, everyone was in, Pops and Dad giving me a hug, Hitoshi being the last one to arrive.

“Onryo? You called the meeting, you get to start.” Dad said softly, gesturing to me with an open hand. I sat hunched over, forearms resting on my knees, my brother beside me, our parents in front of us.

“It’s about Toga.” I started, much like I did with Nedzu. “She has my blood in vials.” I told them.

“What are you talking about?” My brother asked quickly, asking the question everyone had.

“In Kamino. I guess I blocked it out or something. When we were in the room, she drank some of my blood, but she also collected some of it.” I confirmed with a shaky voice. “Nedzu’s making a plan for me coming into the school and whatnot, to make sure it’s me but we need to come up with something that each of you can ask me that nobody else would know. So that if the time ever arises, you know if it’s really me or not.” Pops looked ready to faint or cry, maybe both. Dad looked concerned and Hitoshi sat there in disbelief.

“I’ll ask you what I call your Pops or where I found you when we adopted you.” Dad said, soothing my concerns a little.

“Sunshine and Oike Park.” I replied instantly.

“I’ll ask you how your Dad leaves reminders for us.” Pops said softly.

“Color coded sticky notes.” I said.

“And I’ll ask what we first bonded over.”

“Our parents being our favorite heroes and cats.” I told him, receiving a soft nod. “If you get a vague answer, it’s not me. The more precise the answer, the better.” I said, wiping my face in hopes of wiping away my growing anxiety, knowing I would have to go over this with our classmates.

“It’ll be okay, little listener.” Pops tried to sooth me but that sparked a new set of emotions, tears welling in my eyes.

“What if nobody notices and it happens?” I asked shakily, my brother pulling me into his side.

“We’ll notice. You’re our son. And Hitoshi’s your brother. We’re family. We’ll notice no matter what.” Pops said gently, sitting on my other side.

“Promise?” I asked weakly.

“We promise.” Dad confirmed, crouching in front of us. “I have to play the tough parent now, but you need to go talk to your classmates. You can’t push this off.” I sadly laughed and nodded, pulling our Dad into a tight hug. “I love you both.”

Hitoshi and I returned the sentiment, making our way to the dorms. My brother sent a text to the class group chat, telling them to meet in the common area asap. When we walked in, everyone was gathered around. Iida, Denki and Izuku the first ones up and to the door.

“Shinsou! You called a meeting! I’m glad to see you taking initiative, however, is everything alright?” Iida asked with his robotic arms.

“Hey babe, you okay?” Denki followed up.

“Hitoshi? What’s going on? Are you alright? You don’t call meetings like this. You hate these things.” Izuku said, clearly worried. I leaned against the back of one of the couches, my brother and Denki on either side of me.

“I texted the group chat for Onryo.” He casually stated. Bakugou huffed and started walking away.

“Like hell I’m gonna listen to earbleed go on and on about some stupid nerd shit.” He barked out.

“Shut the hell up and sit your ass back down, Bakugou.” I called back. Everyone froze, the blond turning around like I just called him a slur. He could tell by the single look in my eye that he had to be here and leaned against the door frame. “It’s about the League, more about Toga than anyone else.” I took a deep breath, my nails digging into my palms. “Nedzu and I are working on a foolproof plan for identifying me everyday, but Toga got some of my blood, a lot more than she got from Uraraka. So, if anyone has even an inkling that it’s not me, you or someone else has to ask me a personal question. One that not a lot of people or anyone else would know. If I give a vague answer it won’t be me, get someone else to ask me a question or get my Dad to come and erase my quirk. I’m asking all of you to think of questions you can ask me in case you think something isn’t right.” I said painfully. My friends and boyfriend looked appalled, not knowing how to take this.

“When did she manage to get your blood?” Yaoyarozu asked hesitantly.

“In Kamino.” My words came out clipped and bitter.

“Tsukababes, what happened in Kamino?” I rolled my lips together, fighting to keep the wall of secrets built up.

“We got sent to another room and she cut me up.” I said, my tone harsh while I stared at my hands.

“That’s not all that fuckin happened.” Bakugou retorted.

“Watch it.” I firmly said, glowering at him.

“Then what else happened, ear bleed?” He pressed, taking a few steps closer to me.

“Bakubro.” Kiri gently said, hoping to get him to back off.

“She turned into Shiroka.” I said, staring at him in his scarlet eyes. He paused, clearly not knowing or expecting that.

“Who’s Shiroka?” Uraraka asked timidly.

“My psycho birth mother.” I curtly stated, Denki’s hand coming up to hold one of mine. “She used to stalk me, tried to kidnap me, the works. They got her in on it and Toga turned into her.”

“Is she the one who gave you all your scars?” Hagakure asked softly. I grimly shook my head, knowing the truth would hurt a lot of my friends.

“No.” I huffed, letting out a breath of a sarcastic laugh. “A lot of them are from different foster homes before I was adopted. Some of them are from Shiroka, from Kamino. Others are from Toga, some are from me, the burns are from Dabi.” I said, biting back any tears that wanted to come out. “Some of them are my own fault, I guess. I basically told them to use me as a fucking punching bag back there.”

“Tsukabro? What are you talking about?” Kirishima asked gently, looking completely and utterly defeated.

“They wanted to break us in Kamino. To get us to join.” I replied, glancing at the angry blond who still stood there. “I told them to give me their worst so they’d leave Bakugou alone. It wasn’t- It wasn’t a new pain for me, knew I could take it, so I did.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, Onryo.” Tsu said gently, looking at me with her own bleary eyes.

“It’s not your fault.” I gently told her. “Gotta reap what I sow.”

“I have the same habit.” Shoji said with one of his dupli-arms. “I’ll let myself get hurt before it happens to one of my friends.” He slowly reached up and took off his mask, revealing his scarred face. “The people back in my home town don’t like mutant quirks. So they took their hatred out on me. I had basically nothing until I got here.” He stated plainly, eyes boring into the floor.

“You shouldn’t have had to endure that, Shoji.” I told him, his eyes meeting mine.

“And neither should you.” I gave him a small nod of thanks.

“Onryo?” Izuku asked softly, turning everyone’s attention to him. “What happened in Kamino?”

“Nothing else of importance.” I stated firmly.

“Onryo?” He pressed slightly.

“You can talk to us, man.” Kiri chimed in. “We’ve all been through a lot together already, we all sleep in the same place and see each other everyday. We’re here for you. Whatever happened, you can talk to us.” My heart pounded brutally against my rib cage, feeling trapped between a wall and a hard place.

“Nothing important happened. But thank you, and I return the sentiment to each of you. I’m here if any of you guys need to talk about anything.” The class all seemed to shut down, mildly defeated at my aversion. I excused myself and head up to my room, wanting to change out of my clothes, the offending fabrics making my skin crawl.

I took out my hearing aids and popped them on the charger, quickly changing my pants before peeling off my shirt. A small vibration in the floor caught my attention, I glanced up in the mirror I had propped against the wall and saw Denki stepping in, gently shutting the door behind him.

“I knocked but I didn’t hear a response, figured you had your hearing aids out.” He said in what I assume was a soft voice. He took a few steps closer, eyes glued to my back.

“Sorry, I took my ears out and needed to get out of the uniform.” He nodded slightly, eyes still glued to my back. My body froze the closer he got, watching in the mirror as one of his warm hands reached out, fingertips brushing over the unsightly ridges and divots.

“I’ve never really seen the ones on your back. I’ve seen them, I know they’re there, but I’ve never really looked at them.” He said, the mirror being my saving grace in understanding him. I took a shaky breath, knuckles white as I gripped onto the shirt in my hands.

“Probably for good reason, they aren’t the nicest thing to look at.” I muttered, Denki clearly heard me, his eyebrows cinching together in dismay.

“They’re apart of you, so they’re beautiful.” I scoffed under my breath but relaxed my body a little. “Onryo?” He asked, licking his lips delicately. “Can I ask what happened in Kamino?” My eyes darted around and I could feel that wall crumbling a little more.

“A lot happened.” I said, taking a deep breath. “A lot happened and it fucked me up, but I guess it was my fault.”

“None of it was your fault.” He told me but I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” He said again, his gaze never straying from mine.

“I told them to take it out on me. It’s my fault.” I mumbled, staring into his beautiful eyes.

“You didn’t ask for them to kidnap you. To try and force you two to join. You wanted to protect Bakugou.” He replied honestly. My lips pursed together as I tried to hold back any and all of the flooding emotions. “Let’s relax. You’ve had a long day.” He leaned around and kissed my cheek. I turned around and pulled him into a hug. I held onto him tightly, soaking in his warmth and his presence.

He felt safe and comfortable. Things that I realized at the moment, I had been missing in my own mind.

1 note · View note

passerine-writes · 3 months

Text

Silent Sparks - Volt 76

Warnings: Little bit of family tension, but fluff!!! Word count: 4250

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts

Masterlist

Volt 75 | Volt 77

I slowly made my way to Chiyo's office, stalling on talking about everything. I knew it would be the smart thing to do, but at the same time, I wasn't really looking forward to this. Eventually, however, I caved and walked inside. The older lady sitting in her stool and cheerfully looking at me.

"Oh, hello dear, go sit in my office, will you? I'll be there in just a minute." I softly nodded and walked into her office, my hand instantly gravitating towards a fidget toy to harness my energy temporarily. It didn't take long for her to walk in and sit in her spinning chair. "Alrighty, I see we didn't have an appointment today, what brings you here?"

"I had a really bad nightmare last night, woke up screaming and stuff." I mumbled, running a hand through my hair. "It was about Toga." I started, explaining the rest of what happened.

"Tsukare, dear, I really think it would be helpful if you opened up about what happened in Kamino. That way you can start truly healing." I chewed on my lower lip and looked away. "It doesn't have to be me you talk to. It can be your family, Nedzu, your friends, your boyfriend. But it would be good to talk to someone. Think about it, okay?" I nodded, not knowing if that was something I could even do.

"My Dad and I got into a disagreement." I added, changing topics.

"Oh? That's unusual."

"Yeah. He doesn't think I'm mentally okay enough to go on a mission because the League might be involved. He's trying to get me pulled off without really letting me have a say in it." Her face pinched into one of confusion before she sighed and picked up her desks phone.

"Aizawa? Yes, this is Recovery Girl. Would you mind coming to my office? Thank you, dear." She said and hung up the phone. "We're getting this sorted out, because that doesn't sound quite right to me." I nodded and leaned back in my chair. Dad arrived in a few minutes, looking perplexed as he sat down beside me.

"Onryo? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, she called you down because I told her we had a disagreement. And it's fucking with me because we barely disagree on things, especially larger ones like this." He sighed and nodded, accepting the truth.

"So, Shouta, Tsukare said you two had a disagreement over him going on a mission because the League might be involved. Is that right?" Dad sighed but nodded and explained our conversation to her. "I see both sides, but I want you two to try and fix this now."

"I don't understand why I can't go on the mission." I told him sharply.

"Onryo, I understand you want to do this, but I'm concerned about the aftermath. You have to take into consideration any and all possibilities." He said softly.

"And I am taking it into consideration." I said in a pleaded tone. "Dad, this is part of my future. One way or another, I'm going to end up going on a mission. Whether it be this one or another one, it's bound to happen."

"And I don't believe it's a good idea for you to go on this one." He said, making my frustration grow.

"That's fucking bullshit." He looked at me in disbelief as I raised my voice. "We have always been able to talk things out, and at the very least, come to a middle ground. Stop blocking out everything I have to say. My say in this situation is just as important as almost anyone else that's directly involved and I want it to be treated that way. Not disregarded and pushed to the side because you don't agree." He sighed but nodded, staring at the tiled floor.

"You're right. I'm sorry for that." I let out a breath and looked at him expectantly, waiting for a deeper reasoning. "What are you prepared for, for the mission?"

"I'm prepared for whatever case scenario happens. Whether it be the League doesn't show at all, a few of them do or all of them do. My main concern is if Kurogiri shows up because of his warp quirk. Dad, I'm actively preparing for whatever happens out there." He sighed but looked at the floor.

"And what about the aftermath?"

"That's an unfair leverage point. There's no guarantee that I'll have a mental break or backwards spiral after. I had a singular nightmare, I was due to backpedal eventually anyways." I argued. "Dad? Is this about Uncle Oboro?" I asked softly, my gut telling me it had something to do with him.

"Not entirely, but that adds to it." He muttered.

"Shouta." Recovery Girl started. "History won't always repeat itself. Now, I can admit, Onryo looks an awful lot like him, especially when he was a young child. That doesn't mean it'll happen again. Your worries are reasonable, but your methods of acting on those worries aren't so much." Chiyo told him, waiting for a response but continued when she didn't receive one. "Was it fair or reasonable telling him that you would talk to Fatgum and get him taken off?"

"No, and I'm sorry for not trusting your judgement at first, Onryo."

"I get why you wouldn't trust it at first, I'm not always the most forthright about how I'm feeling. But that's also how Toshi, Pops and I feel every time you would be on a mission or went on patrol on a high crime day. We always worry about you making it home safe." He pulled me into a hug and rubbed my back.

"I'm sorry for trying to jump the gun." He said as he let me go.

"I'm sorry about my language." He half smiled and nodded.

"Tsukare, dear, I think that's all for today, but remember what we talked about." I sighed but nodded, Dad and I leaving silently. My mind ran in circles on what to do, who to talk to, how to bring it up with anyone. We were back to the dorms before I knew it, Dad gave me a hug and I walked into the dorms quietly.

"Onryo!" Midoriya called out, rushing to the door and gaining the attention of everyone else. "Are you okay? After last night? I woke up when I-"

"I'm okay, 'Zuku." He let out a breath and nodded. Denki was the next to greet me, pulling me into a tight hug.

"Hi, babe."

"Hey Denks." I whispered back to him. We swayed back and forth for a moment, simply taking in each others company before he pulled back a smidge.

"Everything go good with Recovery Girl?" He asked gently, hands resting on my waist, still swaying us side to side. My stomach clenched but I put on my best smile and nodded.

"Yeah, it went pretty well." He smiled and placed a kiss on my cheek.

"That's good, I'm glad to hear it." I smiled softly and could feel the light brush coating my face.

"The less good news, we should get our homework done." He groaned and pulled me close, burying his head in my neck.

"Can't we just skip it and watch a movie or something?" He mumbled out.

"As wonderful as that sounds, if we don't do our homework now, it won't get done later. So how about we get it done and then we can watch a movie and cuddle?" His head shot up and he quickly nodded. I laughed softly at his sudden enthusiasm but allowed him to drag me over to the couches where a plethora of our classmates sat as well.

Did you talk to Dad?

Yeah, we got it sorted out with Chiyo.

Okay.

I gave my brother a small thumbs up, silently thankful for him checking in.

Denki and I sat beside Hanta on one of the couches, the raven haired boy didn't acknowledge us at first, consumed in what appeared to be confusion with the homework. Denki draped his free arm around me and I opted to writing with my left hand while we all started at our own places. However, the itch in the back of my mind wouldn't let up from earlier, making it difficult to concentrate on anything. Eventually, I gave up and decided to just do it later, opting to plop my head on Denki's shoulder.

"What's up?" He asked softly.

"Can't focus." I grumbled, frustrated with my brain.

"Work on it later?" He asked softly, to which I nodded my head.

"Hey, Hanta, you alright? You look stuck." His head shot up and he stared at me for a minute.

"Yeah, just don't get this question on the english homework." I sat up a bit and leaned over a smidge, taking my time to explain what wasn't clicking for him. "That, actually yeah, that makes sense now." I gave him a small thumbs up but my mind was soon whisked away again with overthinking.

"Tsukababes!" Mina cheered, simply smiling at me instead of saying anything else. I sent her a bright smile in attempt to match her own, but hers shined brighter without a doubt. "No fair, you should really smile!"

"I'm on it." Denki said cheekily. His hand moving down and before I could register anything, he was tickling me. As much as I tried to contain it, I busted out laughing, my hands blindly trying to find his to make him stop but he slowly did on his own. I was out of breath and still laughing, instead hiding my face partially in his neck. Mina squealed in delight and I winced slightly from the feedback in my hearing aids.

"You two are so cute!" I smiled a little more at her exclamation and decided to place a chaste kiss on Denki's neck, just to see him blush a little. The blond squeezed my hands just a smidge, a silent gesture that meant more than some words do. I felt a buzz in my back pocket, presumably from Mina sending the pictures she probably got in the group chat, but then a second buzz threw me off. I fished my phone out and saw that Nakami texted me asking if I could call. My eyebrows furrowed together, confused on where this could go.

"Hey babe, Nakami just texted me asking if I could call, I think it's important. Is it alright if I dip out for a bit to see what's up?" He quickly nodded and gave me a swift peck on the lips before I hurried off to my room.

I got sat up on my laptop and called the ivory haired boy. Nakami answered on the second ring and looked a little out of it.

Hey, everything okay?

He looked around anxiously at my signed words, licked his lips and sat almost perfectly still.

I think so. I'm not sure.

What's going on?

My parents just started fostering a new kid.

And you don't like change.

No. They didn't mention anything to me or my sister beforehand either and this kid keeps going in my room and touching my stuff.

How old is the kid?

Thirteen. And he won't stop touching my stuff or going in my room. I've asked him not to multiple times and I've talked to my parents but he keeps doing it.

What did they both say when it's been brought up?

My parents just told me to give it time and the kid said it's not a big deal and I needed to lighten up. They aren't listening to me and I don't know what to do. I figured I should reach out to you because you're the only one in my life who really understands just how we grew up.

So, I'm not a professional but I think it's safe to say this is a trauma response.

But I've been going to therapy.

And that's amazing, therapy works wonders sometimes but it doesn't cure everything. Setbacks can happen and if what this is doing is stressing you out this much, I think it could be one of those.

That makes sense. What do I do?

Well, I'd say as uncomfortable as it'll be, sit down with the three of them and explain why you feel this way and why you don't want him doing that stuff. It might be the only way to get it to stop.

What if they don't listen?

You can make them listen. Or I could, my quirks pretty handy with that after all.

Is it bad that sometimes I miss when it was you and I against the world?

What do you mean?

I've... missed you and how close we were. Sharing a room and staying up late. I have a few friends but none of them really get me. I don't miss the center or anything like that, I miss having someone that I felt like I could call family. Yeah my family is amazing, and I love them. You were there first, though. You were a different kind of family.

I could say the same about you, Nakami.

What's U.A. like?

It's loud and hectic, you would hate it. Especially how our class is set up because we have twenty one students. You would get along with the principal and my homeroom teacher though.

Isn't your homeroom teacher your Dad?

Yep, he's quiet and to the point. My principal has an intelligence quirk, so sometimes talking to him can be fun.

They sound like they wouldn't be too overwhelming. Anyone else?

My brother, he's just like our Dad, you two would get along.

He's the one with the purple hair, right?

It's basically purple but he insists that it's indigo and he will die on that hill.

We stayed on the phone for another twenty or so minutes. My body felt a little lighter knowing we were staying in touch, so I went downstairs and saw Denki and Hanta fighting over a bag of flour, tugging it back and forth until it puffed up and exploded everywhere. Well, it was more Denki let go and spun around to shield himself from the majority, making most of it land in his hair. Kirishima, Mina and I curled over in laughter, clenching our stomachs as we couldn't control our fits of amusement. Hanta's eyes were shut tight before he puffed out a cloud of flour and slowly peaked his eyes open. My brother and Izuku walked over and started laughing as well, Hitoshi going a step further and snapping a quick picture.

"We should probably clean this up, amigo." Hanta sighed before the doubled over in laughter. I went to the supplies closet and grabbed a broom.

"You two go get cleaned up and I'll sweep this up." I said softly between giggles as I walked back into the kitchen.

"Nope, you're not cleaning up one of my messes." Denki quipped, walking over and taking the broom and dust pan, dramatically pressing a loud kiss on my cheek. I blushed a light pink and propped myself against the door jam.

"I guess you somehow managed to pick a good one." My brother said sarcastically, I smiled softly as I stood back and watched Denki and Hanta goof around while cleaning.

"Oh I know I did." I hummed, laughing a little more as my brother fake gagged.

"When did you become so gross?"

"Oh hush, Shinsou. It's not gross!" Mina retorted, arms crossed over her chest.

"It's gross cause he's my brother." He grumbled. I chuckled and ruffled his hair just to irk him a little bit.

“You love me, plus, it’s not like we’re doing anything that gross in front of you.” He rolled his eyes and nudged me jokingly.

“Everything alright after talking to Chiyo?” I licked my lips nervously and nodded, earning a curious side eye from my brother.

“Yeah, yeah, it went okay.” I tried to side step the conversation but I could tell he wasn’t buying it for a minute.

“So you and Dad are cool now?”

“Yeah, we talked things out and we’re on the same page.” He nodded lightly and started walking towards the living room. I followed suit since the two in the kitchen were about to go wash off.

“Good. It’s weird when the two of you disagree on something.”

“You’re not wrong about that.” I sighed, resting my head on the back of the couch.

I simply sat there for a few minutes, letting my social battery recharge in the muted chaos of my classmates until Sero returned, calling my name.

“Tsuka? Uh, can I get some help? Please?” I looked at him curiously but nodded, silently following him to the washrooms. “Denks, Tsuka’s here.”

“Denki? You okay?” I asked gently, not knowing what exactly was going on.

“Yeah, uh, I forgot shampoo and now the flour that was in my hair turned into like, paste? Can you help me get it out?” I placed a hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter.

“Yeah, I can help. Hanta? Can you grab a chair?” Our friend quickly nodded, ducked out of the room and returned in moments. “Denks, can you come out here so I can get it out?” He walked around from the dressing area with his head hung. I met him half way and cupped his face in my hands, a small smile on my face as I tried not to chuckle. “Hi, baby.”

“Hi.” He mumbled, I placed a kiss on his forehead and let him get comfortable in the chair. I walked over to a cupboard and grabbed a hand towel, tucking the end of it in my belt loop, along with grabbing my shower stuff I left in here and removing my uniforms shirt. I caught his gaze in the large mirrors, taking a moment to admire his toned chest while his golden irises focused on my chest covered by the white tank top I wore under my uniform. “You’d be a hot bartender.” He said casually, making me laugh.

“Thank you?” I said in a confused tone, not knowing how to take it. He simply gave me a large smile.

“So, how did this happen?” I asked softly while grabbing my conditioner and starting to work it through his hair.

“I forgot to grab my shower stuff so I figured I’d just rinse it with water really quick, but when I got out, Sero handed me a bottle and said to just use that to finish washing it out so I did a quick wash in the sink and it became this.” He sighed. I looked at the bottle he gestured to on the counter and bit my lip to hide my laughter.

“Denks. Sero gave you mousse. It’s like a foamy gel for your hair. I think he wanted to try and prank you but it backfired.” He groaned and slumped in the chair a bit. I dried off my hands and grabbed my comb, sectioning out a piece of his hair. “Babe, I need to double check this with you, okay?” He looked at me curiously in the mirror. I got my hand how I needed it, my index finger resting across his hair line in the back. “I know you don’t like the back of your neck being touched, is it okay that my finger is where it is? Or do you want me to move it?” I asked him softly. He took a deep breath and licked his lips, eyes darting back and forth on his hands while he thought.

“It’s okay.” He mumbled.

“Okay. Tell me if at any point I accidentally get too close, okay?” He nodded lightly and I leaned around, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek. With one hand, he scrolled through his phone, the other reaching around and resting on my lower thigh. He loosened up as soon as I was done with the first section, the build up that I pulled out so far sitting on the hand towel.

“How do you know how to do this?” He asked suddenly.

“When Hitoshi and I were about ten years old, I wanted to make a birthday cake for our Dad. Pops helped me with it and I tried adding all of the dry ingredients when the stand mixer was on high. We also tried making it from scratch. I also hated taking care of my hair at this time, plus it was longer, but that’s when I found out if water is added to flour at the right ratio, it turns into paste. My Pops spent quite some time combing it out of my hair.” He laughed at this, the melodic sound warming my heart and making me smile. His hand rubbed up and down my lower thigh, keeping contact, hands switching depending on the side I was on. “Our Auntie Nem had to come over and help because Pops was panicking so much.” I said through giggles.

“That sounds like it was crazy.” I simply nodded, not mentioning but taking note of the amount of small lichtenberg marks and faded scars on his back. None of them noticeable unless you were close enough.

“It was. Especially when our Dad got home and saw everything.” Denki’s face dramatically fell at the statement.

“He was probably so mad!”

“Not really, he’s honestly not that scary. He just stood there for a minute, dipped his finger into the cake batter and said it tasted good.” I said through a breathy laugh.

“No way Aizawa was that chill about something!” I laughed harder at that, finally finishing up the back and switching out hand towels. I moved in front of him and started on his bangs, his hands gravitating to rest on my hips.”Can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have a pretty boyfriend that’ll help me out like this.” I blushed a little at his words and made it a point not to look at his face, knowing it would only make me blush more.

“And I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have a boyfriend this handsome.” I softly said, watching as he started blushing.

“So, how come we don’t train together?” He asked out of nowhere.

“I didn’t know you wanted to. But I also don’t want to hurt you..” I mumbled, my words trailing off as I thought back to last night.

“It’s part of hero stuff though, you’re bound to get hurt.” He reasoned cheerfully.

“I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I hurt you.” My voice was barely above a whisper.

“Onryo, you won’t hurt me.” He told me earnestly, but my heart wouldn’t listen.

“I don’t want to chance it.” I said quietly, grounding myself to reality through his gentle touch. “I know you’re more than strong enough to handle it, but if I hurt you, it would kill me.” He sighed but thankfully dropped it.

“How’d it go talking to Nakami? Everything okay with him?” He asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, he has some stuff going on at home, and when you grow up in the system, related things are easier to talk about with people who get it.” He hummed, seemingly understanding what I meant.

“So you and Nakami met in foster care?”

“We grew up together in the center. He’s only a year older than us, he was honestly the only other one who cared about me aside from Yoru. He got adopted before I did.” He simply looked at me as I spoke. “We actually learned sign language together as kids, he had the idea since we were writing everything down at the time.”

“Woah, really? How old were you guys?”

“We were probably five and six. He heard about it at school and told me about it, so we got books from the schools library and started learning.”

“That’s really cool.” He said happily.

“The flour is now officially out of your hair.” I told him softly, ruffling his damp hair with my hand. He tediously unlooped the hand towel from my belt loop and tossed it haphazardly behind him, his arms wrapping around my torso quickly. My heart fluttered in my chest, my hands quickly reaching up to cradle his head.

“You’re amazing.” He mumbled into my shirt. “Can we go watch a movie?” He asked quickly, looking up at me with puppy dog eyes.

“Absolutely. You pick the movie though. I’ll get snacks.” He gave me a firm squeeze before rushing out of the washroom. I smiled slightly to myself, tossed the towel in the bin and picked up my shirt, quietly making my way out towards the kitchen only to be stopped by Mina.

“Tsukababes! You look so good! Kami was so right, totally a hot bartender.” I quickly assumed he texted the group chat and laughed it off.

“Min, it’s just a tank top and slacks.” She huffed and pouted, returning to the couch.

“Mina’s right, Tsukare! You still look good!” Uraraka cheered, pumping a fist into the air.

“Thanks.” I said dully, still not knowing why she had been annoying me lately.

“Ignore them, Tsukare.” Jirou said, coming up and propping an elbow on my shoulder. “Just know they mean well. I’m still waiting for that jam sesh though.”

“One of these days we will.”

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