Chapter Text
"I'm gonna miss you," Eri said, hugging Shinsous legs, her wide Ruby eyes brimming with tears. He patted her silver-lilac hair and said, "It's only for two weeks Eri, I'll be back before you know it."
"Be careful, Hitoshi," Aizawa said before taking a sip of his coffee mug that read "#2 Dad". Aizawa was quite calm as always, knowing his son could survive two week away, but Mic was another story. His hair was down and messy and he was bawling, hugging Shinsou tight.
He pulled away and grabbed his shoulders, moving his hair out of the way and wiping tears from his eyes first. "Call us every two days, got it? And text us everyday, okay?"
"Hisashi, give his room. He'll be fine, right Hitoshi?" Aizawa asked, pulling Present Mic off of the purple haired man. "Yeah, I'll be fine Dad. It's just two weeks, and I'll call and text when I can, okay?"
Present Mic nodded and cried more, picking up Eri and crying with her. "You know, I can stay if you want me to. It's not even a big deal, I can-"
"No, go, this will be good for you, alright?" Aizawa said, putting his mug down on the table and walking over to him. "Are you ready to go?"
"Shinsou nodded and they both put on their coats to leave. "Bye Bubba," Eri said, waving with Present Mic as Aizawa and Shinsou pulled out of the driveway in their black Honda CR-V.
The car ride was silent most of the time except for the slight hum of the wheels driving, pop music coming from the radio, and Aizawa's fingers tapping along with the best.
Shinsou observed the world they passed by. There was a lake with people ice skating around on the frozen water, laughing and holding onto each other. There was a couple building a snowman and kissing. There was also a blond boy playing with a small child, throwing snowballs at each other. The boy turned around with a smile and saw Shinsou drive by. He waved furiously and Shinsou recognized it as Denki. He waved back slightly. He had no idea Denki lived so close.
They continued driving on the snowy roads until they finally got to a large yellow house with snow covered roofs and a large bay window showcasing a family inside by the fire place. Shinsou recognized the family inside as the family that raised him.
"This is it," Shinsou said, unbuckling and opening the door. "Hey," Aizawa said, stopping him. "When you first transferred to my class, I read your record and it told my about the things they did. What they said, at least some of it. If you need to leave early, just call me. Here's also $20 to catch the bus if needed. Alright?"
Shinsou nodded and stepped out, before turning around and hugging Aizawa. "Thank you, Dad," Shinsou said, pulling out of the hug. "No problem, Toshi."
Shinsou walked up to the door, looking back and seeing Aizawa was still in the car, making sure he was safe before he drove away. He looked at the door and took a deep breath before finally knocking on the hard oak door.
He hasn't seen this family in years, he didn't know how they would react. He's changed a bit, he's gained some weight and muscle and started being more open and lively instead of shut off like he was his whole life.
The door opened and he immediately recognized his mom. She had long lilac hair, it let loose and brushed to one side instead of her usual messy bun. She had a muted yellow sweater dress on with black leggings. She had simple, natural make up on that poorly his her aging wrinkles and eye bags.
She smiled wide and exclaimed, "Hitoshi!" She hugged him and brought him inside and yelled, "Hitoshi is here!"
His father, almost a mirror image of him except with a beard and darker eye bags and messier hair, walked out of the kitchen. "Ah, welcome home, Hitoshi," he said with his usual blank expression, except Shinsou would see in his eyes that he was happy to see his son.
His two little sisters, twins, bounced down the stairs. They both has purple hair, Rairakku having dark purple and Hitoki having a lighter shade like their mom. Rairakku's hair was pulled back into a neat pony tail, a braid lining her scalp into the bunch behind her head. Hitoki had a shoulder length bob with two strips of hair longer than the others in the front with forehead length bangs, reminiscent of Shinsou's classmate, Ochako Uraraka. The two had holiday dresses on, velvet sleeves leading to a silk base that sprouted out around their thighs, puffing up from the layers of fluff and lace underneath. They had a ribbon tied around their waists to pull the fabric against their bodies, their colours holiday colours and the opposite on each other.
"Wow, look how much you've grown! And I see you changed up your look, Toki, it suits you," Shinsou said with a smile. Hitoki smiled warmly at the compliment and looked down a her hands, but Rairakku contorted her face in disgust, or maybe confusion.
"Yeah, looks like you've grown too, looking at all this fat," she said, pressing her fingers against his torso, kneeding his skin and fat like bread with her fingertips before pulling away again. Shinsou smiled faltered a bit, but turned back to his parents. "So how's school been? Have you made friends? Are your peers nice? Have you been eating properly? " His mom asked, eyebrows knitted together with concern.
"Oh please, you know he isn't capable of making friends, and it sure does seem he's been eating," Rairakku retorted. She got a stern look from their mother and a nudge from Hitoki. She slapped Hitoki's arm in response and crossed her arms in front her.
"Schools been good, I'm passing my classes and was moved up from 1-B to 1-A because a student was kicked out for sexually harrasing a trans student. I've made three friends, Midoriya, Kaminari, and Monomoa, and my class is mostly nice. There's these two kids who can be mean at times, but it's the side effect of one of their quirks and the other has personal issues. And yes, I've been eating healthy."
"Can we know more about the side effect of the student's quirk? That sounds interesting," Shinsou's father commented. Shinsou's eyebrows raised in surprise. His father was usually cold, closed off, much like he was. Maybe he also had some development.
"Well, his quirk is nitroglycerin sweat, which makes explosions. Nitroglycerin, though, can lower a person's heart rate dramatically, so in response to that his body constantly is producing more adrenaline and keeping him angry and stressed. If he wasn't like that his heart would probably stop and he would die."
"Wow, didn't know quirks could have such an effect on people," his dad said, eyes slightly wider and eyebrows arched in surprise. "Yeah, Midoriya take noted on all quirks, including mine. He's described it as powerful and heroic," Shinsou said, his mom responding with a wide smile.
"I'm so glad, son. You'll be an amazing hero someday," his mom said. Shinsou knew why she was so happy to hear that. She's always felt guilty for giving him her quirk. She thought it was villainous, and that it was her fault. He heard this when his parents were fighting one night. He swore ever since them to make her proud and show that he can be a hero.
"So, shall we go up to your room? I'll carry your stuff, you must be tired from the trip," she said, reaching for his stuff. "Oh mom, it's fine, you've done so much for the holidays, I can carry my bags up to my room," he said, lightly grabbing her wrist before she took his luggage. She nodded and leaded me up the carpeted dark oak staircase. There wasnt any dust, showing they must of cleaned the house for his arrival. He felt bad his family did all of that just for him.
She lead him down the hallway to the end of the Hall to his door. He recognized the dents his sister made from constantly kicking it to come inside. There also used to be slurs and insults on the door, but those have been painted over. He guessed it was by his mom. She pushed open the door and he recognized his shaggy tan carpet and the bed tucked in one corner. It had white bed sheets and a fluffy grey blanket flooded at the end. He had two fluffy dotted pillows against the bed frame.
At the end of his bed he had a oak desk with shelves, candles, jars of pencils and pens, tissues, plants, lotion and random miscellaneous set on top. Tucked underneath was a crate with folders and music, and beside it was a speaker for his electric guitar that was in a black case with stickers plastered on it, propped up against the desk. His other guitar, acoustic, was on a stand next to the case.
On the walls by the bed had a tapestry of My Chemical Romance with fairy lights lining the tarp and his slanted ceiling. His ceiling was covered completely with posters of bands, shows, pro hero's, and concerts, with a line of fairy light over them. He had stickers and framed photos of family on the wall by the door and a window on the opposite wall and a closet on the forth wall, opposite of the wall with his bed. His closet doors had chalkboard paint on them and the rest of the wall had his drawings hanging on them. He had a square black fuzzy rug in the middle of his carpet and light grey walls tinted blue, the window wall painted dark blue.
Just how he remembered.
"I tried to keep it the same, but I cleaned up your clothes and organized your draws," she said, sitting on his bed, Shinsou following suit. They sat in silence for a minute or two. It wasn't an awkward silence though, it was relaxing. Peaceful.
"You know, I found your note book. Your old one from 7th grade. I know I shouldn't of, but I read it. Not all of it, mostly just the titles and some of the poems and songs. The songs were truly beautiful by the way. But I noticed that you talked about Rairakku a lot. And about being skinny and things," his mom spoke up. He looked at her to see her reaction to knowing this side of him. She looked at him and pulled him in for a hug.
"I'm so sorry I stood by and watched. I thought it was just a sibling rivalry or something or teen angst. I was so dumb for not intervening. I'm sorry I pretended not to notice when your clothes got looser or when you wore long sleeves all year. I'm so, so sorry. But I'm here now, I've done research and I go to meeting weekly for a support group for parents with children with mental illnesses and such. I've changed and I want to be in your life again. I promise you, I'll support you no matter what."
She pulled away, leaving a spot damp from salty tears on his Jean jacket he was wearing over a pink sweatshirt. He felt a tear roll down his cheek too. "Mom, I know. I know you've change and I'm glad you've grown too. I'm not going to say its okay, because it's not, but I'm glad you've had development and growth. And it wasn't your fault. It never was. Please don't think that," Shinsou said, wiping her tears away with his sweatshirt sleeve.
She grabbed his wrist and said, "I'm glad your back, Toshi."
"Me too," he chocked out. He noticed her makeup was smeared and chuckled a bit. "What? What happened?" she asked. He brought her to the mirror on his desk and she too let out a wet laugh. "Oh my, look at me, I look like a mess," she said, putting a hand on her chest as she laughed.
"Here I can help," he said, bringing her to the bathroom. "Your going to do my makeup?" she asked as she sat down on the bathtub wall. "Yup," he said, pulling out he makeup supplies from the cabinet above the toilet. He remembered her keeping it there when he would watch her do makeup as a child. He kneeled in front of her as she asked, "Where did you learn to do makeup?"
He pulled up his sleeves, exposing his scars. His mom noticed, but didn't ask questions, which he was greatful for. He wasn't ready to talk about it to her, even though it was over a year since his last relapse. "At UA, my class would have sleepovers and parties, and one of the activities is to have the non-makeup wearers put makeup on the makeup wearers. I've picked up a few things from Kirishima, Aoyama, and some girls for make up tips, so I won sometimes," he explained, putting some dark brown pigment on his dampened brush. His mom closed her eyes as Shinsou brushed the colour in her crease.
"So, what are your friends like?" his mom asked, trying to strike up conversation. "Well," he started, brushing a lighter brown pigment on her lid, "Midoriya was the first to talk to me. Hes a bright one. A lot of passion, but he's also very supportive. But he's also very intrusive and constantly butting into conversations to learn more about hero's and such."
"And Monomoa?" she asked, opening her eyes for a split second when she felt the brush leave her eye lid. She saw her son grabbing a reddish brown. "They're genderfluid, so I'm going to refer to them as they/them. They're very confident and vain, but can be sweet and caring when alone. They are supportive of their friends, but make sure to know their competition has nothing on them. Their quirk is also copying, and they copy my quirk sometimes and compliments it. I told them I get it from you and they said they want to meet you sometimes," Shinsou laughed, rubbing the red in between the two pigments already to blend them.
His mom smiled, wrinkles forming around her mouth and eyes. "I've never had people compliment this quirk before. Your friends seem nice."
"Yeah they really are," Shinsou said, dabbing a bit of concealer on a square brush and cut her crease. "And what about Kaminari?" she asked. Shinsou faltered a bit, brush stopping for a split second. "He's,,, well, he's loud and eccentric. His quirk is electricity and that gives him high energy, he's also been diagnosed with ADHD because of it. He was the first person to call me a hero. He often comes over to my dorm to hang out and watch movies and hang out. He's nice, but I'm not sure if you would enjoy his company," he laughed.
He then put a shimmery glitter on the cut crease, then moved to concealer. They continued to talk about school while he did her make up. He blended out the concealer on her forehead, chin, and under eyes. He chiseled out her forehead, nose, jaw, and cheekbones with contour then put a soft pink blush on the apples of her cheeks.
He sprayed his brush then put it in her highlight, putting the shimmery power on her cheekbones and nose, and under her already prefect eyebrows, along with her cupids bow and a bit on her inner eye. He drew a nice wing with eyeliner and some false lashes, binding them to her natural lashes with black mascara. He outlined her lips with a maroon lip liner, over lining a bit, then filling it in with liquid liner. He set it in with setting spray and help up a mirror to her face.
"What do ya think?" he asked nervously. She grabbed the mirror and her jaw dropped. "Oh my, I look wonderful! So, so beautiful! Thank you!" she said, hugging him. "Oh please, you were already beautiful. Now, should we show the rest of the family?" he asked, leaning against the bathroom doorframe, pulling down his sleeves again. She nodded and followed him down stairs again after they put the makeup away.
They entered the living room, his mom announcing, "Look what Shinsou did," closing her eyes to show his fine craftsmanship. "Wow, impressive work son, made your mother more beautiful than she already is," he said, kissing her. She awwed and cupped his cheek before showing the twins the eyeshadow look.
Hitoki nodded approvingly, but Rairakku was a little more judgmental. "The blending is sloppy, he over lined too much, the highlight is too transparent, the contour is too harsh, and the concealer is barely blended. It's terrible," she said, walking away. Shinsou felt the insecurities creep in.
The only way they'll be proud of you is if you starved yourself, be skinny and attractive.
"Well I think he did an amazing job," she said, smiling at Shinsou. He could only seem to see all the mistakes he made.