#onryo tsukare

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 5

Warnings: Descriptions of past abuse, Tsukare has a small panic attack, mentions of child abuse Word count: 1920

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

Masterlist

Volt 4 | Volt 6

After a long four hours at the mall and sixteen bags brought home, two of the three were exhausted. Yamada and Aizawa bought Onryo plenty of new clothes, new bedding, new knickknacks, shoes, art and music supplies, some books per the child's request, a new backpack and other miscellaneous items. When the three were unpacking all the bags and organized what needed to be, Aizawa noticed Onryo was particularly protective of his bed and not letting the two anywhere near it without a watchful eye.

"Can I sit down real quick?" The child hesitated at his question but slowly nodded. "I wanted to ask you something." His heart weighed down at the fearful look on his sons face. "You're not in trouble, I just wanted to ask you something. Are you hiding something from us? You've been really protective of your bed and you don't have to tell us what it is, we just want to make sure you're safe and it's nothing that might hurt you."

It's just my really important stuff. The other kids would try and take them sometimes so I keep it hidden. Sometimes other foster parents would take them if I broke a rule.

"We won't take them from you, it's your stuff little listener. If you want you can show us so we know not to touch them." Tsukare took a shaky breath before getting on the floor and crawling under his bed, retrieving a small box. He sat on the floor, holding the box tightly in his lap before opening it.

Aizawa joined the two on the floor, silently jovial about Onryo opening up so soon. He watched quietly as the box was placed between the three, allowing his kid to go at his own pace and comfortability. First, he pulled out a rare Present Mic trading card, a small blush of embarrassment on his face.

I always looked up to you because you have a sound quirk like me.

Yamada melted a little at this, not expecting his kid to look up to him that much. He tucked his knees to his chest with a soft smile on his face to try and hide his giddiness.

The next item he pulled out was a card and a chain necklace with a ring on it.

My birth mom left this for me when I was born. Apparently the ring is an heirloom or something.

He then pulled out a tattered, string bracelet, clearly heavily worn and cherished.

This was from one of the kids at the center before he got aged out. He was one of the only other kids who learned sign language for me and treated me like family. He gave me the trading card, too.

Next, he pulled out a small compass on a chain. It looked like it had been scorched at some point and the heroes minds immediately went to the worst possibility.

This one is from a stranger. I got lost in one of the big neighborhoods after running away once. He had a lot of scars and was kinda scary but he was nice. He gave me this so I wouldn't get lost again, it didn't really work but he tried.

Finally, he picked out a fidget cube. An odd find but clearly something valuable to him.

This one I use a lot, it helps me focus on things when I need to. It's also really fun.

The two were touched, knowing he was already starting to trust them.

"Thank you for showing us, Onryo. If you want to put them somewhere out in the open, we'll make sure not to touch them." He nodded slowly, putting his treasures back in his box for the time being but setting it on his bed side table now. "We wanted to ask you something else and remember, you don't have to do this if you aren't comfortable." Rather than concerned, he looked perplexed at Aizawa's precursor to his question. "Hizashi was in the same foster center that you were when he was a kid, and after today and seeing they haven't changed, he wants to file a police report against Kasumi. Would you want to give a statement and potentially provide evidence?" Tsukare's mind was flooded with different questions and scenarios, not knowing what path to choose. It was up to him but he felt lost and confused.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as he thought, clearly weighing his options diligently and heavily, something both heroes admired, respected but were also concerned about.

I'll do it.

——————

A few days passed, the heroes wanting to give some time to Tsukare to adjust before meeting Tsukauchi. Thankfully, the young detective is allowing the questioning to happen in the safety of their home rather than the police station or hospital.

"Hi Tsukare, I'm Tsukauchi, it's nice to meet you. Would you rather sign and have one of them interpret, or do you feel comfortable talking?" The young detective asked softly as they sat in the living room. Onryo looked to Aizawa in a way of searching for permission and receiving a singular nod in response.

"I- I'll talk." The three adults smiled softly, proud of the child in front of them.

"Alright, if talking gets to be too much you can switch over to sign whenever you'd like. You call the shots today kiddo, the second you say you're done or you just want a break, we stop. Okay? And is it alright with you if I record this to take back to the station?" Onryo nodded again, consistently using his fidget cube to keep himself grounded. "Alright, so Eraser and Mic have already given me some stuff, they gave me a copy of your file and copies of your medical reports from when you were in the foster center. Can you tell me who was in charge?"

"Kasumi, she's an old lady with grey hair always back in a bun, tiny rectangle glasses, and uh, she had a weird thing with bugs and stuff." His voice was barely above a whisper, keeping his head down so he didn't risk accidentally using his quirk. It only happened if he looked at people he realized.

"That is weird, Tsukare can you tell me how she treated you when you were at the foster center?"

"She didn't like me, if I spoke too much or accidentally used my quirk, she would put a weird thing on my face that held my tongue really tight. Sh-She would let other kids hurt me, sometimes they'd lie and say I used my quirk when I didn't just so she would put the thing on me." Yamada listened to his son intently, similar memories vividly instilled in his brain now repeating while Aizawa held his hand.

"Did it look something like this?" Tsukauchi held up an evidence bag with the muzzle in it, watching Tsukare's reaction. He curled back into the couch with wide, teary eyes, the worst thought coming into mind. He confirmed it with a nod, his breath getting caught in his throat while fear completely consumed him.

I need a break.

Thankfully, while Mic looked away, his husband kept a close eye on their child.

"He needs a break." Tsukauchi nodded and paused the recording device on the table, guilt filling him while he watched the kid panic.

A tear rolled down Tsukare's cheek as he feared getting muzzled again. The detective left the room, giving the new family a moment to recoup before they continued.

"Onryo, hey you're alright." Aizawa tried to soothe him but realized this was a little out of his expertise.

Please don't let him put it on me, dad. I was good, I didn't use my quirk! I promise!

Mic got off the couch and crouched in front of him, hoping that getting on his level would help. Aizawa was too concerned to even notice that one of them was already called 'dad' for the first time.

Hey, hey, hey, little listener, breathe. Nobody is going to put that thing on you ever again. I know it's scary seeing it again, but it'll never be on you again. I promise. So let's breathe, calm down a bit and go from there. Okay? With a sniffle and another tear, Onryo nodded and took a deep, shaky breath.

After half an hour of consoling back rubs, fingers running through topaz curls, and reassuring words, Tsukare was ready to talk again.

"I'm sorry Tsukare, I should've brought a picture rather than the actual thing. Are you feeling alright?" He nodded once, not completely soothed from earlier but still substantially better. "Are you feeling alright to continue?" The kid nodded again, destressing largely with his fidget while Tsuchauchi started recording again. "Okay, would Kasumi do anything else to hurt you?" He slowly nodded his head and swallowed the lump in his throat.

"S-Sometimes she wouldn't let me come out of my bedroom, or I wouldn't be allowed to eat. She w-would always tell me nobody would want me and if other kids hurt me she didn't care. Sometimes she would hurt me, b-but not a lot." Tsukare slid a little closer to Mic, subconsciously finding comfort in the blond.

"And how would they hurt you?"

"One day she was really mad at me and bumped me down the stairs, I broke my ankle. Sometimes she would slap me or kick me. The other kids would hit me more then her though. Some of my old foster parents would use b-belts and stuff." Aizawa grimaced at the thought, memories now resurfacing for him from his own gruesome childhood.

"How old were you when she broke your ankle?"

"Uh, six." Tsukauchi nodded, not quite understanding why the eight year old wouldn't meet his eye but he shrugged it off as general shyness.

"Alright. Thank you, Tsukare. I'm gonna talk to these two in the kitchen for a moment then I'll be out of your hair." The parents followed the detective to the kitchen, both awaiting what his news could be.

"Okay, so everything matches, which is good for the case. The hard part is going to be getting a court mandate because almost none of those kids are of legal age to talk without an adult. I might be able to get her out of there with this alone but I'm not sure. I know you two probably already know this, but he's traumatized. I think you need to get him in with a therapist of some sorts so that he doesn't deal with this on his own. Yes, he has you both now, but that kinda thing he's probably going to try and keep bottled up. By the looks of it, he has anxiety and probably some level of depression, plus what his chart says. He may need to be medicated and I want you two to be prepared, he's going to need a lot of help and a lot of support, and he's already starting to trust you two which is a great sign. So just have patience. I know this is hard, and I know this brought up a lot of old wounds for you both, but there's no doubt in my mind that you two are going to be great parents."

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 4

Warnings: Mentions of past abuse, sad Present Mic, brief mention of drugs Word count: 2054

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

Volt 3 | Volt 5

"Aren't you two a little young to be adopting?" The older woman asked, her librarian-like glasses sitting low on the tip of her nose. The lady in charge of the foster center was clearly judgmental of the two pro heroes looking to adopt.

"We're twenty three and if you haven't noticed, we can't exactly reproduce on our own." She raised an eyebrow at Mic's comment, her distaste of todays events as clear as day.

"Are you sure you want him? Any foster home he's been to they brought him right back. Especially with that quirk of his." Two sets of eyes narrowed on her.

"If you've failed to forget, I have a voice quirk myself. We're in this for the long run, we plan on adopting him and at least we won't put any muzzles on him." Her face bloomed red in embarrassment, clearly not expecting to be caught and by a hero at that.

"He's your problem now, just need a few signatures, identification, proof of income and proof of residency." Thankfully, the blond was prepared after having been through this in his own life. He made sure him and his husband brought everything needed. "Alright then, I'll send him to grab his things."

"Shouta will be going with him, I've seen how you treat kids here and I have a feeling the other kids mistreated him as well. So I'm not risking anything happening to him due to your negligence." The lady scoffed but gestured to the door, watching the dark haired man walk out.

While the two were grabbing the child's few belongings and putting them into a spare book bag, Yamada read over his file a little more.

Name: Tsukare Onryo Birthday: October 18th Age: 8 Height: 133 cm (4'2") Hair color: Topaz Eye color: Hazel Blood type: O

Quirk: Sound waves

Description: N/A

Biological Mother: Tsukare Shiroka

Biological Father: Unknown

Hobbies: N/A

Medical History: N/A

Notes: Quirk is dangerous, earplugs and muzzle recommended for parental protection

Mic's face turned stone cold at what he read. They barely kept any information about him.

"Why was he put up for adoption?" The lady sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Drugs, the mom just couldn't quit and gave the kid up instead of trying to get clean. She probably made the better choice though." Mic turned his glare to her, an odd yet very threatening look from the typically boisterous man.

"I also need his birth certificate and identification card, along with any previous medical records that you've failed to put on here." The woman scoffed and leaned forward on the desk with a faux saccharine smile.

"Sorry but we aren't permitted to give you that." The blond laughed sarcastically, taking the woman off guard.

"You may not remember me, but I remember you Kasumi. So I know you're obligated to hand over my sons documents because I went through the same thing here ten years ago. Or would you like me to get the cops over here right now for a wellness check?" Her face paled at the realization of who she was sat in front of.

"I remember you now. Can't believe you actually became a hero." He scoffed as she tried to act nice now.

"Cut the act, I don't play your games anymore. Give me my sons documents and we'll be out of here." She shook her head and shrugged, getting up and rummaging through the filing cabinets.

After checking everything matched up, Yamada left her office without another word and placed his signature smile on when he saw his husband and son waiting at the door.

Shouta placed a kiss on his husbands forehead as he saw through the fake smile. He knew this would be a hard day for him, coming back to a place of his nightmares.

"We're calling the cops and getting her removed, I can't let her do this to people any more Sho." Mic's voice was weak and strained as he rested his forehead against his husbands shoulder.

"I'll talk to Onryo about telling Tsukauchi. You go home and rest, we'll be back from the doctors in a little while." Yamada slipped his hand into Aizawa's, giving it a small squeeze before letting go.

"I got his medical records, threatened them with a wellness check." Eraser smiled behind his scarf at his husbands antics.

"Looks like it's time to head home then, maybe you can do some shopping therapy in a few hours." That seemed to cheer up the blond as the three started on their way home.

"Do you want to go unpack your bag in your new room?" Tsukare nodded and excitedly scuttled down the hall at Aizawa's idea. Once out of sight, he placed his hands on his husbands hips and rubbed small circles of comfort while the blond let his head drop onto the others shoulder. "Let it out, Sunshine."

"That place hasn't changed a bit, Shouta. They had almost no information about him and told me it was good choice on the mothers end that he was put up for adoption. That it was smart for his birth mother to choose drugs over a child but they treated him just how they treated me, if not worse. He's so underweight, he doesn't even look eight! On his file they suggested parents get earplugs and those damn contraptions!" Aizawa placed a comforting kiss to his husbands shoulder.

"They're stupid, and once we talk to Onryo we'll call Tsukauchi. In the meantime, let's look over his medical records." Mic nodded slightly and finally stood up straight, the two heading to the kitchen island to read it over.

They read over the several hospital stays he's had. Each one from a different foster home and a few from the center. Two different bones broken, multiple accounts of bruising, scarring, malnourishment, dehydration, and once for vocal chord strain leading to internal bruising. That was most likely when he discovered his quirk. The rest was concerning, Yamada almost cried as he read over many different accounts.

Reading deeper, they learned that he has a heart arrhythmia, ADHD, a history of blacking out, his birth mother was addicted to opioids and used them while pregnant, along with sleeping issues.

They were so invested in reading more, they almost didn't hear Tsukare come down the stairs.

"Hey, little listener." The kid looked concerned as he looked at Mic, taking in his appearance.

Are you okay? You look sad.

"I'm okay, kiddo. Just upset with the center director. Did you get your bag unpacked?" Tsukare nodded, worried he did something wrong already to get sent back. "Do you want to play a game? It's a little get to know each other better thing." Tsukare nodded again, this time in excitement. "Alright, let's go sit on the couch." Aizawa tried not to smile at his husbands antics, following the blond and his son over to the living room. "Okay, it's called twenty questions. You ask us a question, we give you an answer, and then we ask you a question and you answer. We just keep going back and forth until we hit twenty or we can't think of anything anymore. You can go first." He thought for a moment, wanting his first question to be a good one.

How old are you two?

"We're 23! What's your favorite thing to do?"

I don't know, but I really like music. And I really want to learn how to play some instruments.

"Lucky for you little listener, we have our own music room and I know how to play most of them." The couple watched happily as their sons eyes widened with excitement, rapidly nodded and showing his first smile around them.

Why do you wear a scarf whenever you're outside?

"It's a capture weapon, that way I can catch villains without hurting them. What's your favorite color?"

Dark grey. What's your real name? I know your hero name is Eraserhead, and I've heard him call you Sho but I don't know your real name.

"My real name is Aizawa Shouta."

"What's your favorite food?"

I really like strawberry milkshakes. If you two are married how come you have different last names?

"We kept them different for safety, that way villains can't hurt us as easily." Tsukare nodded slowly as he took in the new information. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

I want to be a hero like you two. And I want to learn more languages so when people visit Japan I can understand them.

"That's really cool, Onryo, if you want I can teach you english."

Really?

"Heck yeah!" Their son beamed with excitement, visibly happy with being able to do something he wants.

Why did you both learn sign language?

"I learned it because I was at that foster center too, so some days I couldn't talk. Then when I got older, I realized I was starting to lose some of my hearing because of my quirk." Tsukare frowned slightly at the news.

"I learned for him because of those things."

"What school do you go to?"

I go to Hadano Elementary. What are your favorite animals?

"I like birds!"

"Cats are better. We actually have two so you'll probably see them around soon." Tsukare looked excited beyond belief hearing this, looking forward to meeting the fluffy creatures. "What hand do you write with?"

I can use both, I learned to when I broke my arm.

He hesitated before continuing with his next question.

What should I call you two?

"What do you mean, little listener?" Tsukare fidgeted with his fingers for a moment, not wanting to risk making anything awkward.

Should I call you both dad? Or do I call you two by your names?

"You can call us whatever you'd like. If you don't feel comfortable calling either of us 'dad' then you don't have to. Okay?" The kid nodded in response, seemingly relieved that something was his choice. "I can't think of anything else, so do you have anymore question for us?"

I have three.

"Ask away, little listener!"

How long have you two been together?

"We've been together for eight years, and we got married three years ago." Onryo smiled contently at the answer, happy for the two adults.

How come there's random post-it notes everywhere?

"He leaves them for me to wake up to if he's not here." He smiled ever so slightly at Aizawa's words, finding the gesture sweet and endearing.

And what are the rules here?

"Whaddya mean?" Their son shrunk a bit at Mic's question, taking his time to answer.

House rules. Every house I've been to has it's own rules, the foster center too. What are the rules here?

Yamada's heart sunk, remembering the rules of that place vividly.

"Our rules are nothing like theirs. All we ask is you be honest with us, if you don't feel like talking about something just let us know and we can discuss it later. Aside from that, keep your room somewhat clean. When you get older, we can discuss a curfew and we'll probably give you another chore or two like loading the dishwasher and doing your own laundry. Aside from that, when you get older, no dating loud blonds. You'll never get rid of them." Tsukare laughed at his sarcastic tone, luckily picking up on it while Mic pressed a loud kiss to Aizawa's cheek. The action made their son giggle, the sound was magical to the new parents, adoring Onryo's happiness.

"And if you do anything wrong, then we'll talk about it. Okay?" Onryo nodded quickly, comfortable with the set of rules the couple set for him. "Now what do you say about a shopping trip? We need to get you some new clothes and things for your room and if you want, we can get you music stuff."

Really? I'm allowed to have music stuff?

"Of course, kiddo! You wanna head out now?"

The three left shortly after, the blond most excited out of them. Like his husband said, he needed shopping therapy.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks Masterlist

Welcome to the masterlist for Silent Sparks! Am I overworking myself a smidge? Probably.

Synopsis: Tsukare Onryo, a once quiet kid despite his loud quirk, was adopted by Eraserhead and Present Mic and is slowly finding his way at his new school where his dad just so happens to be his homeroom teacher.

OR

In which after learning about his past, he breaks Erasers main rule about loud blonds.

Genre: Angst, Slowburn

Warnings: Mentions of s*lf h*rm and su*c*dal thoughts. Abuse, depression, anxiety, trauma. I always put these characters through a lot but as always, each chapter will be marked accordingly.

Any other warnings will be added at the top of each chapter.

Status: Ongoing

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Intro

Volt 1

Volt 2

Volt 3

Volt 4

Volt 5

Volt 6

Volt 7

Volt 8

Volt 9

Volt 10

Volt 11

Volt 12

Character Profile

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Timeline

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Masterlist 2

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 1

Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, discrimination, minor description of injuries, muzzles, neglect Word count: 2282

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

Intro | Volt 2

At a young age, Tsukare knew something wasn't right about how he was living. It could've had to do with the fact that he grew up in a giant house with anywhere from ten to twenty nine other kids all ranging from infants to teenagers. Or the foster center director who didn't care about any of them.

He just knew it wasn't right.

It wasn't right how he was treated and he knew it. But he sat there thinking to himself what he could have done wrong while he had a muzzle on his face. The straps dug into his skin, uncomfortable while the metal mousetrap like bar clamped on his tongue.

He just wanted out.

Something he shouldn't have thought at five years old, but a thought nonetheless. He sat there in the cold room in the middle of winter trying to figure out what he did wrong. He figured he must've done something wrong considering his first set of foster parents sent him back after two weeks with a collection of bruises. He just couldn't figure out what.

"Tsukare." He flinched and stood as the director, Kasumi, barged into the room. "We have to get this off of you. We have a very special guest." He nodded and allowed her to fiddle with the straps before it clattered to the ground. He followed silently, not wanting to injure his tongue or risk having the contraption put back on. "Boys, girls, we have a very special guest today." All the kids sat around in the freshly cleaned living room, many gasping in delight once All Might in all his glory waltzed into the room.

"I am here!" Multiple kids squealed in happiness as he rambled on about something, some jumping up to use him as a jungle gym, but others knew better. He kept talking, keeping his signature smile on his face but all Tsukare could think was just how loud he was. How he was so loud but didn't get into any trouble. "Now boys and girls, I'm sure some of you are interested in being heroes!" Multiple kids cheered again, excited at the topic alone. "Well I'm positive that one day, when you're all big and strong, you all will make fine heroes!" Kids continued using him as a fun house, using his arms as a pull up bar, climbing up his back, hanging from his hand, all completely mesmerized at how strong he was.

This went on for an hour, one hour of bliss that many kids at the center knew would end but cherished it all the same. The number one hero answered questions and queries, the bright smile staying etched on his face. Then the hour was over and he had to leave. He gave each kid a hug, kneeling down to meet all their heights.

"One day, you all will find amazing homes and families that will love and cherish you. All in due time, until then, everything will be okay because I am here! In the mean time, make sure you behave for Miss Kasumi and your new families!" And with that, he left.

He left despite seeing all the bruises some kids adorned, as oddly as they were placed or as dark as they were. He still left and carried on to fight the nearest villain. Once he left, that contraption came back onto Tsukare's face and it was as though all life had been sucked out of the adoption center. Nobody was smiling or cheering, rather they got less food on their plates and in their stomachs. The kids got lectured for rough housing and more bruises were added to what seemed to be an infinite collection.

It was another night where the topaz haired boy didn't eat or sleep. The muzzle being too uncomfortable and even if the director deemed it okay to take off, which she didn't, he would've been in too much pain to eat anyways. So he spent his night learning like normal. Him and an older kid, Nakami Rintaro, sat in their corner of the bedroom using the moonlight to learn sign language together. He was the only person Nakami got along with and vice versa, the two boys bonding over their silence and finding ways to still talk at five and six years old.

——————

"Miss Kasumi, Tsukare has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, more commonly known as ADHD." She nodded along, a sickeningly fake smile on her face as the doctor spoke for Tsukare's yearly check up. "It's not a life or death diagnosis but in the future it would be fairly easy to set up educational plans to aid him through his schooling. He may exhibit behaviors of not being able to sit still, disrupting actions, impatience, spacing or zoning out, the list goes on and it's all in this packet here. Would you like to start him on any medications to combat the symptoms? They're highly recommended and the number one form of treatment." Tsukare hated the distasteful look Kasumi sent him once the doctor turned.

"I think medication may be beneficial, so let's start that right away." The doctor nodded quickly and filled out the prescription, not putting any notes about how jumpy, sleep deprived, bruised and underweight the kid was.

"Very well, make sure he takes one every day with his breakfast and everything should be perfect." Kasumi nodded along, still supporting the fake smile. "You two are all set, have a great day!"

The moment they arrived back at the adoption center, the muzzle was forced onto the now six year old.

"You just had to open your mouth! Maybe this'll finally get it through your head that you should just keep quiet. Why do you think all of your foster families send you back after two weeks? If you just learned to keep your mouth shut then maybe you wouldn't be here anymore!" Tsukare took the words and the smacks, holding back his welling tears as she continued to yell at him until he was sent to his room.

How did the doctor appointment go? Nakami asked once he saw Tsukare enter the room. Not good. What happened?

I got diagnosed with ADHD and the doctor put me on medication. Kasumi's upset because I answered the doctor instead of having her do it.

There's nothing wrong with being diagnosed with something. I'm just shocked she's responding this severely. She didn't even act remotely like this when I was diagnosed with autism.

I'm gonna leave here. I don't want to be here any more.

Tsukare you know it isn't safe for us to leave with how young we are. Plus you just got back a week ago from a foster home, give it some time.

I don't want to wait any more. My last foster parents put that thing on me too. If I leave then they can't do that anymore. And none of the other kids here would take my things.

With that, Tsukare made up his mind. Despite his only friends warnings, he packed his book bag, struggled painfully but managed to get the muzzle off and snuck out of the center. He wandered around for an hour or two, all he knew was he was a long way from home. He also knew that he was severely out of place in the fancy neighborhood he stumbled upon. Large, traditional style houses lined the block and he could sense the wealth in the area. Meanwhile, he wore a tattered shirt and pants with shoes that he had to squeeze into. He tried finding his way out but failed, only getting lost further in the extensive neighborhood. That was until he saw a boy with burn scars and white hair.

The two stared at each other curiously. Neither looked like they belonged there but didn't comment on it. Tsukare worried that he would get in trouble as the teenager approached him with an odd amount of caution.

"You lost?" Tsukare nodded, tongue still sore and mind too scared to speak. "What's your name, kid?" The small boy with wild ginger curls rifled through his bag and dug out a pad of paper and a pencil.

My name is Tsukare Onryo.

"Oh so you don't talk. Do you live around here?" Tsukare shook his head before writing again.

What's your name?

"That's a good question. You a long way from home?" The white haired boy noticed how the younger one curled in at the question.

I ran away. I live in a foster center.

"Oh." He had heard about a foster center but it was easily a thirty minute drive, let alone a long walk for a kid. "Why'd you run away kid?"

They treat me really bad over there and no parents want me.

"I had a parent that treated me bad, too. It's not safe at night here, you should head back." Tsukare looked up at him with watery eyes, fear filled in them, a look the teenager knew all too well. "How old are you?"

I just turned six.

"You're growing up fast, kid. How about I walk you back to the entrance of the neighborhood and help keep you warm for a bit." Tsukare nodded, not being able to ignore the cold much longer and hesitantly let the white haired teen pick him up. His body radiated so much warmth that he couldn't help but melt into the source of heat. The teen though, couldn't help but notice just how underweight and tiny this six year old was. "Isn't it too cold for you to be walking around by yourself?" Tsukare shrugged and subtly curled closer to the heat of the teenager, not having been that warm since summer.

The white haired teenager walked them to the front of the estate, hoping the kid would find his way home from there as he set him back on his feet.

"Here." He handed him a small compass. It seemed old, much older then the six year old and he held it delicately in his hands like it was made of glass. He studied the scorch marks and small bits of soot intensely as he looked up at the teenager curiously. "Hang on to that for me. It'll help you not get lost again." Tsukare nodded gratefully, giving the teen a hug around his legs before walking off. He stared at the compass curiously as he walked, having just learned about directions in school and he hoped this would teach him more.

He wandered aimlessly on the sidewalk, clutching the new item close to him while he stared at it intensely. So much so, he barely heard a familiar voice calling his name.

"-kare! Tsukare!" He looked up and saw the only other person at the center who he liked. Oribuko Yoru. A seventeen year old boy with olive colored hair and grey eyes ran up to the tiny child and crouched down to his height.

We should get back now, okay? Everyone is really worried about you.

He stared at the teenager, always forgetting that he learned how to sign for him.

You and Nakami are the only ones really worried about me. Nobody else is. You don't have to lie to make me come back.

Tsukare, some of the other kids are, it's not just me and Nakami. I pinky promise. Oribuko held up his pinky, smiling softly at the kid he saw as a little brother when his small, frigid pinky locked with his. We can drive around for a little bit longer, Kasumi gave me the car since I'm the oldest.

Tsukare nodded and followed him back to the car, stomach churning as he buckled himself in. He worked quickly to put the compass deep in his bag, hiding it for safe keeping.

"What made you run off?" Tsukare shot Oribuko a lazy look. "Okay, dumb question. Kasumi told me that you're going to be taking some new medications now. How are you feeling about that?"

Kind of scared. I've never taken pills before.

"They aren't that scary. They just feel weird at first." Tsukare nodded slightly, hoping that was true and that he wouldn't have a hard time with them. "So what'd you learn in school today?"

We started learning about directions like North and South.

"That's pretty cool. Anything else?"

We learned more about adding and subtracting. It was okay but pretty boring. Then we learned about some science stuff and animals and how quirks started. Did you know some animals can get quirks? It's pretty rare.

"I did know that actually, d'ya know how I know?" Tsukare shook his head. "My principals an animal that got a quirk, but nobody knows what he is. I think you'd get along with him, he has a lot of special interests too." Tsukare's eyes went wide with excitement, forgetting that Oribuko went to the prestigious UA high school.

I want to go to UA and become a hero. Maybe I could be like Present Mic!

"I'm sure you could, he is a sound hero after all. Do you still have that trading card?" Tsukare nodded quickly, it was one of his most prized possessions. "Make sure you hang onto it, maybe if you meet him one day he'll sign it for you." The small boy gave him a thumbs up and a toothy smile. "Okay, we have to head back now. You know Kasumi is mad, right?" Tsukare faltered but nodded, knowing what to expect.

And it was not good.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 61

Warnings: Takai, attempted sl*t shaming, emotionssssWord count: 6194

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

Masterlist

Volt 60 | Timeline | Volt 62

I woke up in a cold sweat with my breath stuck in my throat. My hearing aids were still on from falling asleep during the show. The usually comforting arm around my shoulders felt terrifying but I still looked back to look and check it was still Denki. I think he sensed my unease seeing as how he slowly moved his arms off my body.

"Hey, nothing happened. Look at me, yeah? Follow my breathing, in and out. In and out, you're safe." I slowly nodded and let my head hang in shame, the back of my hand furiously wiping the tears from my eyes. I followed his enunciated breathing despite my embarrassment, knowing it would be one of the few things to help right now. "Don't even apologize, it's not something you did on purpose." I nodded slightly and looked at the clock next to my bed. Seeing I managed to get about four and a half hours of sleep, I was content with that.

"Did you get to sleep yet?" He shook his head and checked his phone, eyes blowing wide at the fact that it was almost 3:30 in the morning. "If you wanna head to your dorm and get some sleep you can, thank you for helping me calm down and stuff."

"Do you want me to stay?" I looked up at him with wide eyes, surely looking like a lovesick puppy. "Hey, if you want me to stay, I gladly will. But if you need or want some alone time to unwind, that's okay too." My lower lip trembled and I pleaded with my body to not let the dam break. So I quickly nodded my head, not trusting my voice to be steady enough to answer him. His arms extended softly and I pulled him into a tight hug. He held me to his chest, one hand rubbing small circles in my back and the other one running through my hair. "It'll be okay one day, I promise." He told me, continuing on to whisper sweet nothings to me until he felt that I was calmed enough. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"It's just flashbacks." He nodded, patiently waiting to see if I was going to elaborate more. "From uh, from Kamino."

"C'mere." He said quietly, silently asking me to unfold my legs. His warm hand quickly went behind the back of my knees and he pulled me to sit in his lap, thighs straddling his. "Just relax. Okay? I'm not going anywhere." I nodded and buried my face into the nape of his neck.

We sat there for almost half an hour until I calmed down fully. My breathing no longer stuttering and my eyes not threatening anymore tears.

"You should get some sleep." I whispered to the blond, not wanting to break the quiet atmosphere.

"Probably." He mumbled back. I slid out of his lap, turned off my light and flicked on my lamp, laying down on the bed and offering open arms to him. He sent me a tired smile and got comfortable, laying on my chest with our legs tangled together. I put my hearing aids on the charger and started running my fingers through his hair.

"Night Denks." I whispered to the barely conscious blond, taking a shot in the dark and placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. The vibrations of him saying something going through my body but I didn't bother to ask him, letting him get his sleep instead.

I stayed up the rest of the night and waited for my alarm to start flashing at me until Kaminari woke up as well. His eyes peaked open but he quickly shut them again and curled closer to my chest.

"Denks, c'mon. We have to go get ready." He grumbled a bit and held me tighter. "I know, but it's that or you face the wrath of my Dad." He shot up like the speed of light and I couldn't stop myself from giggling.

We went downstairs to eat, a few of our classmates not so subtly staring at my exposed skin. I swallowed to lump in my throat and sat with my brother and Midoriya, picking at my breakfast. My appetite had been gone for hours, so I wasn't too surprised.

"Tsukare. I noticed the scar on your neck is still healing. If you'd like, I have a cream that might help soften it and speed up the healing time." I gave Momo a tight lipped smile with a nod.

"Thank you. That's very thoughtful of you. Sorry, uh, would you excuse me? I should probably go get dressed." She cheerfully nodded and I walked away, ignoring the sets of eyes on me as I retreated. Bakugou stared at me with an unknown emotion in his eye as we crossed paths at the elevator.

I walked to homeroom alone, already exhausted with social interaction but I shouldn't have work a tank top in the commons, that's my fault I suppose. I sat there blasting my music, scrolling through my phone and texting Nakami before Kiri and Mina came running towards my desk.

"Tsukabro!"

"Tsukababes!" They both yelled in excitement.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked cautiously as I turned down my music.

"What happened this morning? Everything okay? You kinda booked before we could ever say a word to you." Kiri asked gently leaning back against Denki's currently unoccupied desk. Mina hopping up and sitting on my desk.

"Yeah, yeah I uh, I'm okay." I mumbled, sending a small smile that I knew didn't convince them. The duo shared a look and turned back to me.

"Look, Tsukababes, we're worried about you, like a lot." Mina said gently, placing a hand on mine. "You've been more distant and quiet and stuff."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired." Mina looked to Kiri while the red head stared at me with a look of concern.

"We're having our own bro talk later." Kirishima told me, leaving no room for debate.

"Fine but you gotta find a different name, Hitoshi and I already use that." He groaned dramatically but rubbed his chin in thought.

"I got it! Dude talk!" I let out a small laugh but nodded.

"Alright. That works I guess." I said, laughing softly to myself. The bell rang and everyone scrambled to their seats, Dad slinking into the classroom, clearly tired.

"Today we have an assembly of sorts outside, all students do. Seeing as all of you meant to be here are, we're ready to go." He stated simply, all of us getting up and heading to the designated area.

"Listen up, everyone!" Iida exclaimed as we walked. "Stay in line and move promptly into position! I want to see order!" I bit back a small chuckle from his enthusiasm over the structure of a line in the hallway.

"Uh. You're the only one who's not in line." Hanta told him as he passed and I slightly snorted.

"I heard a little rumor about Class 1-A. Two people! You had two people fail the licensing exam, you losers!" Monoma called out maniacally down the hallway.

"Shut the hell up, you're as unoriginal as ever, thought that should only extend to your quirk. Not your whole personality." I snapped at him, my voice dull and making me appear nihilistic. Denki looked back at me and shared a look with our friends, all of them rushing up to where we stood near the front.

"Bet you were the only one in your class to fail. Just like in the final, huh?" Kiri asked, clearly having my back.

Monoma laughed awkwardly and turned around. Not giving an answer.

"Actually. Every one of us passed. We've pulled ahead of you big shots." He said, gesturing to the rest of his class behind him theatrically.

"Shocking that you managed to make the cut." I stated blandly, waving to Kendo. She waved back softly, the interaction earning me a glare from Monoma.

"Accordin' ta teacher Vlad, we'll have classes together this semester— doesn't that sound like it'll be fun? I'm lookin' forward to it." A girl with horns said happily. Monoma whispering something in her ear. "Touch me and I'll pummel ya until your mama doesn't know ya!" She said happily, not realizing it was a threat.

"Nice try, Monoma. But I think my brother and I have the upper hand. You're the exchange student, right? From America?" I asked in English. She nodded happily. "Word of advice, you might not wanna repeat whatever Monoma tells you to. He's trying to be a bad influence with the fact you're still learning the language. You seem nice, and I don't want to see you get hurt by someone like that." She blinked at me twice before glancing back at Monoma, the rest of the students staring at me in disbelief.

"What about the competition between classes?" She asked me innocently.

"It's a joking feud that's been going on for years. Monoma takes it too seriously, your teacher even admitted that." She looked at me wide eyed for a moment before nodding in confirmation.

"Hey, we're trying to get through back here." A chill ran through my body and I immediately tensed up. "Hey, sweetheart." Denki nodded his head forward and we kept walking, his hand finding mine and intertwining our fingers together. My brother quickly came up to my other side and made sure Takai kept his distance.

"You okay?" Denki asked softly, to which I quickly nodded my head.

"Hi there! It's the adorable small mammal you all know and love, the principal." Nedzu announced from his special block to give him the height he needed. The rest of the teachers lined up beside him. "You may notice the fur I'm so proud of has deteriorated in quality. I haven't been taking care of it. This is something that can happen to humans, too. Even if you eat a balanced diet full of vitamins and minerals, you won't have a mane as luscious locks unless you're getting lots of sleep. That's the secret!" I bit back my laughter at the irony for me but tried my hardest to focus. "Disturbances in your normal resting patterns are terrible for your hair. So if you want to improve your furs..." I got distracted by Denki fidgeting with Ojiro's tail. I tried to focus but found it difficult, so I pulled out a fidget cube. "My own sleep cycle has been upset by the incidents that took place over summer vacation, which I'm sure everyone here knows about already." My stomach churned and I looked to the ground in shame. "We lost a pillar of hope. The ramifications of which have appeared faster than I could have ever imagined." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as he made it about All Might, for once I was thankful for him being mentioned. "And there will likely be even more chaos throughout our world in the near future. In particular, this will be most apparent to those of you studying in the hero course. You must approach extracurricular activities, like the hero work studies available to second and third years, with a greater sense of caution..." I thought about the work studies we would do next year and started thinking about when we would visit Uncle Oboro's tombstone, it's almost that time of the year again. I don't exactly know what happened, I just know he was close friends with our dads and Auntie Nem and something happened to him during his work study. Pops told me he's the reason for Dad's eyes being covered now. But that's about it. Then I started thinking about the Big Three and how their studies are going until Uncle Seki started speaking into the mic.

"Now, we'll hear from the extra curricular guidance teacher. Please give Mr. Hound Dog your attention." Ryo stood on the stage behind him and moved to the mic.

"Yesterday... Two students—" After that, it turned into him barking and snarling, clearly upset about what happened. Whenever he got strong emotions, his language skills got muted and his brain flipped his dialect switch, as I like to say at least.

"Alright.." Uncle Seki stated slowly, stepping back up to the mic. "As you just heard, there were students fighting last night. I know you're not used to life in the dorms, but let's all be a little more respectful moving forward. That's it. Back to the classrooms, starting with the third years." He directed, I started tapping my fingers anxiously, not wanting Takai to try and pull anything. I jumped a bit when two arms wrapped around my waist and pulled my back flush to a toned chest.

"Relax. I won't let anything happen. I'll keep you safe." Denki whispered to me, just loud enough for my hearing aids to pick up. I let out a slow breath and nodded, relaxing into the warmth of his body until we had to start walking.

"Hey, sweetheart." I heard the eerie voice behind me and I kept walking. A hand gripped onto my wrist tightly, I quickly jabbed my elbow into his diaphragm and watched him sputter for a second. "'Now, that wasn't nice. Neither was getting me suspended." I gripped onto Denki's hand a little tighter. "What? You have him on a leash or something? He's always following you around."

"He's always with me cause he's my boyfriend. So leave me the fuck alone already." I bit back, trying my hardest to hide my nerves.

"C'mon, stop being such a-"

"You don't want to finish that." My brother stated firmly.

"Oh? I don't? And what are you gonna do, freak show?" Takai retaliated.

"Watch your fucking mouth." I told him, my tone laced with venom.

"You're clearly all bark no bite, shortstack. So I don't think I will. You gotta stop being such a whore begging for attention. Stop being a prude afterwards and leading people on. If you're gonna act like that, pick one and stick with it, or just be a normal person about it." He reached out to try and grab me but before anything could happen, Hitoshi sent a right hook to his face, completely knocking him down. Multiple students around us gasped loudly at the display of violence.

"Don't you dare try and talk to my brother like that when you can't even understand the word 'no'. You're pathetic." He spat out as Takai slowly got back up, wiping the blood from his nose on the back of his hand.

"You're gonna regret that." He threatened with a wild look in his eyes.

"Sure. Cause you scare me." The two went toe to toe.

Dad! I quickly signed and pulled my brother back, our Dad's capture weapon wrapping around Takai and further pulling the two apart.

"Both of you, go with Nedzu to his office. Onryo, Kaminari, I'm sure you'll both be talked to later. Get back to the classroom." I gave him a small nod and with a final glance at Hitoshi, I walked away.

"I could get used to hearing you call me that." Denki casually said on our walk back.

"Call you what?" I asked coyly, a smirk on both of our faces.

"You know what I'm talking about." He teased, both of our faces pink.

'Is he just being a flirt? Or is he actually flirting with me?' I thought to myself, worried about interpreting the situation wrong.

"Do I?" I asked playfully, not know how to flirt and just hoping I didn't screw things up.

"I think you do." He replied.

"I think you should just say it if you could get used to hearing it so much." We both blushed harder, glancing at one another as we walked into the classroom.

"Kaminari! Tsukare! You both are late! And where is Shinsou?" Iida exclaimed loudly as soon as we entered.

"Toshi's with the principal." I said blandly, watching as Iida spluttered for words. Not know whether to scold him or praise him in his absence. Denki and I took our seats, my attention being diverted as my Dad came into the classroom.

"Okay. Starting today we'll resume our regular classes and training schedule." He paused briefly, eyes glancing towards me. "I know a lot has happened recently," his voice grew slightly somber, the small pitch of change notable to those who knew him, "however, you need to switch gears and focus on your school duties. We're lecturing today, but this semester you'll have even harsher training than before." I saw Mina turn and whisper something to Tsu. "Like to share, Ashido?" Dad asked, using his quirk to scare her.

"Excuse me, sir. May I ask a question?" Tsu asked politely while raising her hand. "What were those things the principal was talking about during the opening ceremonies? I've never heard the term hero work studies before." She said quizzically, clearly intrigued yet equally confused.

"I know, right? Hey, Tsuka, do you know what they are?" Sero asked while turning towards me.

"They're so exciting! You get to work side by side with actual heroes, it's like interning but more hands on because we have our provisional licenses!" Dad sighed at my slightly overzealous explanation.

"I was planning to talk more about those at a later date, but I guess telling you now is more logical. Onryo's explanation covered most of it. More simply put, it's work outside of class." He explained and I was worried that he was upset about them.

"Wait! Then why did we work so hard at the Sports Festival?!" Uraraka yelled out, my hearing aids whining in my ears from the feedback.

"Uraraka, take it down a few notches, please." I asked her blandly, gritting my teeth in discomfort. "The answer is right there anyways, connections, relationships, experiences. It's all a chain of events." She looked at me confused and Dad gestured for me to explain. "Bust your ass in the sports festival, get a hero to recruit you, go to internships. When we do our work studies, we can reach out to who we worked with in our internships from the festival to train under them further. But it also shows you who you don't want to work with, which makes you rely on personal connections and getting in through the upperclassman or emailing the agency." She hummed and sat back down.

"That's correct. The only real downside is those who didn't get scouted or any offers will have a much harder time securing someone for a work study." Dad concluded.

"That.. makes a lot more sense now. Thanks, Tsukare!" I gave her a tense thumbs up. The door slid open and my brother walked in with the same, bland look on his face.

"Hitoshi, please take your seat. We're covering what work studies are." My brother simply nodded and trekked to his seat. My mind starting to run in circles.

"I have a question." I said while raising my hand. "Not a lot of first years get their provisional licenses, outside of us and Class B, I'd say we were the only first years there outside of Inasa. That, mixed with the influx in crime since what's happened, does that mean we might do work studies this year instead of next year?" I asked blatantly, a few whispers starting up around the classroom.

"It's being discussed at the moment. However, nothing is currently definitive. We'll explain more about the work study positions and what that program entails at a later date, but for now... We've got other things to worry about. That's all. Sorry to keep you waiting, Mic." The door slammed open to reveal Pops.

"First period is English! In other words, it's time to jam! And since I get to do this now.." Pops yelled as he marched over to Hitoshi and I, give each of us a hug. "Now I get to embarrass you both a little bit more!" I groaned and let my head bounce onto the desk.

"This is so unfair." I grumbled out, Denki reaching over and rubbing my back. The gesture causing Pops' eyes to widen in shock, his brain clearly buffering.

Classes dragged on for the first day back, my meds being ineffective today. Or maybe that was because I was currently sitting in detention with Monoma. We thankfully had the same idea of not sitting near each other, but whenever Uncle Ecto had his back turned, he would throw something at me. I tried my hardest to just sit and read the textbooks and assignments, but that clearly wasn't happening. I raised my hand, Uncle Ecto looking at me curiously for a moment.

"Yes, Onryo?" I stood up and went to his desk, hoping he would allow what I was going to ask.

"I know some of my accommodations for my educational plans don't apply in here, like listening to music. My meds haven't been working today and I can't focus on it. Is it okay if I listen to an audio version of my textbook?" He pondered it, clearly entertaining the thought but he gave me a curt nod and I scurried back to my seat. I fished my phone out and selected what I needed, keeping the volume low incase I needed to hear anything around me.

"Mr. Ectoplasm, I hate to be a snitch but Tsukare is on his phone." Monoma almost sang out like he was about to win an award.

"I'm aware Monoma, I gave Onryo permission to use it for schoolwork. Is that all?" He drawled back, clearly unamused with the blonds antics.

"But, sir, that's not allowed in detention, and it's unfair behavior. I know who his father is and I don't appreciate him getting unfair treatment." I sighed and raised my hand, pausing the audiobook.

"Since you seem so intrigued with my personal life, I have a 504 and an IEP, I have ADHD and my medication didn't want to work today, so I asked him if I could listen to the audio version of it because I'm painfully aware of the fact I can't listen to music in here. If you have an issue with that, take it up with Recovery Girl and Nedzu since they signed off on my educational plans. Don't bring my Dad into it because you're jealous and insecure of where you stand in the world." I said blandly, not having the energy to deal with him.

"That's enough, both of you. Back to work." I took a deep breath and tried to speed through my homework. In the hour and a half I was there, I got all of it done. So, for the most part, I was pleased. "Onryo, Principal Nedzu would like to speak with you." Uncle Ecto told me as we left, Monoma looking at me as though I was in trouble.

I sighed but went to his office. Seeing Dad, Pops, Hitoshi, Takai, two women I didn't know and Nedzu all sitting there was definitely nerve wracking.

"Onryo, thank you for making it here on such short notice. Please take a seat." I pulled up a chair and sat beside Hitoshi. "I assume you all know why we're here?" I nodded, my lips plastered into a thin line. "Alright. I have already spoken with Hitoshi and Takai earlier after the incident. Mic, Aizawa, did either of you see or hear anything that happened?" Pops shook his head and looked to Dad.

"All I saw was Onryo calling me over before holding his brother back. I got over there and held Takai back with my capture weapon." Dad stated vaguely.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little lost." The red headed woman said in a breath whilst shaking her head. "You 'saw' him calling you over? And why are both of you here? I thought we agreed both parents would be here." I raised my hand facetiously, not enjoying her attitude. She looked at me and sighed before waiting for an answer.

"Questions I actually know the answer to! We're all fluent in sign language, I'm hard of hearing and whatnot, so I used sign language to call him over since he was the closest teacher to us. And they're our dads. Before you ask, no we don't get special treatment, I actually just got out of detention." The women looked at me in shock before turning to our parents.

"The names Yamada Hizashi, better known as Present Mic, and this is Aizawa Shouta."

"My name is Takai Sumi." The redheaded one said before gesturing to the brunette. "This is my wife, Kairi. I apologize if I came off abrasive, you know how protective you can be over your kids." Dad gave her a small nod in response.

"If I may, why exactly are we all here?" Kairi asked softly, hands folded delicately in her lap.

"I was wondering what happened as well, we were not happy getting a phone call from the nurse saying that Shitsurei received a broken nose. Is this another bullying situation? I don't see how it could be, considering they also have gay parents." I laughed a little bit, failing to cover it in time.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you or the history. I'm trying not to laugh at the irony." The two looked at me curiously before turning to Nedzu.

"Onryo, please." The principal said lightly so I did the best to stifle my laughter. "Which of you would like to start?" He asked, looking between my brother, Takai and I.

"Can we just, skip this so I can get my punishment and move on?" Takai tried to divert the conversation.

"May I ask a personal question?" Everyone looked at me confused. "Do you know why he was suspended?" Takai went to interrupt but I held up a hand and silenced him. "Not now, the adults are talking."

"You have no business talking to our son like that." Sumi snapped at me.

"Woah, tone it back, sarcasm is one of the things I'm fluent in, sorry it didn't translate well. I'm asking so I know how much to tell you." Kairi placed a hand on her wifes shoulder and looked at me.

"He told us it was for cheating on a large test." I raised an eyebrow in shock.

"Oh this is gonna be fun." I said sardonically, not looking forward to any of this. I glanced at Takai and clenched my shaking hands into fists, his eyes already focused on me. I looked at Dad and Pops anxiously, the reality of everything finally washing over me.

"Onryo, would you like to take a minute out in the hall?" Nedzu asked, I shook my head and took a trembling breath.

"Takai has been harassing me for a while. Uh, I thought it was a joking student pissing match for a bit. But it only got worse, Nedzu probably still has the security footage, but he got suspended because I finally had enough of him trying to flirt with me when he pinned me against some lockers. I've turned him down and made it clear I wasn't interested multiple times, but it reached a point where I couldn't act like it wasn't an issue anymore." I took a deep breath and focused on anything aside from the grey haired male staring at me. "I'm not telling you this because I want to ruin his life, I simply just want this to stop. We had our start of the term ceremony today and he caught up to my brother, my boyfriend and I to simply harass me. I ignored him but he grabbed my wrist and I sent my elbow into his stomach. He kept antagonizing my brother and myself before he called me a whore and a prude, saying I was begging for attention and then leading him on afterwards. That was the tipping point for my brother and he punched him. He got back up and that's when I called our Dad over before holding Hitoshi back." I wrung my fingers together nervously, for once, I was worried about what could happen.

"Shitsurei? Is this true?" Kairi asked and Takai didn't answer, answering by omission. "Tsukare, I am so sorry for our sons behavior. We raised him better than this." She took a deep breath and held her wifes hand tightly. I spared a glance at Dad and Pops and if looks could kill, nobody would ever be able to find Takai's body.

"What would everyone like out of this?" Nedzu asked calmly.

"I'd like to not get a punishment, but I know that's not gonna happen." Takai said in a light hearted way, but every sent him a dark look.

"I just want you to stop. It would be one thing if you were in my class and we had to work together, but I just want this to stop. School was one of my only safe places outside of home, I don't want to keep worrying about whether or not you're going to try and start something. I've made myself clear on more than one occasion that I'm not interested, I'm in a relationship. I don't like you in that way and I never will." I said in a calm voice, masking all of my inner worries. "I don't want to ruin your life, I just want this to stop."

"I want him to stop without feeling like I need to resort to violence to ensure he does." Hitoshi stated, getting right to the point.

"Shouta? Mic?" The principal asked.

"As teachers, we want to see every student that comes here succeed. However, we have to draw a line somewhere. But as parents, I would like to petition for him to be expelled." Dad said sternly, Pops nodding beside him.

"Alright. Kairi? Sumi? What do you both think?"

"We want to protect him, he's our son. But he deserves a punishment. Whatever you deem fitting, he'll accept the consequences." Nedzu tapped his paw pads together for a moment as he thought.

"Before I make my decision, I would like to address something. Shitsurei, the only reason you are not being expelled is because Onryo petitioned for your future to not be ruined. So I'm doing the next best thing. You're being expelled." His eyes went wide but Nedzu held up a paw. "Allow me to explain. We're a prestigious school, so not all of our methods may seem conventional. I know you originally applied for the hero course, and Shouta has a very unique punishment. You will be expelled and then reinstated at U.A. It will go on your permanent record but after wards, you will still receive an education here. However, do to the severity of the situation, that's not all the punishment you will be earning. I was hoping the first bout would be enough, considering I only had you suspended until the end of this week, barred from summer activities and on house arrest with the exception of the ceremony today. That seems to not have been enough though. So, you will be receiving an expulsion, followed by a month long out of school suspension. Meaning you will be home for the next month, not in the dorms. Kairi, Sumi, I can assume you'll follow up with reprimanding him at home?" The two women nodded fervently. "Now, Hitoshi. This is your first offense at any school, while you were trying to protect your brother you did throw the first punch. To avoid any altercations with another student in detention, next week monday and next week tuesday you will be in detention. I usually would only do one day, however you did break his nose. Shouta, Mic, do you have comments, concerns?" Our parents shook their heads, Sumi and Kairi doing the same. "Wonderful, since we're all in agreement, Sumi, Kairi, Shitsurei, you are all free to leave. Onryo, if you have a moment, would you mind staying?" I looked at him and my family confused but waited impatiently. "I'd like to test your IQ, it will only take about twenty or so minutes." I shrugged and fiddled with my fingers.

"Sure, I guess. I have nothing better to do."

My family decided to wait in the hall while Nedzu set me up on a laptop, the test timed and rather than it taking twenty minutes, it only took twelve minutes. A lot of the questions were multiple choice, patterns, matching, stuff like that. He called them back in and looked at me with so much pride I felt like I could cry.

"For adults in Japan, the national average is about 106, those with intelligence quirks have not been grouped in seeing how there is an unfair biological advantage. Teenagers usually score lower for obvious reasons, however, Onryo scored 148 on this test. He falls in the genius range. I'm very proud to see this, and maybe in your future years I can take you on as my protégé." I stared at him in disbelief, not expecting this.

"I feel like I need to take the test again, there's no way I could've scored in the genius range. I forget the simplest things on a day to day basis, that must've been luck." Nedzu shook his head with a soft smile.

"You don't have to try and play down your smarts. This is something you've worked for and have clearly earned." I bit back my smile but nodded. "Hitoshi, another day I would like to test yours as well, if that's something you'd be interested in." My brother gave him a thumbs up.

Once we got into the dorms, all attention was on us. Bakugou and Izuku were still cleaning since they were on house arrest and Sero thought it'd be a good idea to tease the angry blond.

I took off my shoes and started heading to my dorm, only realizing something was off when I saw a pouting Denki.

"Sorry my hearing aids died a little while ago, did you say something?" His pout slowly turned into a smile as he came closer to me.

"I was just wondering how your day was going." He said happily. "Woah, you finally got your IQ tested?" I turned to my brother who sat there smirking. I flipped him off but turned back towards Denki and nodded. "What'd you get?" I gestured for my brother to tell him and watched his eyes widen. Kiri, Mina and Sero all coming over to congratulate me.

"Guys, it's not that big of a deal. Really." Mina rolled her eyes at my words.

"Uh, yeah it is Tsukababes, you're super smart! That's something to celebrate!" I simply shrugged and rung my fingers in my hand.

"It's really not that big." I dismissed, not enjoying being the center of attention as more people in our class came over to congratulate me. "I'm gonna uh, go shower real quick. 'Scuse me." I took a shaky breath once I managed to get to the safety of my room, completely overwhelmed with social interaction. I grabbed what I needed and snuck back downstairs, succeeding at being a wallflower on my way to the baths. While soaking in the faux spring sounded nice, I didn't want to chance falling asleep when I was in here alone. I got in and let the hot water cascade down my back, trying to relax even though it did nothing to soothe my tense muscles. I rushed through it, despite enjoying the bit of solace for once. I stepped out of the cubicle with my towel wrapped around my waist, not expecting to see Sero and Bakugou doing skin care together.

"I'm not even gonna ask what's going on, all I gotta say is don't let Mina find out. She'll be jealous." Sero sent me a thumbs up, but I could see his gaze turn worried at the sight of all my scars. Bakugou landed a firm slap on the back of his head, and I sent him a nod in thanks. I went to the mock locker room cubicle and changed into my pajamas, a simple long sleeve shirt and basketball shorts.

I walked out drying my hair with a small towel, faintly hearing Mina's squeals as she ran over to me. Talking so fast that I couldn't read her lips, especially since she was bouncing in place.

"Woah, slow down, what are you saying?" She took a deep breath, slapped her hands on her cheeks and turned towards me fully.

"Can I please, please, please, pretty please use my curly hair product on your hair?" She asked, still bouncing in excitement. I shrugged and said yes, not seeing the harm in it.

I sat down in front of one of the couches, Mina sitting on it behind me with a plethora of products by her side. Her hands continuously ran through my hair and eventually, I passed out where I sat.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 46

Warnings: Feelings, transphobia, religious fueled detestment, chaos, pure and utter chaos Word count: 6422

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

Masterlist

Volt 45 | Volt 47

"We should play truth or dare!" Mina said excitedly, we all hesitantly agreed after a lot of persuasion. We sat in a circle in the center of the basement, all of us changed and ready for bed but too awake after a day of fun. "Okay, rules are simple. Spin the flat iron, whoever the corded end lands on has to answer truth or dare but if they choose to back out, they have to take a sip of the concoction of death!" I looked at the half full red solo cup on the end table, a mix of soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, ketchup, mustard, salsa, apple juice, hot sauce, ginger salad dressing and lemon juice sitting intimidatingly by itself. All of us had emergency drinks just in case so we wouldn't upchuck anything, but also an emergency trash can on standby. "I'll go first!" She leaned forward and spun the straightener, the object pointing to Kirishima. "Truth or dare!"

"Ah, shoot, uh, truth I guess?" He blurted out, clearly unprepared for whatever the girl might have in store.

"Boringgg! Fine, uh, if you were to get any piercing, what would it be?" Kirishima thought about this for a moment.

"Probably my eyebrow." The girl nodded in approval before Kiri spun, Denki up next. "Alright, truth or dare man?"

"I'm not scared, I'll go with dare." He said with a smirk, leaning back on his palms.

"Alright, I dare you to burp the alphabet without throwing up." Denki went upstairs and came back with a can of soda.

None of us could contain our laughter as he finished it without puking. I excused myself to go grab a soda as well after asking Sero, needing something to help me sleep tonight. I came back down and saw Mina and Sero dancing.

"I dared them to a dance off, to see who would fail first at copying the others move." Denki filled me in and I nodded, watching as Mina won Sero's dare.

I didn't get a turn for a while, somehow the flat iron always landing on Mina or Denki rather than me, until it did.

"Tsukababes! Finally! Truth or dare?"

"Easy, truth. I don't trust where you would take a dare." She poured but nodded.

"Who do you like?" She asked without missing much of a beat.

'I should've thought this through more.'

All eyes were on me and the sip of death looked tempting right now.

"A guy." I finally spluttered out. Sero snorting out laughter at my aversion.

"Well duh, but that's not who."

"Eh, it counts. Me saying 'a guy' is a valid answer because it's a key descriptor and definer of the 'who' which is what you were asking. If you wanted me to say the person, then you should've asked something else." She glared and pointed a finger at me. I spun the straightener and it landed on Kiri. "Truth or dare, bro?"

"I trust you Tsukabro, so dare."

"I dare you to let Mina do your makeup." Mina squealed in excitement and dug out her makeup. As she was doing his, we continued playing. He spun the flat iron before she even started, the appliance landing on Mina.

"Truth or dare, Min."

"Dare, duh."

"I dare you not to do my makeup." She groaned and put all of her stuff back.

"You're no fun!" She pouted but spun her straightener anyways, almost bouncing with joy when it landed on Denki. "Someone fun! Truth or dare!"

"Obviously dare. C'mon you already knew that." She got a glint in her eye and I immediately felt concerned on the multitude of ways she could take this.

"I dare you to kiss who you think the hottest person in the room is. Of course, only if they're okay with it." Everyone was watching what his next move would be.

I stared at my lap, not wanting to know who he would choose until I felt a familiar hand on top of mine. I glanced up at him and nervously licked my lips like earlier. We were already sitting fairly close, not letting the awkward tension break our normal.

"Is this okay?" His voice was soft and quiet, a mere whisper but I heard it all the same. My eyes glanced down to his lips without thinking and I nodded.

His free hand came up and cupped my cheek before leaning in. I met him in the middle, finally working up the courage to lean forward as well. Every bit of it felt like fireworks erupting inside my entire body. It was slow and gentle, our lips slowly moving together after a moment and he pulled away. My face and neck were bright red as was his. We stared at each other for a minute, trying to figure out what this meant and where we stood, my mind all over the place. Without looking, I knew Mina got a picture of it. Slowly, he moved back into his spot fully but his hand stayed on mine.

"It's my turn next, yeah?" Denki broke the silence and spun the hair straightener, the object pointing to Sero. "Truth or dare, man?"

"After the last dare, I'm going with truth cause the only one I wanna kiss is Todoroki." I bit back a giggle but nodded in respect.

"Is your binder still on?" Sero's eyes darted to the floor at the question, giving a clear answer. "Go take it off and put on a hoodie, please." Sero looked torn but I was slightly confused.

"Can I ask a question? Cause I'm a little lost." The pair of best friends nodded. "Is it bad if you wear it for too long?" Sero sighed and sadly nodded.

"Yeah, if I wear it too long it can cause some damage to my ribs. I'm already pushing it with wearing it during hero training." He said in a dull tone, a complete opposite to how he usually is.

"Go take it off, okay? Trust me, broken ribs are not fun. You're still a man, nothings gonna change that, but hurting yourself is only going to make things worse." He sighed and stood up, going up the stairs and coming down a few minutes later in a very baggy hoodie.

"It's off." He stated in a somber voice.

"You know we only push it because we care bro, yeah?" Sero nodded, confirming Kiri's words.

"If it makes you feel any better, apparently I have the biggest chest here." My comment got our friend to finally laugh.

"You're not wrong. We all know it too." I gave him a wide smile and a thumbs up. "Alright, so who's sleeping where? We have one queen size air mattress, the couch and the love seat. I would grab old mattresses, but most of them are toddler mattresses."

"Mina, who's your cuddle buddy tonight?" I asked the pink haired girl.

"Depends on who I sleep next to."

"We can always push everything together so that we aren't separated too much." I suggested, everyone shocked that I offered that.

"Yes! More cuddles!" Mina cheered with her hands raised, pumped at the suggestion.

As the air mattress was being inflated, Kiri and I moved the couch over, sliding it parallel to the loveseat. Mina and Denki set out spare blankets and throw pillows. Just as the air mattress got set up, I took out my ears and put them on the charger. I got settled in on the loveseat, opting to allowing Kirishima to be comfier on the couch. Mina slept beside him with Sero in the middle and Denki right beside me.

We sat up for a little bit, mostly on our phones doing whatever, sometimes I would look over and join the conversation but for the most part, I sat in a comfortable silence with my friends.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I remember briefly waking up. Mostly to turn over and get comfortable again, my eyes immediately drooping shut again. When I fully woke up, I wasn't expecting to be warm.

Or on Denki.

I went to stretch and found myself unable to move, his arms wrapped around me. One draped over my waist and his free hand in front of me as he scrolled on his phone. My head laid on his chest, my body curled into his side with our legs tangled together. His arm left, the rush of cool air sending a chill across my side until it returned along with my phone.

From Pikachu: Good morning :)

To Pikachu: Good morning

To Pikachu: When did I fall asleep? I don't remember

From Pikachu: About 11

To Pikachu: I can't believe I slept for ten hours

From Pikachu: Me neither but I'm glad you got sleep

To Pikachu: When did you go to bed?

From Pikachu: I was up until about 1, that's when you rolled onto me

To Pikachu: Sorry about that, I hope you weren't uncomfortable or anything

From Pikachu: Why would I be uncomfortable?

To Pikachu: I don't know, I just don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything

From Pikachu: Well I promise I wasn't uncomfortable, I wouldn't complain about getting to cuddle with you

From Pikachu: Unless you were uncomfortable?

To Pikachu: I toootally was, hence why I'm still laying on you

I could feel the vibrations and slight jostling in his chest from laughter.

From Pikachu: Well I'm glad you weren't either

From Pikachu: I think that's the first time you've ever fallen asleep before me

To Pikachu: Yeah I was tired yesterday, I pulled an all nighter the other night

From Pikachu: What??? Why??

To Pikachu: Just couldn't sleep, it happens sometimes

From Pikachu: I guess, but I'm really happy you caught up on some sleep last night then

To Pikachu: Me too :)

From Pikachu: Soooo

To Pikachu: Soooo?

From Pikachu: Who's your crush?

To Pikachu: Take a guess

From Pikachu: I don't know, that's why I'm asking

To Pikachu: You should know

From Pikachu: How would I know??

To Pikachu: It should be obvious enough for you to guess

From Pikachu: Just tell meeeee

From Pikachu: Pleaseeeee

To Pikachu: You gotta guessss

From Pikachu: Why won't you tell meee

From Pikachu: Is it really that bad?

From Pikachu: I can literally see you reading these

From Pikachu: C'mon, talk to me

From Pikachu: Why not tell me?

To Pikachu: Fear? Judgement? I don't know, maybe a mix of the two. I'd rather just keep it to myself because I don't think it's going anywhere and the more people I tell who it is, the more real my feelings are and the more it's going to hurt in the long run

From Pikachu: I'm sorry for pushing so much, I didn't mean to make you upset

To Pikachu: You're okay, I know you didn't mean anything by it

From Pikachu: Still, I'm sorry

From Pikachu: Forgive me?

To Pikachu: You're forgiven, Denks

From Pikachu: Phew, okay

To Pikachu: Mina probably got pictures of us to add to her collection

From Pikachu: You mean to add to your collection?

To Pikachu: And what about yours?

From Pikachu: Okay so OUR collection

To Pikachu: I didn't know you saved the pictures she took

From Pikachu: Of course I do! What, you don't?

To Pikachu: I never said that

Denki ruffled my hair a bit and I put my phone down, noticing Sero sit up and start talking.

"Uno momento, estoy agarrando mis audífonos." (One moment, I'm grabbing my hearing aids.) I told the two that I knew were awake, not even realizing I was talking in Spanish until I turned back around to a confused looking Denki. "Sorry, language switch." I mumbled, still half asleep to a degree. "What were you saying Sero?"

"I was just wondering when you two woke up."

"I woke up a little while ago."

"I woke up probably an hour ago." Denki stated, Sero looking at him in disbelief.

"I didn't hear you wake up, I've been up for about an hour and a half." I gestured to our phones and he realized why.

"Should we wake those two up?" I pointed to a sleeping Mina and Kirishima. The girl being spooned by Kirishima while curling into Sero's side, the red heads arm reaching over her waist and onto the other boys.

"Please, I've been overheating this whole time." I couldn't help my small laugh at his words but got up to help wake the two up.

I circled around and poked Kiri's stomach rapidly, watching his muscles flex through his shirt before he woke up confused. His arm moving and waking up Mina in the process.

"What time is it?" The red head asked groggily.

"Almost ten in the morning." He hummed and rubbed his face, his usually gelled hair sticking all over the place. "Time to wake up." He nodded and stretched his arms, reminding me of the morning stiffness in my spine. "Hey Hanta? Can I borrow your legs for support?" He looked at me curiously but slowly nodded. I sat down near his feet and placed one hand on his shins to help me balance as I turned. The relieving pops going up my spine making me sigh before I turned and repeated it on the other side. "Thank you." Everyone looked at me with wide eyes.

"How the— what was that?" Kirishima asked.

"I cracked my back, that reminds me." I propped my chin on my hand and cracked my neck both ways. "I almost forgot about my neck." Mina fake gagged while everyone else was just looking mortified. "It's okay, I do it all the time. Hey, Hanta, where's the bathroom?" He slowly blinked before processing what I had asked him.

"I'll show you, you three meet us up there when you're ready, yeah?" They all agreed and we walked upstairs, my friend showing me where to go as he got caught up talking to Hinata.

I did my business and came back out to see Hanta no longer looking cheerful, but stressed.

"What's up?" He shook his head but I nudged his arm in silent retaliation. "What's wrong?" He sighed and leaned against the wall.

"My mom just let me know that my tío and his new wife are coming to visit for a few days." I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"So, what's the issue?"

"Issue one, they'll be here in a few hours. Issue two, he's kinda..."

"Not accepting?" He nodded grimly and looked to the floor stressed. "You want me to stay after the others head out? Run some sort of interference?"

"You don't gotta, I couldn't ask you to do that."

"Well you aren't asking, I offered. If you want I can text my parents and let them know. Only if you want me to though." He nodded and gave me a sad smile.

"Thank you." I held out my fist and received a fist bump.

"Course. Let's get this show on the road."

After an hour or two, Kirishima and Mina left, both of them having to go home early and catch the train back to Chiba. Denki left after a little while too, saying how he had to start packing so he wouldn't cram pack on the last night and forget something. So I sat on the couch with Hanta, his twin little sisters joining us. Hana, the one with her ears pierced, slowly came up to me with a curious look on her face.

"Hey kiddo." I greeted with a small smile, not wanting to scare either of them.

"Hi." She looked at her older brother and he gestured it was okay for her to ask whatever was on her mind. "Do you know how to braid hair?" I stifled a confused laugh and nodded.

"I do actually. Do you want me to braid your hair?" Her eyes lit up and she ran to grab what was needed. "Do you want me to braid your hair too, Hikari?"

"Yes please." She mumbled before running off to her sister.

"I didn't know you could braid hair."

"Ah, yeah, I learned after I got adopted. I lost my fidget cube one day and my Pops let me fidget with his hair. He got the bright idea I could braid it and pulled up a few videos for me to learn from." My friend laughed at my simplified story, the twins running back around the corner. "You two ready?" They happily nodded. "Should I do different braids to tell them apart easier?" I whispered to Sero who rapidly nodded. "Okay, who wants to go first?" Hikari plopped in front of me on the floor and I couldn't help but laugh before I started brushing through her hair.

It took probably fifteen minutes for each of them, but I gave Hikari two dutch braids and Hana two french braids.

"Thank you!" The two cheered together, Himari peaking into the living room in disbelief.

"You two look so pretty! Why don't you go show your dad?" The two skipped out of the room and Himari stood next to her son.

"Is tío bringing his kids?" Hanta asked, the subtle look of discomfort already on his face.

"No, they're staying at home with your tía, said they'll come next year." He sighed but nodded. "You should go get changed." Hanta glared at the ground.

"I'm not dressing like a girl for him, it's his problem if he can't get over himself." Himari sighed and rubbed his back.

"You know your tío just sees things differently."

"You two grew up together, your personality should have rubbed off on him." She huffed out a sad laugh at his statement. "I'm not dressing as a girl. I'm not putting myself through that." Himari nodded and gave him a side hug.

"Okay, but you two should still go get changed out of pajamas. They'll be here soon. I'll call you both down when they get here, okay?" Hanta nodded and I gave her a thumbs up before trekking up to his room. He already put his binder on earlier, so he changed comfortably in front of me. Opting for a graphic t-shirt, a zip up hoodie and joggers. I went for a thin, grey long sleeve and ripped jeans.

"You okay?" I asked him hesitantly and he sighed.

"Yeah. Just, not a fan of when he visits. It was more tolerable when he was still married to my tía or when he at least brought the kids, but I don't like his new wife. Plus he insists on using my deadname." I nodded along, easily keeping up.

"I'm sorry dude. If it gets too outta hand I can ask if you can crash at my house for a day or two." He looked at me in shock.

"Really?" I nodded and he sat down beside me on his bed. "Maybe, I think it might be awkward sleeping at my teachers house." I snorted, causing him to laugh as well.

"It's weird for me going to school and having all my family as teachers. Trust me, it fades after a while." He nodded and flopped back on his bed, I followed suit and we sat in a comfortable silence until we were called down. "You ready?" He sighed but stood up, not giving me a verbal answer.

(A/N: anything typed in bold from here on out is someone talking in spanish. i'm not trusting google translate to be right and that's a lot to copy and paste.)

Hanta and I awkwardly stood to the side as his uncle greeted all of his siblings. He looked almost nothing like Hanta's mom, for obvious reasons. A woman stood to the side, looking irked that none of the kids happily hugged her like they did their uncle. I saw a boy I didn't recognize and put together that he was Hanta's brother, Hiroshi.

"Hello Hitomi." His uncle said blandly and I repressed a visual cringe at the use of his deadname. Hanta didn't say anything, just stood kicked back against the wall with an indifferent look on his face. "It's rude to ignore people."

"And it's rude to disregard a simple request." His uncle sighed and shook his head before acknowledging me.

"Who's this?"

"I'm Tsukare Onryo." His eyes widened at my use of his native tongue, unprepared for me to respond.

"It's nice to meet you, Tsukare. I'm Antonio Garcia, Hitomi's uncle." My eyes narrowed as I looked at the ground. He beckoned his wife over, she looked pretty but I could already tell she was stuck up. "This is my wife, Valeria." I sent her a nod in acknowledgement. "How did you two meet?"

"He's one of my good friends, Hanta and I are in the same class at school." That singular sentence earned me a shocked looked from Hanta and two glares from the adults in front of me.

"Her name is Hitomi, and you will address her as such. She is a girl, despite any of the lies she's convinced you of." He vehemently exclaimed, a vein nearly bulging out of his neck.

"I won't. You aren't my father, and you aren't his. You have no authority over me, and you can stop trying to make a display because of your negative prerogative and judgement of Himari's parenting. If you have an issue with the respect and human decency I'm giving to one of my friends then you can challenge my parents on how they raised me." He glared at me before turning around and walking away with his wife. I turned to my friend who was starting to shake. I pulled him around the corner and hugged him. "You okay?" He nodded and hugged me tighter before letting go completely.

"I don't think anyone has told him off in a while." I laughed and nodded.

"Yeah. But hey, you say the word and we're outta here. Okay?" He nodded and eventually went and rejoined his family. The twins came up and sat between us, happily chatting away.

"What's in your ear?" Hana asked curiously.

"These are my hearings aids. My ears don't work too good, so they help 'em out. Y'know how earbuds work?" The two little girls nodded. "Well, they're kinda like that. But instead of getting the sounds from your phone or computer, it gets the sounds from the world." They lit up, enthusiastic at that.

"Can we see them?" I nodded and took my ears out, placing one in each of their open palms and watching closely as they held them. Hana handed my left one back first, Hikari going to do the same until their tío showed up behind them.

Hanta tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the man who was glaring at me.

"Don't ignore me. What did you give them?" I put my left hearing aid back in and lightly grabbed the other one from Hikari before he could, watching as he went to reach for it.

"They're my hearing aids, Hana and Hikari were curious on what they were and wanted to see them." Antonio scoffed as I put my second one in.

"You're not deaf, those were earbuds. You're just attached to your phone like every other kid your age. It's disgusting that you would lie about something like that." I rolled my eyes, not wanting to deal with this.

"Kids, I know it's early but dinners ready. Come eat." Himari said as she popped her head into the living room, quickly leaving again.

We all sat at the table somehow. Hanta and I squished at the end corner, the twins beside me. His dad at the head with Hinata on his lap, his mom beside them, Antonio and Valeria across from us and Hiroshi at the end beside Hanta. Hanta checked his phone briefly, staring at the screen for a moment before he got scolded by his mom.

"Honey, no phones when we're eating. You know the rule." Hanta apologized under his breath and pocketed his phone, Antonio sending a look towards me.

"Tsukare. That means no earbuds as well. Take them out." He chided, thinking he had something on me.

"Oh don't be silly, Antonio. Those are his hearings aids. Speaking of those, how did you lose your hearing? Were you born deaf?" It took everything in me not to smirk so I took a bite of food instead to bide time.

"No, I was born with my hearing. About two months ago I lost over half of my hearing during our internships, then less than a month ago I lost a little more in my right ear from a classmate setting off a loud explosion with his quirk." Himari, Hiroto, Antonio and Valeria looked at me in disbelief. "In my left ear, I have about forty percent of my hearing and in my right I have about twenty percent."

"Oh goodness. I'm so sorry to hear that." Himari's eyes widened as she realized what she said and she tried to backpedal but I was laughing.

"It's okay! No need to apologize. I came to terms with it a long time ago. My quirk is sound based so I was expecting to lose it eventually." Himari sent me a soft smile and nod.

"Tsukare! Can I put one in my ear?" Hana asked cheerfully beside me, Hikari joining and asking as well.

"Sorry but they won't fit. They're a little too big for you, plus they were specially made to fit in my ear." They looked at me with wide eyes and dropped jaws, clearly amazed at that.

"Tsukare, you mentioned that your quirk is sound based and that could contribute to your hearing loss. Do you know of any genetic factors from your birth parents that might contribute to that?" Hiroto asked politely. Antonio looked confused but before he could ask, Hanta explained.

"Tsuka's adopted." Antonio glared at his nephew before aggressively eating more.

"I don't know much about them honestly, I mostly base it off of my dad since he has such a similar quirk." I explained, almost saying Pops out of habit but catching myself so I wouldn't run any risks.

"But he's not your real dad, is he?" Antonio asked sarcastically, earning a glare from half the table.

"He is my dad. My birth parents signed me away legally. So he is just as much of my dad as Hiroto is to any of his kids , unless you're also saying nobody here is really family to you, then you can take up that dull prerogative with everyone here." Antonio glared at me and went to speak but was cut off once more.

"How did you lose your hearing?" Hana asked curiously.

"Well, your big brother and I had to do these internships at school. That's why he was gone for a week a while ago. But, when I was on mine, I was following around Endeavour. We were walking down the street and a kid about your age came up and talked to us. I saw a car coming really really fast, so I scooped him up and got us out of the way. The car crashed into the building and there was a huge explosion. It was like it was right out of a movie!" Hana, Hikari and Hinata laughed at my over exemplified rendition of what happened, enjoying my mild theatrics and not realizing the actuality of it.

"That didn't actually happen. You don't have to lie to try and impress anyone." Valeria said, her voice alone making me want to snap at her.

"It did happen, I recorded it. It was on the news and everything." Hanta said with a smirk.

"I remember seeing that on the news, your hero name is Sonus, right?" Himari asked curiously to which I nodded.

"How are your grades Hitomi?" Antonio asked, obviously wanting to change the subject. Hanta ignored him, munching on his dinner. "Don't ignore me Hitomi. Answer the question." He still got silence.

"Hanta, answer his question." Hiroto said softly.

"Stop being delusional already. Her name is Hitomi, she is a girl. Don't fuel her idiocy." Antonio snapped. Himari looked around at the table and saw most of us were done.

"Kids, why don't you go play for a bit, yeah? We have to have a grown up talk." Hanta nudged me and gestured for me to follow him, all of the kids in front of us. My hand was on his back, rubbing soothing circles to try and ground him, until I felt him stop moving. One look behind me, I saw Antonio had his hand grasped firmly on Hanta's wrist. Immediately, I turned and yanked it off.

"Don't even think about that." I seethed, Antonio pausing as I properly snapped.

"Why are you filling the children's heads with these immoral acts? It's a disgrace. My nieces and nephews shouldn't have any part in this." Antonio yelled at his sister.

"Don't you talk to my wife like that in our own house." Hiroto snapped back, clearly just as fed up with this as the rest of us.

"I see why Antonio was worried about me coming, he warned me you two would act like this." Valeria said as if she had any input.

"You stay out of this, as far as I'm concerned, you're not apart of this family or this discussion." Hanta and I tried not to laugh at Himari's retort. "And you. Antonio, you have no right to come into our house and act like you run the place."

"Then do a better job. This is disgusting behavior that you should have put a stop to a long time ago. Hitomi, enough is enough. Stop this. Stop giving in to this sin already."

"His name is Hanta. It is that simple." Hiroto said calmly, so Hanta and I tried to slip out again. However Antonio grabbed his wrist once more. I grabbed his as well, yanking it off with a harsh tug.

"Hitomi, please. Stop this already. You're tearing our family apart." Antonio pleaded and went to take a step forward but I stood between him and Hanta.

"You're not going near him. You're going to shut your mouth and you're going to listen. You have no right to try and manhandle him and yank him around like that because you're throwing a bigger temper tantrum then Hinata. You can cry 'sin' all you want but let's face the truth. By the sounds of it, you're christian or catholic, so let's make a few things clear. It is not a sin. Because your God is about love and acceptance. You want to talk about sin? Fine. Then in the eyes of your God, you're a sinner. To him you would be an adulterous, judgmental man with no morals or ethics. To him, you did one of the big no-no's, you got a divorce and got remarried. You also have constantly been doing another no-no, you've been judging him. As far as I'm concerned, he's more of a man then you will ever be. He is kind and compassionate, he is trustworthy, patient, respectful. So Hanta and I are going to leave the kitchen now and you are not going to touch him." Antonio froze at my tangent, Hanta and I walking out and immediately to his room.

"Hey, you o-" he tackled me in a hug and I slowly hugged him back, "-kay..?"

"Thank you." I heard a small sniffle from him and held him tighter.

"Of course. I got your back." He nodded and let go, rushing to pack his bag.

I texted my parents to ask, thankfully Pops responded saying it was okay for him to stay the night. A small tap on the door grabbed our attention, Hiroshi slowly coming in.

"Hey." He mumbled. Hanta immediately dried his eyes and waved.

"Hey kiddo." My friend responded.

"Can I ask you something?" Hiroshi asked while he looked at me. I pointed at myself to be sure and he nodded.

"Sure. What's up?" He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, gesturing for Hanta to cover his ears, so he did.

"Do you think.. Do you think Hi- H- Hanta thinks I'm like Tío Antonio?" I shook my head and crouched down to his level from where he sat on Hanta's bed.

"No, not at all. Because Hanta knows you don't like change. And he knows you're trying your best despite that. It takes time and change is hard enough to begin with." He nodded and stared at his hands. "What about change scares you so much?"

"I don't like uncertainty. I like to know what's going on." I gave him a lopsided smile.

"Which is why you were eavesdropping?" He blushed from embarrassment and nodded. "Well, there's a few things I'm certain about. I know Hanta cares about his family because he carries just about everything in his backpack that might be needed for when he goes outside with you or his friends. I know he loves being your big brother. I know he's a goofball. But I am one hundred and ten percent certain, that he loves all of you, despite the hiccups and mistakes, because he knows you're trying and putting in an effort. And I know he isn't mad at you at all." Hiroshi nodded slowly and gave me a small side hug before standing up and tackling Hanta in one.

"Love you dude." He mumbled into Hanta's chest once his older brother moved his hands.

"I love you too." Hanta mumbled back into his younger brother's hair before he left the room. "What did you two talk about?"

"I'll explain later, we should head back to my place." He nodded and we went downstairs, his mom coming out of the kitchen looking stressed.

"I'm gonna sleep at Tsukare's tonight." Himari nodded and hugged him. She turned to me and I bowed.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted in your household earlier." She gave me a soft smile and a hug once I stood back up.

"Don't apologize. I'm glad my son has friends like you. And Hanta, text me when you get to his house please. We'll talk more about everything when you come home." Hanta nodded and they bid their goodbyes.

"That was the first time he hugged me on his own terms since I came out." Hanta told me as we walked down my street, the train ride draining both of us almost as much as his uncle.

"Really?"

"Yeah. What'd you say to get him to do that?"

"Just told him the truth. That change is scary but you love him and you know he's trying and that even though change is scary, you can tell he's been trying anyways." He gave me a soft smile and a pat in the back before we walked into my house. "Dad! Pops! I'm home and I have Hanta with me!" I called out as we took our shoes off. Dad walked past the entryway with a mug of coffee.

"Hello. Did you have fun?" He asked me. I looked at Sero and we both laughed. "Oh no." Dad sighed and took another sip of his coffee. "Should I ask?"

"Maybe later. Where's Pops and Toshi?"

"Pops is taking a shower and Hitoshi is taking a nap." I nodded and guided Sero through the house. "Sero, are you allergic to cats?" My friend shook his head right before Mittens came up and started rubbing against his legs.

"That's Mittens, and that," I pointed to our other cat in her cat tree, "that's Spots. They won't scratch or anything if you pick them up." He nodded and slowly picked up Mittens, cradling her to his chest.

"Sero." He looked up at Dad's voice. "I take it he knows?" Sero paused for a moment before nodding. "Alright. I expect you to take your binder off tonight. Onryo and Hitoshi both have spare hoodies if you would like one, if those don't fit then you can ask either me or Mic. Understood?" Sero sighed and nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"I forgot he would know. Which.. wait, holy shit. Dad do you think that means All Might knows?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion before the realization dawned on him.

"If he read his file, then yes. He clearly didn't think ahead about his actions and potentially turning the countries future heroes against him." I chuckled under my breath.

"Yeah. Still don't know why Izuku idolizes him so much." Dad shrugged but Sero looked a little lost. "I'll explain later." My friend nodded and Pops walked into the living room.

"Hey little listeners, do you have fun at Sero's house?" Pops asked, the two of us laughing again. "Oh gods. Sho, should I ask?"

"I don't even know, that's up to you." Pops looked worried for a moment and asked.

"My uncle came to town with his new wife and he's not accepting or anything. It didn't go too well and Tsukare said some things." My parents each raised an eyebrow to me.

"I may or may not have snapped and told him that he was a sinner for being an adulterous, judgmental man with no morals or ethics and Hanta's more of a man then he'll ever be." Pops slowly started cackling, keeling over in fits of laughter while Dad just smirked. Hanta pulled out his phone and showed me the message his mom sent about how they kicked his uncle and his new wife out. I fist pumped the air. "Yes! Now I don't have to threaten him with Pops!" This piqued my parents interest and I clamped my mouth shut.

"Uh, he tried getting physical. Tsuka pulled his hand off before he could do any real damage and stood between us." Pops immediately pulled me into a hug.

You are so lucky you didn't get hurt.

I know Pops. But I couldn't just stand there and see how far he would take it. The furthest he got was grabbing Hanta's wrist.

"These next two and a half years are going to be torturous with how you and Midoriya like to handle things." I sent Dad a wide smile and two thumbs up, the anxiety slowly dissipating as Hanta and I settled in for the night.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 43

Warnings: It's I-Island part two, violence and blood mentions Word count: 4690

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

Masterlist

Volt 42 | Volt 44

I walked off the elevator with my brother. I wore a dark gray suit with a navy blue tie, my brother in a full black suit with a purple tie to match his hair and eyes. I took extra time to style my curls and make sure they weren't crazy.

Denki looked at me with wide eyes and I awkwardly rubbed my neck. Midoriya came out of the elevator next and I watched my brother turn pink in the face. Uraraka came next though, with a pink dress and black tights, she graviatated towards Izuku and I watched my brother start feeling rejected. Jirou hid behind Yao-momo and I offered her my arm, my purple haired friend slowly accepting it and stepping out of the elevator.

"You look great, dude." She rolled her eyes and gave me a small shove but quietly thanked me anyways.

Finally, Melissa came out and we were ready to go. Until we weren't. The emergency system kicked in and we quickly became trapped.

"That's weird. This isn't the protocol for when explosives are found." Melissa filled us in.

"Toshi?" I looked at my brother and already saw him on his phone but he shook his head. "Dad and Pops are already there since they're pro's. Our emergency calling isn't working either." I looked to Jirou, seeing she had no luck at the elevator.

"Iida, let's go to that party." I looked at Izuku in disbelief that he thought he could break out of the security system that rivals Tartarus.

"Why?" The class rep asked, equally confused.

"Because that's where All Might is right now." I rolled my eyes, unsurprised that he came with the dumb blond but the only other one who seemed happy was Uraraka. "So, Melissa, do you know of any way we could get down there without the elevator?"

"Yeah, sure. We can use the emergency stairs. It'll at least get us close." I pulled my glasses from my hero costume out of my coat pocket and watched as my brother grabbed his capture weapon and voice modifier.

"Glad we had the same idea. Before we go, Momo, can you make regular shoes or flats for all the girls here? I don't think trekking the stairs in heels would be fun, let alone if something really is wrong and we have to fight." I asked the girl with the ponytail.

"Good thinking Tsukare. On it." I gave her a curt nod and waited as everyone got ready.

"How do you know somethings wrong?" Melissa asked as we started on the stairs.

"I don't, but I have a gut feeling and I'm trusting it. You said it yourself, this isn't protocol." Everyone looked at me in shock at my bluntness.

'Dad. Pops. You better be okay.' I thought to myself as we got to the upper level of the party.

We saw multiple heroes tied in a glowing, blue band, including All Might who was on the stage. Quietly, I looked around and eventually saw Dad and Pops. Pops was bound but since Dad's costume looked more like casual wear, he was sitting on the side.

The supposed leader started walking around, only for him to kick a pro hero back when he asked what he was after. We sat quietly as the villain started moving David Shield, threatening Melissa in the process to make him comply. Midoriya was shining his flashlight towards the blond hero, finally gathering his attention while I worked on getting our parents informed.

"Dad. Pops. It's Onryo. We're on the upper level. Hitoshi's with me and we're safe. We're gonna get you and everyone else outta here. I know you're gonna lecture me later, but this is worth it. I love you." They both signed the sentiment back and I turned to Jirou, waiting for her verdict.

"This is bad." She said and we all moved to more private area as she filled us in.

"We've received All Mights orders loud and clear. He's our teacher. I suggest we follow his instructions and escape this place. Otherwise, we'd be going against his will." Iida stated confidently, all of us gathering in a circle.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with what Iida is saying. We're still only students. We can't fight these villains if we don't have our hero licenses. Does anyone else have any other input?" Momo asked and I stood up, my brother following suit.

"I vote against that. I respect your prerogatives and beliefs, but I'm not leaving my parents down there so I can hope that I might see them in the morning. I'm looking at this as rationally as I can right now. It's a high defense system, okay? This islands security rivals Tartarus itself, so it's highly unlikely we're getting out anytime soon, let alone undetected. Hero's are being held hostage right now. We don't know what they're after, and we don't know where they're based but we can assume it's going to be around where most of the research here happens because they took Melissa's Dad. And quite frankly, for once I'm going to say that it doesn't matter that we don't have our licenses. We're not home. I-Island has no laws restricting quirk use, the law for it is based on moral compasses. So technically, we're allowed to fight as long as it's with no means to maim or kill." Everyone stared at me in shock, my brother giving a single nod in agreement.

"I agree with Tsukare." Todoroki said quietly. "We want to become heroes, this is something a hero would do."

"If you're in, I am too." Denki said as he stood up next to me.

"I wanna help." My best friend said.

"Okay. I think I have a plan. Jirou, you're our ears. Uraraka, Todoroki, you're in charge of creating distance between anyone we come across. Momo, Iida, you're our brains. Zuku, Denks and I are the muscle. Melissa, you're the strategist, our map around this place. And Toshi, you're gonna get to mess with some people's heads so get your voice modifier on." Everyone agreed fairly easily, liking the simplicity of my explanation. "Melissa, how can we find where they are or get to where they're going? You know this place better than anyone." She paused for a moment before lighting up.

"I know where the security system is. It's on the top floor of this tower. If these criminals managed to take control of it, then the authentication locks and passwords have probably been disabled. We should be able to restart the system ourselves. We just have to stay off the villains radar until we can get to the top floor. That's all. If we do that, the whole island will be safe again." Melissa explained, clearly trying to spare some of the details.

"Then it's possible." Midoriya said with a gleam in his eyes.

"Sure, but how do we keep on the low for that long?" Jirou asked for everyone.

"The security system hasn't discovered us yet. That means the villains probably don't know how it works very well." Melissa said to us.

"So we avoid fighting anyone and try to get the place back to normal. It could work." Todoroki confirmed.

"I think we have a solid plan. Any other thoughts?" I asked, looking around to see everyone growing hopeful.

"Many of our enemies are likely gathered there on the top floor." Momo pointed out after a moment.

"If we're fast, we won't have to fight them!" Izuku proclaimed. "When the security system goes back to normal, All Might and the others will be released. They'll immediately jump into action and stop the villains, I know it!" He announced.

"I would rely on any of the heroes but him to have my back, you do remember I basically cost him his job, right?" Midoriya's lips pressed together into a firm line. "Look, I'm stating the facts here, if it comes down to it, I don't think he'd protect me. But our parents are down there, and this is our only plan, so, everybody ready?"

"The moment I think we've gone too far, it's over. If that's something we can agree to, I will join you as well." Iida confirmed.

"I know this is about Hosu and uh, I was the most level headed one there outside of Todoroki. And are we really going to ignore the fact that legally, we can use our quirks in self defense? The one time we can and nobody wants to." I mumbled to myself, the action making a few of them laugh.

"Melissa, you can wait down here for us." Midoriya interjected.

"And how do you expect us to get up there? Especially if we need to take a detour? She's quirkless, not dead weight." My best friend shot me a glare at my retort and I stared back.

"But without a quirk, she'll be in danger." He tried to ration with me.

"Izuku, this isn't up for debate. You have no right to decide that for her. She's a genius in support gear, last time I checked, you barely know how to use your bones properly." He flushed a bright red and nodded begrudgingly. "So, let's do this. Momo, take these." I reached into my coat pocket and handed her my emergency snacks. "Your quirks based on your lipids, so in case of emergency, you'll need 'em more then I do."

"Thank you Tsukare, that's very thoughtful." She said and grabbed the snacks.

"Onryo, we need to use your quirk so we can inform All Might and your parents about our plan." I sent him a nod and walked back with him to the balcony.

"All Might, Dad, Pops. We came up with a plan. We'll be safe and keep combative and defensive quirk use to a minimum. Be ready, we're aiming to drop the restraints within the next half hour, max. There won't be a big window, so once they break, act fast. Jirou's our ears, so if something happens, we'll hear you." All Might glared at us for not leaving but Dad and Pops nodded ever so slightly.

We all started jogging up the stairs, Iida and I going in the front for our speed and sight, but I quickly realized that Melissa was falling behind at floor thirty out of two hundred. Once we hit level eighty, we ran into a metal door blocking the stairs.

"What should we do? Break through it?" Todoroki asked.

"If we did that, I'm sure the security system would alert the villains that someone's in here." Melissa exclaimed while trying to catch her breath.

"What's behind that door?" Denki pointed to the other one, already opening it before Melissa and Zuku could stop him.

"I think we should run, yeah?" Melissa quickly nodded and we booked it out the door around the floor.

"Stop." Jirou said abruptly, one of her ear jacks in the wall. "Villains are on their way, they know we're here." I took a deep breath and nodded once.

"Is there another way to go up?" My brother asked.

"There should be another emergency stair case down at the other end of the hallway." Melissa said.

"Let's hurry!" Iida followed with, only for all the metal dividers on the level to start closing. "Todoroki!"

"I'm on it!" He answered, freezing the last one open. Iida smashed the door open with his recipro burst, beckoning us to cross through the level.

"Melissa, I hate to cut you off but the elevator is coming up, so we have to move, now." I said as she went to say something. We all hid behind some shrubbery, I sat near the front beside Todoroki, deciding my extended vision would be beneficial. Kirishima and Bakugou were walking around but they were out of my sight before I could get to say anything.

Two guys in knock off tact gear came walking out of the moving metal box, I sent my brother a look and watched him completely understand.

"Hey, we see you, stupid kids!"

"I think he's talking to Kirishima and Bakugou. Everyone relax. Toshi, do your thing." My brother sent a single nod and took the long way around the bushes.

"There you two are, I was looking everywhere for you." My brother said, playing it up and pulling them into my line of sight.

"Both of you play along and we'll explain in a minute, Bakugou, you'll get to knock some heads in." I said to the pair, knowing that if I sweetened the deal, Bakugou would agree and he thankfully did.

"What's up with the mask kid?" The taller one asked my brother.

"I have a compromised immune system, bronchial emphatic respiratory decrease. It's a pain in the ass, huh?" The two responded just enough to go brain dead. "Good, cause I had no idea what I just said. Give me your authorization passes." We all stepped out as they obeyed. "Unclip your walkies and hand them to me. Now, go stand in the corner and count to ten thousand." The two walked away sluggishly and I watched my brother smile to himself.

"What the hell's going on earbleed."

"Villains overthrew the tower, all the hero's are restrained and we have to get to the security room to reset the system. Best part about it, we can use our quirks as long as we don't maim or kill anyone. So for the most part, sparky, you get to let loose." Bakugou smirked and lit a few sparks in his hands.

"Nobody messes with my head but me!" The villain from earlier said, the shorter one by his side.

"Toshi? What happened?" I asked my brother as I got ready to fight.

"Time decreases with the more people I control. Especially if I can't keep a steady focus."

"Hey watch out!" Bakugou yelled, lunging in front of Kiri, only to be blocked by a wall of ice.

"Everyone move, we'll hold 'em off!" I called out, the group hesitantly moving on as Bakugou, Kirishima, Todoroki and I stayed behind. My brother tossed me one of the security passes and with a final look, took off with the others. The dual haired boy sending the rest further out as the villains chipped away his ice.

"What the heck's goin' on?" Kiri asked.

"Villains broke into the expo and have multiple hero's held hostage. They need to get Melissa to the control room so she can fix the security system and right now, we need to hold off these guys." I summed up quickly, blocking the shards of ice flying towards me.

"What's with this guys quirk?" Bakugou asked, clearly annoyed as we got ready to fight.

"So you wanna pick a fight? Let's see how tough you really are!" The short of the two announced as he grew much larger and turned purple, punching through Roki's ice with ease.

"Hey big guy! You done playing games yet?" I taunted with my quirk, a thing of ice bashing him in the face as he scrunched his eyes shut from pain. "I didn't forget about you. What? Are you scared of getting your ass kicked by some kids?" I asked the leaner one from earlier. Bakugou sending a large explosion to the back of the purple guy and giving me the advantage with a smoke screen. I ran around and managed to get the other guy in a choke hold, knocking him to the floor and keeping his palms towards the ground with my feet. I kept my legs locked, not wanting to chance him getting me with his quirk. "Bakugou! Behind you!" I called out as the purple guy came back up, surging forward with a right hook. Kirishima pushed him out of the way and activated his quirk, getting blown back from the hit.

"Kirishima!" Bakugou called out, catching everyone off guard but we kept our focus. The villain under me chuckled, the ground below us shifting. Until I realized, it was disappearing. I jumped off of him, deliberately hitting his head as hard as I could in the process in hopes of disorienting him.

"You two, cover! I'm checking on Kiri!" I ran over to the red head as fast as I could, keeping an eye out in my glasses for attacks. I slid to a stop in front of him and saw him stuck in the wall. "You okay?"

"I can't move, can you get me outta here?" I quickly nodded, small explosions in the background letting me know my time frame without looking.

"Kiri. Turn your quirk off." I gently said and watched him loosen up, smiling once again. I saw Bakugou getting ready for a large explosion in my glasses. "Gimme your hands, use your quirk on them and cover my ears. No time for questions just do it." He looked at me confused but scrambled to do so after I pulled out my hearing aids, clenching them in my hands. The large explosion severely muffled and hopefully not adding any damage. I took a breath and just as he was moving his hands, I pulled them back on when I saw Todoroki sending out a blazing stream of fire. Another loud explosion erupting from the other end of the room. I waited until the smoke settled and let Kirishima fully remove his hands. Bakugou and Todoroki came running over once the villains were held back.

"Are you two okay?" Todoroki asked calmly.

"Yeah, we're good." I responded simply, putting my hearing aids back in. The devices thankfully still in tact. Bakugou tutted and turned around, hands now tucked in his pockets.

"Thank you." He mumbled out, clearly towards Kiri. I simply stared in disbelief, not expecting him to ever say that.

"Woah! Where'd that come from?! Don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried!" Bakugou yelled back to the red head, the faintest of pinks on his face.

"Right. Let's catch up with the others." Todoroki stated.

"Don't order me around!"

"Bakugou, not the time. Save it for later, villains attacking, focus." I snapped at him, almost laughing at the irony of having to tell someone to focus but I refrained. We all stopped as well over a hundred, tiny red robots came towards us.

"Looks like they've gotten serious." Todoroki announced.

"Cover your ears. I get to break some of these things now." I said with a smirk, turning off my hearing aids for good measure. Bakugou was the only one who didn't but he was used to loud noises to begin with so I let loose. Screaming as loud as I could, I watched dozens of them drop like flies as the whole tower started shaking with the force of my quirk. Once I ran out of air, I stopped and started coughing hoarsely. Todoroki stayed by my side while Bakugou and Kirishima ran in to finish off the rest.

"Are you alright, Tsukare?" I gave him a thumbs up and cleared my throat, a slight metallic taste filling my mouth. I spit the bit of blood on the floor and wiped my mouth with my sleeve, ignoring the throbbing in my head.

"Good work, Tsukabro! You wiped out like sixty of them!" Kirishima cheered for me once they finished up.

The four of us took off up the elevator with the security pass, only being able to scale so many floors at a time before we got to level 138, the elevator stopping again. We got out in time to see Uraraka getting swarmed by the robots. Bakugou flew forward and blasted them off.

"Kacchan! Onryo!" I heard a familiar voice call out and I looked up to see Izuku floating with Melissa. Todoroki froze more of them.

"Todoroki and Kirishima!" Uraraka announced.

"That was close. Are you okay?" Todoroki asked her, ready to fight off more while Bakugou and Kiri dove head first into fighting.

"Todoroki! Can you make an ice pillar to get us up there too?" I asked him quickly, ignoring the stabbing ache in my throat. He sent a curt nod and I pulled Kirishima over to us, Bakugou flying up a level with explosions. "Uraraka, where's everyone else?"

"They got captured by the robots in the breaker room." She informed me and my blood ran cold. The ice sending us up to the top of the bridge while I simply froze in place.

"And my brother?" I finally asked.

"I don't know." My face fell and we all entered floor 198. I tossed off my jacket and ran towards the approaching villain while everyone talked and coordinated. I tackled him to the ground and soon felt a sharp pain across my arm and chest.

"Go! Get Melissa to the top floor!" I called out and held on tighter despite the pain and blood seeping through my clothes. I watched as most of them ran, Kirishima staying behind as my back up. "I got this!" I tried telling him, not wanting anyone else to get hurt.

"We got this!" He stated back and pulled me off the villain, his arms hardening in front of him as the weaponized arms from the villains quirk lunged forward again. A loud clanging sounding from the impact. I circled around and kicked the villain in the head, effectively knocking him out. I rushed to tie his arms together at his elbows with my tie and finally assessed my injuries. A deep red line going from my pectoral to my bicep soaking my shirt. I tore off my sleeve and wrapped it around my torso since that one had the deeper cut, hissing in pain when I tied it.

"Onryo." A familiar voice came from behind me, I whipped around and saw my brother standing there. I quickly pulled him into a hug before getting back to the task at hand. "We have to get to the top floor. Now." Kiri and I both nodded and followed him up the stairs, running towards the commotion.

We stopped at a corner and saw a few villains standing at the stairs to the room, the rest of our classmates inside the room fighting. I held up my pointer finger and slid towards the very corner of the wall.

"Izuku's trapped with some metal, the others are fighting. We don't have much time. We can't go in head first, we'll get snuffed right away. Two people were shot. Hitoshi, get to the other wall so you can use your quirk. Use whatever voice you need to, but that guy in the big mask looks like he's the boss." My brother sent me a firm nod and silently crossed the entrance, waiting at the other corner.

"Please, stop! You don't need to do this!" My brother called out in Melissa's voice.

"What'd I sa-" The metal man stopped in his tracks and I let out a sigh of relief. Izuku dropped from the wall while Hitoshi shot his scarf out and captured the boss.

"Here's what's going to happen. He's going to stand here, and none of you are going to move or your boss is going to end up worse than the two on the ground. You might ask why or how, to put it simply, I'm controlling his mind right now, so if I want, I can also control his quirk. He's in charge after all, you must hold some fear towards him. You know the damage he can deal." As he spoke, Melissa crept towards the edge of the door. I grabbed her arm and we booked it.

"Keep it up! Kiri, guard the door, don't let any of the villains out!" He nodded and hardened his whole body, Melissa and I rushing to the control room. I sat guarding the door for her as she typed away at a rapid pace.

"Uncle Might!" She exclaimed over her phone and I rolled my eyes. "The villains are on the top floor, Papa's been taken by the villains, they're going to the roof, Izuku's following them! Some students are hurt!" My feet moved before I told them too and I ran back to the room I was in just a moment ago. My brother laid on the ground, knocked out cold with blood around him. I quickly called Dad, not knowing what else to do.

"Onryo. Where are you? Are you and your brother okay?" He asked hurriedly.

"Dad, get to the roof. The main villains up there and your quirk would really help. Be careful because I think his quirk is metal manipulation. I'm on the top floor with Hitoshi, we got a little banged up. He's out cold right now and I'm about to check him over for injuries." I said quickly, coughing harshly at the end.

"Pops is coming to you two, I'll go to the roof. But you all better be okay when I see you." He hung up the phone and I checked my brothers pulse.

The building continued to shake, explosions sounding outside. I checked my brothers body until I saw a gash across his thigh, blood seeping into his capture weapon, his mask broken and flashbacks of the USJ played in my head. There was a cut on his upper lip and eyebrow. My eyes darted around the room until I saw the first aid kit on the wall. I rushed to grab it, disinfecting his cut and bandaging him up as best I could.

"Toshi, please wake up." I mumbled, pushing away my own pain until his eyebrows furrowed together. Pops running in and pulling us both into hugs.

"Fuck the lights are loud." He grumbled out and slowly sat up.

"Oh my gods, you two need to get stitched up. Your Dad should be on the roof by now, how are you both feeling?"

"I'm okay." I said quietly, not pushing the limits on my voice.

"I feel like I got hit by a semi." Hitoshi groaned out as he tried to adjust to the bright lights.

"You two had us worried sick. But you both did a great job, let's get downstairs and patched up." I nodded and helped my brother up, the two of us trying to stifle our pain and failing.

"Good thing we have the elevator key." I said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

We all went down to the ground floor and waited impatiently to see Dad walk in or call us. Those ten minutes felt like forever to see him walking into the common area with our classmates. He all but ran over to us and crouched in front of Hitoshi and I.

"What the hell happened?" He asked in a rushed tone.

"I tackled a guy with the pointy stabby quirk before he activated it. And I think I strained my vocal cords again." He sent me a knowing look before turning to my brother.

"I got the drop on the guy in charge for a while, but one of the other villains snuck up on me and threw a knife at my leg. The main guy threw a few punches, we went back and forth for a bit until he knocked me out. Guess I got a little more busted up than I thought." He explained lightly.

"Let's get you two to a hospital. I couldn't help out much with the fight, he stayed out of my line of sight too often. But I kept a close eye on the students." Dad stated blandly. Pulling the two of us into a firm hug.

"Sorry for worrying you, we did our best to stay out of too much trouble." I told him on our way to the hospital, slightly disappointed with the turn out.

"You two did the best you could. Despite how concerned we were, we're still very proud of you." Dad told us and I smiled softly, still not expecting people to say they're proud of me.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 35

Warnings: It's a rollercoaster of emotions and basically every warning used up to this point applies to this chapter Word count: 5394

Notes: Italics - Tsukare signing Bold italics - Family member/friend signing 'Italics with apostrophes' - Thoughts Rayquaza is Midoriya's contact name Jangmo-o is Mic's contact

Masterlist

Volt 34 | Volt 36

I stood outside of the police station nervously after taking the first train I could back home. After calling Pops back and sitting on the phone with Toshi for half the train ride, I still wasn't ready to face my fears. But I was ready to get some answers.

I slowly made my way in, the person at the desk directing me to my family. The three of them surging up at the sight of me, my parents pulled me into a hug and my brother gave me a separate one before rifling through his pockets for his phone.

"I like the change in style, little listener. It looks great." Pops said with a proud smile on his face.

"Thanks.. Mina made me wear it. I think I might like my sweaters better though." Dad chuckled and ruffled my hair.

We sat there for twenty more minutes before Tsukauchi came out, the detective looking exhausted and worn out.

"Eraser, Mic, we can't get her to talk and I hate to ask this but-"

"I'll do it." Everyone looked at me baffled. "It's pretty obvious what you were going to ask. So I'll do it if you need me to but I have questions for her. She might be the only one who can give me those answers. If me talking to her means we can get a restraining order renewed faster or something done sooner, then I'll do it." The room soon became more glum and dreadful, Tsukauchi silently asking my parents approval before he nodded.

"Okay, but first I have to tell you what to expect so you aren't going in blind." I nodded and stared at my feet. "She just got here today after being in the hospital for detox, so she may be irritable and frustrated. Her mood might flip on a dime. She's in there with a lawyer right now, a public defense attorney, he'll probably tell her not to answer certain things but it's okay to push. Your family and I will be right behind the glass at all times so if at any point you want to leave, say the word and you're done in there." I nodded along and took a deep shaky breath. "Is there anything you need before we do this?" I fiddled with my bag and found my panic attack meds, taking two quickly as a preventative before setting my bag down.

"I'm ready." Tsukauchi laughed under his breath and nodded. The five of us walked down a few hallways before stopping outside of a door. An officer opened the door and waited for me to be inside before shutting and locking it, I shakily made my way to the open chair across from two adults.

"Really? They're so desperate they sent in a kid?" The attorney scoffed but all I could feel were Shiroka's eyes on me.

"Baby? What are you doing here? Oh you look great, I've missed you Onryo. When will you come home?" I bit back the wave of nausea, disgusted by her sickly sweet tone.

"I have questions that my Dads can't answer. You're the only one who can. I can answer some of your questions too, I don't know how helpful they'll be to you, but I want answers." Shiroka nodded frantically, her appearance being similar to a skeleton.

"Yes, yes I'll answer what I can. Oh I've just missed you so much." I ducked my head down, not wanting to jeopardize using my quirk on accident, until I felt it turn off.

"Who even are you, kid?" The man who was balding asked, clearly already annoyed with my presence alone.

"My name is Tsukare Onryo. She's my birth mother." The man looked at me wide eyed and at a loss for words. "Why did you give me up?" Shiroka looked at me wide eyed for a moment this time before collecting herself.

"I wasn't in a good place, your father left me and I wouldn't have been able to care for you the way a mother should." I cringed at the words, not liking the titles she gave to strangers who contributed to me being alive.

"How did you get our address a few years ago?" I made sure to keep my voice relaxed, not wanting to accidentally set her off and have this all be for nothing.

"Don't answer that." The attorney chided but Shiroka ignored him.

"I talked to a lady that used to run the foster center and she had some things to say about the people that adopted you, I took that as a bad sign. I just knew I had to get you out there and bring you home safe. She gave me the address really quick." I took a shaky breath, thankful that I took my medication before this.

"Do you have any questions for me, before I ask more?" This seemed to catch her attention, her eyes practically twinkling.

"Why do you have so many doctors? Is everything okay?" That piqued my interest, knowing that that was in fact illegal and a HIPAA violation.

"I was born with a common heart problem, so once every few years the cardiologist likes go check that everything is still running smooth. I have ADHD, and the doctors like to check that my attention is as well as it can be. I have my pediatrician like everyone else. I have a doctor for my ears. And I've been in and out of hospitals for a bunch of different things.. but you already knew all of that." Her eyes widened larger than Australia, an undeniable reaction. "If you knew where I was for the first eight years of my life, why wait until I was in a stable home after being legally adopted to try and see me? Let alone try to kidnap me and then follow me places?"

"I just wanted my baby back, a mothers instincts are one of the strongest things out there after all." I rested my forearms on the table, leaning against them and having them slightly bent, but she still saw. She practically lunged forward and I instinctively pushed back out of her reach. "What happened? Who did that to you?" I took a shaky breath and let it out of my chest, fighting to keep myself grounded.

"This happened from me developing an unhealthy coping mechanism to cope with middle school bullies and being stalked every time I set foot outside. Most of the other scars on my body are from all of the horrible foster homes I went to before I was taken in by my dads. Do you have any other questions for me?" She sniffled and took a shaky breath, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"How's U.A. treating you?"

"It's amazing, all of the teachers treat me like family and I've made a lot of friends so far." She nodded with a smile.

"Will you finally come home?" I shook my head, fearful for her reaction. "Why? Please honey, I'm sorry that I've messed up. I'll do better just come home baby."

"I'm done with questions right now. However, one thing that I've learned is how to read people. It's a really good trick I've learned. So let me tell you what I've put together in our almost fifteen minute conversation and you can tell me if I'm right or wrong. You've gathered personal information illegally, along with gathering my medical records illegally which is a HIPAA violation. You haven't been able to stop looking at me because I presumably share a large resemblance to my birth father, along with his quirk. The only other reason you might be staring this much is because of the scar on my face and if that's the case then that's just rude. After you heard of who my parents are, you probably did some research to try and dig up something bad so you could petition to get me removed until you realized they were both squeaky clean pro heroes who teach at a prestigious school.

"So then you went with grander measures, you forced your way into our home, tried to take me, and when that failed you opted to following me around outside whenever you could. After the first restraining order was filed, you kept your distance and started watching me from the minimum distance you could legally be near me once you figured out that loophole until it's time was up and it expired two weeks ago. You saw me on the news and showed up in Hosu and tried to get your way into my hospital room for the second time. You say you care and you love me but you don't have that maternal instinct, if you did you never would have put me in the system to begin with when you know just how horrible it is.

"Your financial instability however, would've gotten me revoked either way but the icing on the cake was you chose drugs over what was supposed to be your child. You used drugs while pregnant with me and, I'm guessing from your appearance, you have a new vice. This tells me the first time you tried getting clean is when you showed up to my house almost three years ago." I took a deep breath and stood up. "Now, attorney person, I'm sure that I, a high school student, won't have to explain to you what position Shiroka has put herself in. Shiroka, I know it will hurt to hear this but you aren't my mom, because a mom would never have let her child go through what I did. I hope you realize that if you went about this differently then you might have had a chance at being apart of my life in a positive way. You might have been involved after you showed up, but you ruined any chance of that happening a long time ago." The door opened and once I set foot outside of the stuffy room, I allowed the first tear to fall. My parents immediately pulled me into a hug, Hitoshi joining in as well.

"You did great, Onryo. You did an amazing job." My dad mumbled to me before I started sobbing, everything that just happened sinking in. I clung onto my family desperately, finding temporary solace in their embraces.

It took about ten minutes for the tears to stop falling, hiccups punched their way out of my body and the shaking slowly stopped. I turned towards the glass, completely tuned out from what was being said in there but from how it looked, the attorney was clearly stressed about something. Our parents lead us over to some chairs, Hitoshi and I sitting down until Tsukauchi came over to us. The detective crouched down in front of me, his forearms resting on his knees as he looked up at me.

"Tsukare, you did an amazing job back there. You should be very proud of yourself, I know your family is." I swallowed nervously, not liking where this was going.

"But it wasn't enough, was it?" Tsukauchi shook his head solemnly and I willed myself not to cry out of pure frustration. "So what's gonna happen?" I tried to keep up my cheerful act, not wanting anyone outside of my family see me hurting. Even the officers gave us space in the hallway earlier.

"Her attorney is trying to make a deal. Extended restraining order in exchange for information. So far it's looking to go in her favor." I nodded and put a small smile on my face.

"At least somethings getting done, right?" Tsukauchi let out a sad laugh with a nod.

"Something will get done in the end. And if hero work doesn't work out for you in the future, try your luck as an interrogator. I've been doing this for years and not many people are that naturally gifted with that ability. And if going pro works out for you, I look forward to working with you and your brother." I gave him a quick nod and he stood up, bidding his farewells to us before retreating down the hallway again. I felt three sets of curious eyes on me, but I shrugged them off, knowing it was just out of concern.

"I'll be okay. Just processing it all." It was painfully obvious none of them believed me. I held my head in my hand, now realizing how bright the light really was in the station while a dull ache started spreading through my head. "Can I go home?" I asked quietly, completely drained after the days events. Our parents nodded and we left as soon as possible.

The whole car ride home I was lost in thought, I didn't notice if anyone was talking to me or talking at all. I just stared out the window and watched the buildings rush past until we pulled into the driveway.

As if I were on autopilot, as soon as I got inside, I beelined to the kitchen and started making the only thing that could bring me happiness right now.

Peppermint hot chocolate with whipped cream on top.

I ignored all sets of eyes on me as I made my way to my room with my drink, both cats trailing behind up the stairs and to my bed. I took my hearing aids out and set them up on their charger, changed into sweats and a hoodie, wrapped myself up in two soft and fuzzy blankets and watched random videos on my laptop.

I don't know how much time had passed, but enough for my computer to lose over half of its battery and my drink to be mostly gone and cold. I did get confused when I got a text from Pops, his designated vibration pattern alerting my senses.

From Jangmo-o: Hey little listener, are you awake?

To Jangmo-o: Yeah, Mittens and Spots are sleeping though

From Jangmo-o: Can I come in?

From Jangmo-o: If you still want some space and alone time that's okay too, I just wanted to check in on you

To Jangmo-o: Yeah you can come in

I set my phone down and watched Pops poke his head into my room which earned me a sad smile. He was in his house wear, a baggy t-shirt, joggers, his regular glasses and his hair pulled back in a bun. He gestured to the bed and I nodded, the blond adult gently sat down on my bed a little bit away from my feet.

How are you holding up?

Just tired and kind of out of it. But I'll be alright.

It sucks though, and you're allowed to be upset and angry about it, okay?

I know. I think I'm just still processing all of it.

That's okay. Y'know, I remember when I first met my birth parents.

How did it go?

Well, I met them when I was probably about eighteen or nineteen. Sho and I brought them over to our first apartment, and it didn't go as well as we were hoping. I finally got to ask the questions you did and they told me they gave me up because they wanted a girl, then said with my long hair and the fact I was happily engaged to your Dad I might as well be one if it weren't for the parts I was born with. I asked them if they wanted to be apart of my life at all and they got really quiet and told me no and that they gave me up for a reason. They said they were happy that I reached out but after seeing the lifestyle I chose, they didn't want to see me anymore unless I changed. I was about ready to cry until Sho kicked them out and said a few choice words. We got our first noise complaint because of him shouting at them.

You got a noise complaint because Dad was yelling? That's out of character for him.

Yeah, it is. Not nearly as chaotic and nerve racking as yours, but it wasn't great.

I nodded and he looked hesitant to ask something. He stared at the comforter on my bed intensely until I nudged him slightly.

What's up?

I've been wanting to ask you and Hitoshi this for a while now. I asked him about it earlier, but Sho and I have been talking and figured it might be worth mentioning. Do you want to find out who your birth dad is and meet him if possible? We won't be offended if you do, you and your brother will always be our sons no matter what, but from going through it myself and your Dad watching me go through it, we know how important it is to some kids that went through the system to meet their birth parents. Some have no interest in it, but others crave it.

Honestly, I haven't even really put much thought into finding out who he is, let alone meeting him. There's too many unknown factors right now, so I don't know yet.

Okay. Well if you decide just let us know, no matter what it is. Alright?

I will. Has Toshi made up his mind yet?

I don't think so. Are you two going to have one of your brother talks tonight?

You know about those?

Of course we do, we should probably lecture you about your sleeping habits but it's not going to change anything. Sho and I know how hard it is to sleep sometimes, but as long as you two are safe, we aren't mad.

What gave it away that we have our late night talks?

Well, the one time I went to the bathroom and heard you go into his room but the smell of coffee gives it away on the nights your Dad doesn't have patrol.

No wonder you're a pro hero.

The comment made him laugh a little, making me smile in turn. Being able to make people smile makes a lot of things worth it.

Is there any reason in particular you took your ears out?

I chewed on my lip and nodded, knowing my answer would worry him but also knowing him and Dad want the truth from me.

Sometimes the silence is better. It makes everything feel calmer even though I'm stressed. Being in the quiet feels nice once in a while.

I get it. That's why I take them out for lazy Sundays. It's calming once in a while.

I nodded, glad that he understood and leaned forward for a somewhat hug. My head rested on his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around me, tugging me close to him. He rubbed soft circles on my back and just held me for a moment. After a minute or two, he gave me a kiss on top of my head and left my room, I took a minute to check my phone seeing multiple messages.

From Espeon: Bro talk tonight?

From Boldore: Hey bro, everything okay?

From Pikachu: Hey

From Scraggy: Hey Tsuka, how're you holding up?

From Venomoth: Hey Tsukababes!

From Rayquaza: Hey Onryo, Hitoshi filled me in on what happened today.. Are you okay?

Tsukababes Pokémon

(Boldore - Kirishima, Venomoth - Mina, Scraggy - Sero, Pikachu - Kaminari, Whismur - Tsukare)

From Venomoth: Has anyone heard from Tsukababes? I tried texting him but I haven't heard anything

From Boldore: No, I tried texting him too

From Scraggy: Same here

From Pikachu: Me too, do you guys think he's okay?

From Scraggy: I hope he is

From Venomoth: I texted his brother asking if he was okay and he said he hasn't come out of his room yet so he might be taking a nap

From Boldore: Maybe he is, I mean, if I had to go for a family emergency I'd probably stress nap

From Pikachu: I don't know guys, I'm really worried about him

From Venomoth: Kami, we all know why you're worried ;)

From Pikachu: Not the time Min, I'm serious :/

My heart sank as I read all the texts, I felt horrible knowing I worried everyone when I put my phone on silent, the only reason I saw Pops' text being that he's an emergency contact so he has emergency bypass.

To Espeon: Yes please, Pops talked to me a little bit ago

To Rayquaza: Hey Izu, I'm doing better, sorry for the late response I had my phone on silent

Tsukababes Pokémon

From Whismur: Hey guys, I'm sorry for worrying all of you

From Whismur: My phone was on silent, I'm really sorry

From Venomoth: TSUKABABES!!!

From Boldore: BRO!!!

From Scraggy: How are you holding up Tsuka?

From Whismur: I'm alright, just kinda meh and out of it

From Pikachu: How did it go with Shiroka?

From Boldore: Who's Shiroka?

From Whismur: She's my birth mom.

From Whismur: And it was fine, just more legal stuff

I locked my phone and tossed it on my bed, already somewhat drained with talking about it. I turned back to my laptop, ready to hit play on the paused video until a video call started coming through from Denki. Confused, I answered and quickly asked him to wait a moment so I could get my hearing aids in.

"Hey." I said awkwardly, still confused about to impromptu call. The blond sat on the other end playing a video game, sitting back in his gaming chair and I couldn't help but notice his hair mostly pulled back into a small ponytail and enunciating his jawline.

"Hey!" He said with a bright smile.

"Uh, what's up?" I asked hesitantly.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. You went MIA for a few hours and saw Shiroka. After last time.. I was worried." His voice grew soft towards the end, heavily showing just how concerned he was.

"I'll be okay." I told him with a small smile on my face. He looked off put for a moment before speaking again.

"So what happened?" I rearranged my area to buy some time but to also get more comfortable. I sat up straight in my bed and moved my laptop in front of me more.

"She got arrested." He paused his game and turned towards his camera completely.

"I'm gonna add Sero if that's okay." I nodded and watched the screen split before he joined.

"Hey Tsuka, you doing alright?" I nodded again and he looked slightly relieved. "Not mad that I was added, but why was I added?"

"Onryo was about to fill me in and since you're the only other one who knows about Shiroka I figured you might wanna be here so he wouldn't have to explain everything all over again." Sero hummed in understanding and asked what happened.

"She was arrested and my parents called me down to the station." Sero's eyes looked ready to jump out of his head.

"Woah." He slumped back at the news and ran a hand through his black hair. "What was she arrested for?"

"She got a few charges. The initial one was stalking followed by a harassment charge because when I was in the hospital in Hosu, she showed up and from what I was told, had to be dragged out." The two looked at me in shock and I anxiously fiddled with my fingers as I worked on getting the next slew of words out. "When they arrested her, she got charged with possession and drug misuse. So she had to detox in the hospital before they brought her in." The mood grew somber from the two and I started beating myself up for causing that shift in the atmosphere. "It's okay. I finally asked her what I wanted to, so I guess going there was worth it." I told them with a small smile, hoping it could be convincing enough.

"How come you went in to talk to her if she wasn't in a cell? They allowed that?" Denki asked, confusion written all over his face. So I explained everything for the most part, why I went in there, that she's getting a deal, and that I'll probably have to make an appearance in court.

"Are you sure you're doing okay, hermano?" I nodded quickly at Sero's question, wanting to erase all of his concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I hoped that my smile helped ease any of their worries. They shouldn't have to worry about me. Sero looked like he wanted to say something but ghost attention got redirected to his door.

"¡Baja en un minuto! Sorry, I have to go eat dinner. I'll see you both tomorrow. Text or call me if either of you need something." We both gave him a thumbs up but his comment struck an odd chord with me.

'Why would he say that to both of us?'

"Are you sure you're okay?" I nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, it's just been a weird day." He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't. "Sorry again, for worrying you guys. I didn't mean to."

"You don't have to apologize, it's okay!" He gave me a bright smile, the gesture contagious and making me smile as well.

"Alright.. What game are you playing?" He looked at the other screen and back at me before he started rambling.

His voice alone brought me comfort, let alone hearing him ramble about something. It was cute, listening to him go on about something that gave him joy. He talked for a good twenty minutes before he awkwardly smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry.. I was rambling, huh?" I giggled and nodded.

"Yeah but it's okay. I- uh, it's relaxing." He gave me a playful smile.

"Nope, what were you going to say? Hmm?" I rolled my eyes jokingly at his teasing.

"I don't know what you're talking about." It was his turn to roll his eyes as he kicked back in his chair.

"C'mon, Onryo. I wanna know." I sighed and gave in, ducking me head slightly in hopes of hiding the blush that was working its way onto my face.

"I was gonna say that I like hearing you talk. But it is relaxing, you rambling about stuff, it's easy to keep up with." He smirked and turned his head but I could've sworn I saw him blushing.

"Do you want me to keep talking about stuff?" I nodded bashfully before he started talking about miscellaneous things again.

I tried my hardest not to stare and if he caught me then he didn't mention it, thankfully sparing me the embarrassment. But I have to remind myself that he's just a flirt. I've seen him flirt with Jirou and Momo, I've seen him check out a few people in our class. I have to get my feelings in check and push them down so I don't get hurt.

After a quiet dinner on my end and talking to Denki for a while until he fell asleep on the phone, I made coffee and met my brother in his room. Both Spots and Mittens already in there and Toshi with his array of blankets.

I take it Dad and Pops talked to you too?

I nodded slightly, still trying to wrap my head around it.

Yeah. What do you think about it?

I don't know. I don't know who either of my birth parents are and what if they turn out psycho? I don't know if I'm ready to know why they gave me up. What about you?

My file from the center has my birth dads name blank. He didn't sign my birth certificate either. So the only ways to go about it is question Shiroka again or doing a DNA test and finding out he's a criminal or dead. I already went through the freak show once with Shiroka, I don't know if I want to chance it again.

I don't blame you for that. Mine was a closed case though, so I don't know if it's even possible for me to find out. What do you think I should do?

I think if you have even an ounce of curiosity, or you want to ask them the questions I got to ask Shiroka, then go for it. If you want to know, Dad and Pops won't get mad. Pops went through the same thing with Dad by his side. What do you think I should do?

He thought for a moment, hands stilling in front of him.

I think the same thing you told me. And Onryo? I tilted my head to the side and hummed. If I meet them, can you be there? I know Dad and Pops would want to but if I meet them, two heroes in the room might scare them and I don't think I would be able to do it alone.

Of course. If I meet him, will you come too?

He nodded and we nursed our coffee. The cats also earning some well earned head scratches.

"Come in." Hitoshi said and I looked to the door curiously. The instinct to cover my arms slipping into my brain as I wore a muscle tank making me freeze for a moment before I relaxed.

Pops peaked his head in and sat on the bed beside me. His glasses on and hair messily tied out of his face.

"Just checkin' in, everything alright?" He asked, signing as he spoke. I nodded and Hitoshi did as well. "I'm sorry for springing the heavy question on you two listeners earlier. I probably should've waited."

It's okay, Pops. We were actually just talking about that.

"I figured as much. Either of you reach a decision or still thinking on it?"

Still thinking on it, but if either or both of us choose to, we decided that we would go together. Figured that you and Dad being there with one of us might overwhelm people a bit.

He laughed a little and bowed his head.

"Fair point, little listener."

Pops?

"What's up, Ryo?"

How did you know that you wanted to meet your birth parents?

"Well, my adoption story is a little different than yours."

"Can we hear about it?" Toshi asked before I got the chance. Pops looked shocked for a moment before the soft smile fell on his face again and he got comfortable.

"Alright, so like both of you, I was in and out of some pretty bad foster homes. I didn't get adopted until I was almost sixteen. As soon as I graduated I was forced to move out, so your Dad and I got our first apartment together. My adoptive parents aren't the worst but they have their views and grew up in a different time yada yada. Part of the reason you haven't met them is because they've made it clear that they love me but not that I'm married to Sho. And I don't want you two facing that negativity. But for a while, I wanted to at least know who my birth parents were. Curiosity and all. When I moved out though, I started thinking about it and finally did some digging after a while with the help of your Dad. It didn't go well by any means, but it helped to finally get some answers." I let what he told us sink in, absorbing his words.

Thank you, Pops.

He nodded and gave each of us a kiss on the head.

"I hope that helped at least a little." Toshi and I both nodded. "I'm going to go to bed now. Both of you try to get at least a little sleep before school, alright?" We agreed to his request and he gave us each a hug and ruffled our messes of hair. "Good night, I love you both."

I love you too.

"Love you too, Pops."

He left the room and gently shut the door behind him, my brother and I turning back to each other.

Do you know what you want to do?

Yeah. Do you?

No.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 41

Warnings: ✨trauma✨ Word count: 2376

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

Masterlist

Volt 40 | Volt 42

We made it to the mall around one in the afternoon. The place filled with good memories for Toshi and I, both of us having gone shopping with our parents here after we got adopted.

"Oh, man, do I love this place! It's got a ton of different stores to shop at and they're all super cool and hip! The Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall!" Mina cheered happily as we entered. Reflexively, I stepped back at the amount of people here. My back hitting my brothers chest abruptly. He sent me a concern look before looking to Midoriya who was rambling already about all the different things here.

"You're going to scare the children." Tokoyami quietly chided towards Midoriya.

"Woah, are those U.A. students?" Some kid pointed out a few meters away.

"1-A!" Another yelled.

"I saw them on TV!"

"The sports festival was so good!" The three people yelled at once.

"Hey, I saw that one on the news! His hero name is Sonus! Did you hear about how he saved a kid from a car?" The one in the middle announced and I awkwardly smiled, sending a small wave their way once I stepped away from my brothers chest.

"I can't believe they still remember that." Uraraka said awkwardly. I looked over to see Momo and Jirou talking, the two slightly blushing and I smiled, happy for them.

"Why don't we split up and look around? We can meet up here again when we're done." Kirishima offered.

"Great idea!" Mina cheered behind me.

"Perfect. Let's say we're all back around three?" We all agreed to his suggestion easily. Kirishima, Mina, Kami and Sero whisked me away from everyone else, I looked back to see my brother with Midoriya and Uraraka.

To Espeon: Text or call me if you need an escape, I'm sorry, I got pulled over here before I knew what was happening

My brother checked the text I sent him and nodded, so I tucked my phone away and pulled my drawstring closer to me.

"So what do you want to get Tsukababes?" Mina asked me, I swallowed the lump of nerves down my throat and flashed a convincing smile.

"I don't know, my Pops asked me to grab him some hair ties if I see any. But for camp? I guess some cough drops, or a spray form to help my throat when using my quirk. Uh, yeah that's about all I can think of." She looked at me shocked, clearly not expecting me to have such few things on my list. I looked at how everyone was dressed, stopping on Kiri's choice of footwear. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, but Kirishima Eijirou what in the ever loving fuck are on your feet?" He looked down curiously with wide eyes before smiling like a five year old.

"Crocs." He gave his simple answer.

"Alright, I guess. Just know I'm judging you heavily for it." He huffed at my words, the five of us walking into a store for Denki to get some shoes. My phone buzzed in my back pocket and my blood ran cold at the text.

From Espeon: SOS

I held my phone tighter and turned quickly.

"Hitoshi just texted me, I-I'll be right back." I ran to the courtyard, hoping he didn't move too far from where we all were but I saw him sitting on the fountain, the hand guy holding his and Midoriya's necks in his hands, one finger raised on each. I quickly called Dad, thankful that he picked up on the second ring. "Dad, Shigaraki's here. He has a hand on Toshi and Midoriya's necks and I don't know what to do." I rushed out before he could properly answer.

"We will be there as soon as we can, call Tsukauchi, I give you and your brother permission to use your quirks but only to protect yourselves. Understood?"

"Okay. I love you, please hurry."

"I love you too." I hung up the phone and clicked on the detectives contact.

"Hello, this is Detective Tsukauchi."

"Hi, this is Tsukare Onryo, a league member is at Kiyashi Ward Mall, Shigaraki, th-the hand guy. He has my brother and a friend held hostage right now."

"Are you positive?"

"Yes, I'm looking at them right now. How fast can you have police here? Or pro's?"

"I switched you over to the public line at the station, I can have pros and police there in five minutes. Okay?"

"Okay, just please hurry." I hung up and switched to my camera. I zoomed in on Hitoshi and made it look like I was taking a picture of the bridge of the mall. "Toshi. Dad said we can use our quirks to protect ourselves if it's safe. Okay?" He looked directly at me and I took that as an 'okay'. I started a video and made sure to focus in on Shigaraki, Midoriya and Hitoshi. "It's a beautiful day over here! I'm currently at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall waiting for some of my friends to join me!" I ended the video and acted like I was waiting for friends until I saw Uraraka show up. She looked at them curiously until Shigaraki left.

I ran over to my brother and pulled him into a hug. His body shook as he held me tightly, not letting up on his grip.

"It's okay. It's okay, Toshi. I gotcha." He took a shaky breath and I just held him. I pulled Midoriya over and wrapped an arm around each of them, holding them tightly in hopes of comforting the pair.

The mall was cleared out except for our class. Police and heroes came and did a massive sweep. I ended up interpreting for Hitoshi, my brother worried that he might accidentally use his quirk on one of them when asking us basic questions. Our parents came soon after, pulling us into hugs and checking us over for injuries. The rest of the class giving us worried glances or consoling pats on the back. Tsukauchi appreciated the video I got, telling me that I'm on top of things when it comes to responding to emergencies.

The car ride home was painfully silent, Hitoshi rested his head on my shoulder the whole way home. One of my hands ran through his mess of purple hair, the shaking of his body subsiding by the time we pulled into the driveway.

The four of us piled into the house, Dad bringing both of us into a tight hug.

"Don't ever scare us like that again." I nodded and nudged Toshi.

"You scared the shit out of me with that SOS." Dad cocked an eyebrow and guided us further into the house.

"As Onryo would put it, we need reinforcements. Sunshine, go grab some blankets. Toshi, grab Spots and Mittens. Onryo, you're on ice cream duty." We all nodded.

"What are you doing?" Dad smiled like he did in class yesterday and I tried my hardest not to laugh.

"Coffee." He said as enthusiastically as he could, Toshi and I laughing hysterically.

I scooped three bowls of ice cream while Dad made three mugs of coffee. We all met out in the living room, Toshi holding Spots and Pops holding Mittens. A large amount of fluffy blankets strewn about. Dad and I passed the bowls of ice cream and mugs of coffee, Hitoshi and I getting one of each.

"Hitoshi, do you want to talk about what happened?" Dad asked gently, knowing it would be a sensitive topic for a while.

"Uraraka ran off to get bug spray, so it was just Izuku and I. Everyone was already gone because we decided to split off into groups. Shigaraki came up behind us talking about how he found a couple of U.A. students and wanted an autograph. He wrapped his arms around us. I still had my phone in my hand so I got a text out to Onryo. He explained how he recognized us, that Izuku's the one that got 'beat to hell' and how I was player twos brother." He took a bite of ice cream and tugged his knees up towards his chest. "He asked if Midoriya was one of the students that ran into the Hero Killer. I knew who it was because of him calling Onryo 'player two' but he didn't really seem to care about me too much. He said he's a big fan of him and he can't believe he's running into us again. He said it couldn't be coincidence and it had to be destiny, that's when he put his hands on our throats. I went to text Dad but he told me to put my phone away, he just wanted to chat. He said he wanted to spend some time catching up and said our names." Hitoshi took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "He told us to act natural and not to make a scene, he was just an old friend who ran into us at the mall. He wanted to have a friendly chat. He told us that if we tried to run or fight him in any way that it would be fast, as soon as all five of his fingers touch our necks, our throats would be the first things to disintegrate. He kept taunting us with it, getting his lifted finger closer but not touching. In a matter of seconds we would be nothing more than dust and powdered bone." I put my hand on his, hoping to comfort him. "Midoriya told him if he did that, a hero would catch him in no time and he wouldn't escape. Shigaraki told us to look at the sheep, any of them could use their quirks and start a massacre whenever they want, but they were all there smiling. He went on about laws and morals protecting them but after us he could kill twenty or thirty, if not more before pro's showed up. He took us to the fountain and sat us down, he monologued for a while. For the most part, he was just talking to Izuku, acted like I wasn't even there. He went on about how he hates everything but the Hero Killer pisses him off the most right now. He wasn't one of their guys but that's how the media is making it look and that's his big problem. The attack on U.A. and the Nomus he released on Hosu, the Hero Killer upstaged all of it. He asked Izuku and I what we thought the difference between him and the Stain were. That's when Onryo showed up. Izuku told him his honest thoughts, how he doesn't understand him but himself and Stain are both inspired by All Might and that's why he can understand the Hero Killer better. Stain didn't kill and destroy for fun but at least when things got tough, he didn't abandon his mission and ideals like Shigaraki. Izuku told him that the way Stain acted was wrong and that the difference is he held true to his beliefs. I thought he was going to kill us on the spot. Then he said he can see it now and that Izuku connected all the dots. Why Stain makes him angry and why Izu irritates Shigaraki so much. That the problem is All Might. How it's the most rational explanation. Everything went fuzzy in my head. His started choking us and I couldn't breathe- I just kept waiting for him to put the final finger down. Then Uraraka came back and he let go, told us if we tried following him he would get angry and he left. I thought he was going to kill us, I just, I just kept waiting for it to happen." He voice broke and I saw the first tear fall. I offered open arms to him and he instantly fell into my hold.

"He didn't and that's all that matters." I mumbled to him, hoping it would help but it only spurred him to cry harder. Pops joined in on the hug from Hitoshi's right side, Dad joining in from next to me.

"You two did everything right and we'll get this guy and the rest of them." Dad told us, I nodded and started playing with my brothers hair.

We stayed on the couch for a while until Tsukauchi called saying we had to give our statements at the station. The four us went and met Midoriya there, our green haired friend also having to give details of the event. I went first since mine would be the quickest, followed by Hitoshi and then Midoriya. Tsukauchi came out and thanked us for coming down on such short notice.

"You all did great today. Most people, let alone kids, would have panicked. I'm proud of you three. Eraser, Mic, call me if you have any new information." Dad nodded. "Tsukare, can I talk to you for a moment?" I looked at my parents before following him off to the side. "According to what Midoriya and your brother said, I have to say, I'm concerned. It sounds as though Shigaraki has taken an interest in you. Do you know why he calls you 'Player Two'?" I fidgeted with my fingers as I thought back to the USJ.

"During the attack, I acted irrationally. I jumped into the fight to protect my Dad. He asked me if I wanted to be Player Two." The detective sighed and nodded.

"Okay. Well-" We got cut off by Midoriya Inko running in crying. She saw me first.

"Tsukare! Are you boys alright? Where's Izuku?" She pulled me into a hug and held me tight.

"We're alright. Izuku's right over there. Let's go over to him." She nodded and we walked over to my family and best friend.

"Izuku! Don't scare me like that! My heart can't take it!" She sobbed as she pulled him into a hug. Our parents guided us away to go home.

All I could think about was how far Shigaraki might take this 'player two' thing.

[passerine-writes]

Unofficial Silent Sparks family tree

So I realized I completely forgot to add this on here, using several screen shots and procreate to draw in any lines and blanks easier, I made an unofficial family tree because this shit is confusing, and I have all of my little spark notes for a reason

This is unofficial for the sole fact that I know I'm going to edit it later and try to fix it up and whatnot, and fix any errors I might have made (i already see one)

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 111

Warnings: It's the second movie all in one chapter, sooo violence, a lot of violence Word count: 6736

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

Masterlist

Volt 110 | Volt 112

I slumped in my seat as I waited for someone to tell me to go help another person. I would answer the phones, but unfortunately they're a bit difficult without the ones that have the auditory assist on it that reads to me what someone is saying. Someone had the amazing idea for us to practice having a hero agency by setting up one for our class on Nabu island until a permanent hero is put in place.

"Kaminari! Head to the west district, Mr. Matsuda's battery is dead!" Mina called out. Denki sighed from beside me and stood up.

"Ah jeez, again? Why can't the old man buy a new one already?" He whined and I leaned back, reaching a hand up to him. He grabbed my hand and gave it a small squeeze.

"You got this, babe." I said, trying to encourage him, before we all cheered him on.

"Lost child in the shopping center! Is there anyone available to come with me?" Uraraka asked and I stood up rather quickly.

"I got eyes in the back of my head, I'm in."

"Hard pass." Bakugou said.

"Yeah, obviously you're real busy, Bakugou." Kirishima said sarcastically. "Count me in, let's find this kid."

"Yeah? And how's your dumb quirk gonna help find anything?" Kirishima froze and I gave him a pat on his shoulder.

"We got a missing kid? Sounds like a great job for me and Tsukare." Jirou said and I leaned over to give her a high five.

"I'm free, I can help look too." Izuku chimed in and we got ready to leave.

"Oh, I do not like the look of this jerry rigged mode of transportation." I mumbled as I grabbed onto the lifesaver that my best friend stood in, Uraraka made us float before he took off sprinting. "This is horrible!" I yelled with my eyes shut tight. "Oh dear gods, get me off!" Izuku jumped and I screamed loudly. "That is not what I meant! Izuku I'm gonna kill you! If you don't get this over with I'm gonna puke on you!"

As soon as we touched down, I used my wires to get me to a vantage point so I could see everything. We all moved around, talking to locals until Jirou heard him almost an hour into searching.

"Hey, are you Shimano Katsuma?" I asked in a light hearted voice as Izuku and I jogging up the hillside.

"You got separated from your big sister, right?" Izuku asked him, extending his hand before the sister in question came down the slide of the small play structure.

"There you are! It's about time!" She huffed and I looked at her curiously. "What're your names you slow pokes!" She asked aggressively while pointing a finger in my friends face.

"Hey kiddo, why don't we chill out? Yeah? Then maybe we can give you guys some piggy back rides back home." I said and watched as the brother poked at her, wide eyed at the offer. "My name is Sonus and that's Deku, sorry that we didn't get here sooner, I think we got a little lost. We don't know your island too good yet." I told her and she pouted.

"I'm Mahoro, Katsuma's older sister." She said with her hands on her hips.

"You're his big sister? Well that's an important role! I have a little sister." I told her and she looked at me skeptically. She started going off on Deku, talking faster than I could keep up with. "Woah woah woah, I think we need to have a talk." I said, sitting down gently. I gestured in front of me and she stomped over, sitting down about a foot away from me. "Mahoro, are you the one who made the phone call?" I asked and she glared at the ground.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well by the looks of it, Katsuma wasn't really lost. And I can tell you aren't too happy about the last guy that was here. Right?" She nodded and I nodded with her. "Did you know it's bad to make an emergency phone call when there isn't an emergency?" She looked at me in shock and I waited patiently, picking some of the flowers as I waited.

"No." She admitted.

"Do you know why it might be bad?" She shook her head. "Do you wanna take a guess?" I asked softly and she watched what I was doing, watching curiously as I wove the flowers together.

"Cause it's not real?"

"That's a big part of it. But if there's a big emergency where they need a lot of us, we won't be able to know cause we're out here instead of back where we can find out." I told her and she hummed.

"That makes sense. You guys were still super slow though. It took you over an hour to get here."

"Well, we were told the shopping center. Plus, we don't know your island as well as you do. I think you know it a lot better than us. It's hard trusting strangers sometimes, huh?"

"Yeah, that old guy didn't help too much." She pouted and I nodded.

"That happens sometimes. But I promise we'll do our best and work on getting places faster, but that means you can't make anymore fake emergency calls, okay?"

"Okay." She mumbled, only perking up when I handed her the flower crown I had loosely woven together.

"Here, this is for you." I said and she smiled brightly, putting it on top of her beach hat.

"Thank you!" She said, shooting Izuku a glare before dragging her brother away.

"Are you guys ready to head back?" Deku asked and we all agreed.

"I'm just gonna walk, I can't handle that thing again." I told him and Jirou jokingly bumped my shoulder.

I took my time walking back, by the time I returned, the sun had almost set and I saw a group of people walking towards our headquarters.

"Sonus, right?" One of them asked and I recognized him as the mayor.

"Hello sir, nice to see you outside of the office. Would you like to come in?" I asked and some of the little old ladies went to pinch my cheeks. "Right this way." I opened the door and walked in first, everyone else gathering in the entryway. "We have company." I mumbled under my breath so all my classmates could hear me.

Everyone came in and said thanks to who helped them today, each person carrying food that soon covered several tables and made a buffet of sorts.

"Just a little something to show you how thankful we are that you're helping us. One of the old ladies said.

Momo and Iida went outside to say our thanks and I ran to the guys side of the place to change and wash up as quickly as I could. I tossed on a long sleeve shirt and some sweats, my curly hair all over the place, but I didn't care cause there was food and I was starving.

And that food, it was absolutely delicious.

"Kacchan of the Bakugou's! We're gonna go hit the sack." My boyfriend said and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Night watch is all yours." Kirishima said and I watched Bakugou break a bit.

"What!? Why me?" He yelled and I laughed a bit. "Earbleed, you take night watch!"

"Because you sat around the office all day." Sero said and I nodded.

"And I wouldn't be good for solo night watch, I'll be in the auditory dark. Not smart." I told him. "Have any of you seen my brother?" I asked and Kirishima pointed towards our sleeping area. I gave him a thumbs up and walked over there.

We gotta go say goodnight to Dad and Pops soon.

He sat himself up and followed me outside a little while later. I called our Dad on a video call and waited for him to pick up, him and Pops sat in frame.

"How's it going on the island?" Pops asked.

"Pretty good, all minor things that were more just helping the elderly." Hitoshi said and I nodded, agreeing with him.

"That's good. Well, we'll let you two get some sleep. Goodnight, we love you both, be safe." Pops said, all of us saying our 'I love you's until Hitoshi looked over somewhere.

Izuku and Bakugou are talking.

We shouldn't eavesdrop.

Too late.

I sighed but followed him, my eyebrows furrowing as Bakugou spoke about something called One for All and Izuku making the quirk his own.

We got caught.

I looked at Hitoshi with a dreadful stare but followed him out from behind the bushes. Izuku looked terrified and Bakugou looked annoyed.

"We'll talk about it more when we get home." I said and Izuku gulped nervously.

"I'm going to bed." Hitoshi mumbled and I nodded, knowing he needed space to process whatever he heard and minorly filled me in on. Izuku turned and I followed his line of sight to Katsuma.

"Hey kiddo, what's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked gently, crouching down to the boys level.

"There's a villain!" He blurted out and Bakugou was ready to go, immediately scooped the poor kid up and rushed towards where he was guiding us.

Izuku and I ran with him and I was struggling to keep pace, but I made sure to stay as close as I physically could. Bakugou blasted the two of them away and I jumped onto Izuku's back, knowing without my gear I wouldn't be able to physically keep up. Izuku and I got there to see the giant praying mantis slam down on Bakugou. Only for him to walk out.

"What the heck?" I said aloud, watching my language with Katsuma there. Bakugou sent a large explosion and I saw Mahoro fly backwards and the monster disappeared. I sighed and ran over to the girl that Bakugou was currently scolding. "Bakugou, walk away." I said in a low tone. He went to argue but I put a hand on his shoulder. "Walk. Away." He scoffed but shook his shoulder away and stomped back towards where we came. "Mahoro." I said in a tone my Dad reserved for when Hitoshi and I misbehaved.

"Hi Mr. Sonus." She said meekly.

"Can you look at me? My ears don't work that good and I need to see what you're saying." I said softly and she looked up.

"You can't hear?" She asked and I shook my head.

"Only a little. So I'll give you a choice right now, you can talk to me, or the guy that was just over here." She scooted back at that and I nodded. "He can be scary at times but what happened? We just talked about this earlier." She sat in silence and I let out a breath. "Mahoro, where are your parents? It's late, they must be worried."

"My dad's out of town for work." She said and I chose not to ask about their mom.

"And how do you think he'd feel if he knew what you were up to?" I asked and she frowned. "Look, if you keep doing this, then eventually nobody is going to believe you when you say there's a villain."

"Heroes always come, even if they're a couple of high schoolers." She quipped and I looked at her curiously.

"Y'know, you remind me a lot of my nephew. The kid hates heroes." I said and she looked at me in confusion.

"And he should." She said and I backpedaled.

Bakugou came back and started yelling again, so I physically held him back, restraining him from making the kids cry and watched as they ran off into the tree line.

"Dammit." I mumbled and flopped onto my back.

——————

I scrolled through my phone the next day, my stomach churning as I saw the reports of the villain attack.

"Shoji wants to know if anyone's available to back him up at the beach." Yao-momo said and I considered going.

"No problem, I can do that." Ojiro said.

"I'll hang back in case something else comes up then. I can't outmatch any of you guys in the water." I said and Ojiro gave me a quick fist bump.

Nothing came up for a while. I sat there waiting, making small talk with some of my classmates, until one of the phones started ringing.

Bakugou answered and he wasn't happy that it was Mahoro. Thankfully, Izuku came in and snatched the phone.

"What did she tell you?" Izuku asked in a dark tone.

"The brat said there were villains at the harbor, I'm not falling for that again."

"I'll go with Izuku just in case. Let's go." I said and Midoriya and I ran off. I used my support gear to fly myself forward to keep pace with my friend, a dreadful feeling settled deep in my stomach as I started to smell smoke. "This isn't good." I said, grabbing my phone to call into our home office but I saw the dreaded no signal symbol. "Zuku, we're in the dark. No signal."

"What?" He yelled, grabbing his phone as we ran side by side. "I don't have any either."

"Do you think they took out the cell towers?" I asked and he didn't answer. We got to the play structure from yesterday and saw the destruction in the harbor. All of the ships destroyed.

"I'll find Mahoro and Katsuma, you should try and see if anyone else on the island needs help." Izuku said and I nodded. Once we made sure the kids weren't there, I grabbed my necklace and placed a kiss to it with a heavy breath and took off towards the shopping center.

I swung in on my cords and broke apart two of the red monsters, my brother, Aoyama and Hagakure all there.

"Someone wanna fill me in?" I asked loudly, seeing a man in the dust controlling the monsters.

"Twinkles is at his limit and I can't use my quirk on him." My brother said while he took down another controlled monster with his capture weapon.

"Any news on his quirk?" I asked while I used my pinpoint accuracy to break the red cloth controlling one of the things.

"Anything he grabs with the cloth he controls." He told me and I nodded.

"I might be able to knock a few out." I said while focusing my quirk on the red cloth from his body that was floating between him and the objects. All three of them collapsed. "We're flying blind today! Cell towers are down!" I told them, tumbling back as an explosion cut through.

"The four of you can't even handle one villain? You guys are pathetic." Bakugou taunted and I let out a breath. I watched as Kirishima and Denki tag teamed, knocking out a few more. Mina, Jirou and Momo all came as well, helping Aoyama to the triage area.

"Hagakure, go with 'em! Help with triage!" I yelled back and she gave me a thumbs up.

Kirishima punched through more, I broke more cloth, Hitoshi destroyed some with his capture weapon and Bakugou exploded multiple.

"Red! Watch out!" I called out, snapping the red cloth that barely wrapped around his arm before Bakugou got wrapped up in them.

"Objects wrapped in my bandages move according to my will." The villain said and I looked at my brother.

"Dammit." I gritted out.

"I can't control living things, but your body is covered by much that is inanimate." I looked at my brother and he nodded.

"Pretty weak restraints." He said loudly and the villain looked at him.

"Your scarf looks pitiful." I watched as he stopped moving. Hitoshi wrapped him in his binding cloth and Kirishima freed all of the red cloth. Bakugou dropped and I helped Kiri unwrap him.

"This guy's dead." He barked out but I held up my hands, pointing to the villain.

"That's a neat quirk." The villain said after a minute, his red bindings wrapping around Toshi's binding cloth. He quickly tossed it off as the villain engulfed the material. "You stopped your friend from becoming your enemy." I looked at my brother and his eyes were wide in fear.

Rooftops. Go.

He nodded and made it look like he was running towards the triage area.

"Such little morals." He said, shooting out more of his bindings.

I ran forward this time, dodging every bit of cloth he threw at me, tearing apart the ones that I could. I saw Kirishima and Denki covering me, Bakugou blew up one of his gauntlets when another cloth grabbed him. I managed to get in a swift kick to his side, a cloth wrapped around my ankle and dragged me into the air upside down, my glasses falling off my face.

'You practiced for this. You trained with Yoru for this. Make it count.'

"Pinpoint accuracy!" I yelled, zoning in on the spot I wanted to break, dropping me to the ground. The wind was knocked out of me and I watched as Bakugou blasted the villain through a small wall, knocking him out. Everything he was controlling fell immediately after. I sat myself up and ignored the radiating pain in my ankle. "Shit." I mumbled once I got air back in my lungs.

"You okay?" My brother asked, sliding in next to me.

"Fucker screwed up my ankle." I said under my breath while I brought myself to my feet.

"Go to triage with Yaoyarozu." He said but I shook my head.

"Midoriya's still out there. We have to keep him from doing anything too stupid." I said and he sighed, knowing I was unfortunately right. Bakugou went flying off and I managed to ignore the pain. "Am I seeing things? Or is that a giant Izuku?" I asked and everyone around me nodded. "We gotta go there. You two, go with Momo to triage and help with any other villains, Toshi, you're with me." I said and sent out my wires, Hitoshi by my side with his binding cloth. I saw the lightning bolts come down, a guy in a mask, eerily similar to All for One curled over, a girl with red hair beside him.

"I need... the boy." He said.

"Understood." She said.

"Get them out of here!" I yelled to my brother and he nodded, picking both of them up and using his scarf to get away quicker. Crows made a wall in front me and I looked at my classmates who arrived in time, Shoji now had the kids, Uraraka and Tsu grabbed Bakugou and Midoriya. "I'll stay on the rear guard. Let's move." I said and took off running over the hills. "Who the hell is that?" I asked, watching in my glasses as the villains didn't move.

We made it to something similar of a fall out shelter, all of us trying our best to recoup. I sat down and took off my boot, my ankle was disgustingly swollen and throbbing. I grabbed one of the first aid kits and wrapped it up, a somber mood filling the building.

"Onryo. Bakugou and Izuku are still out." My brother told me and I nodded. "We need to figure out a plan."

"I know." I whispered, my brain going a thousand kilometers a second.

"Your ankle looks like shit."

"It's either a sprain or a hairline fracture. I'll live." I said and he nodded. We walked down the hallways and I checked in on the two that were unconscious. "Okay. I'm gonna try and play damage control for the rest of the class. We need to have a meeting later." I said and gave him a pat on the shoulder, hobbling through the hallways. I walked to the breaker room and saw Momo making an abundance of supplies, Jirou holding supplies while she was clearly worried and Denki trying to charge all of the back up batteries. "Denki. Take a break." I said softly and his hands dropped.

"If I don't do this now, I won't get to."

"You need to recharge yourself before charging anything else." I told him softly and he slumped over. "Momo, don't burn through all of your lipids. Take a break, have a snack and pick back up. What can I do in the mean time?"

"But we don't know when the villains will be back." She said and I crouched in front of her, resting a hand on her own.

"And if they come back when you're outta juice, then it'll be worse." I said softly and she stopped, slowly nodding. "So what can I do to help?"

"Could you help us bring back these supplies?" She asked and I nodded, grabbing as many as I could. I walked out to the main area of the deserted factory turned emergency shelter and set down some of the supplies. Ojiro and Kirishima were handing out food in a mini soup kitchen, multiple beds were set up throughout the area and I made my rounds, hoping to calm people's nerves.

"What if the villains attack here next?" The mayor asked Iida as I walked over to them.

"There's no need to be concerned. If that happens, I promise, we will do our best to protect you." Iida said but the mayor still looked hesitant.

"Sir, we've seen what they can do now and they're down a guy. We have more of an upper hand and will be able to handle any situation that arises better." I said and he nodded.

"Thank you all for helping as much as you have." He said and I nodded.

"Of course sir." He gave me a sad smile and walked away. "Iida, we're going to have to have a class meeting later to try and come up with a plan."

"Agreed. I'll let everyone I see know, would you mind informing everyone else as well?"

"Yeah. I got it." I said and circled back to the medical room. "Mahoro, Katsuma." I said softly, the siblings turning towards me. "How are you two holding up?"

"We're okay." Katsuma said shakily and I nodded. "I want to go help Mr. Deku." He said.

"Well then, let's get to him. No time like the present."

"Mr. Sonus? Can I still get a piggy back ride?" He asked and I smiled a little.

"I don't see why not." I said and crouched down. He placed his hands on my shoulders and jumped up, one of my hands supporting him around one of his knees. Mahoro slowly grabbed my free hand and I acted as though I didn't notice. They were kids. They needed comfort, they shouldn't have to see anything they did. I walked us to the medical room and knocked softly, Mahoro opening the door for us when I didn't react. "Katsuma said he wanted to make Deku feel better." I said and set the kid down.

"He might be able to help. His quirk is cell activation. We're not really sure if it can be used to heal injuries though." Mahoro said and I looked at them in disbelief, not expecting him to want to use his quirk.

"They were hurt because of us! I can't just let them suffer like this!" Katsuma said and it broke my heart hearing those words.

"Katsuma. Look at me." I said softly, the boy turning towards me. "None of this is your fault. It's always going to be easier to blame yourself than someone else, but none of this was your fault. And none of this was Mahoro's fault. So if the doctors say so, then you can try and help Deku as much as you can. But I pinky promise, none of this is your fault." I said and he nodded, walking over to the doctors.

"I'd appreciate your help, little Katsu." The doctor said and I watched the boy run over to them.

His hands glowed a bright green as he touched their arms. We all sat and watched, eventually everyone else left but I decided to stay with the two for a bit. I saw the kid start to sweat and his hands start to shake, his sister saying something about him being tired.

"Katsuma. Your sister is right." I said gently, resting a hand on his back. "I'll make you a deal. You got ten more minutes to work your magic, if they aren't fully healed, then you take a break and start again, deal?" He nodded once and I left the room, heading to one of the storage rooms where we were going to have a meeting. "Sorry I'm late. I had to talk to Katsuma." I said, immediately walking to Denki so he could lean on me for support while I combed my fingers through his hair.

"Here's the current situation. Communications are down and the electrical grid is destroyed. We can't call for help." Iida said, I watched as Jirou went to support Momo while she sat up.

"I made a drone earlier. It'll send an SOS message once it's close to the mainland. The flight is at least six hours, plus after someone comes across it, the heroes will need time to assemble and travel to us." Momo said and I let out a breath of relief.

"Smart thinking." I said. "The only way anyone might get here sooner is if our parents hit the point of worry and insanity once they realize Hitoshi and I didn't check in for the day and none of their messages are going through. Either way, we're looking at probably eight to ten hours minimum. Between the drone reaching land and someone contacting a hero, it would take time to fuel something and to fly here, and that's if Nedzu gets word and can pull any strings." I added and my brother nodded.

"I doubt the villains are going to sit around and wait." Ojiro said.

"Right now, our top priority is to protect the people of the island. If that means fighting villains, so be it." Iida said and we all agreed. Everyone went on about the strength of the villains and I relied on my brother to keep me in the loop.

"And our numbers are dropping. Yao-momo and Kaminari both used up a lot of their quirks already." Jirou added in.

"I have a theory on why the villains are here. I heard the guy with the mask say he needed Katsuma but I think I figured out why." I said, everyone turning to me. "Katsuma's quirk is cell activation. That guy was wearing a mask just like All for One's, so we can assume it's a life support mask. I think he's after Katsuma so he can have a stockpile of cell regeneration to keep him alive."

"That's despicable." Iida said and I nodded.

"He's right." Katsuma said as he ran into the room. "That bad guy said he wanted to steal my quirk." I felt a pang in my chest and my blood run cold. Toshi and I made eye contact and I took a shaky breath. I couldn't keep up with everyone pitching in, Todoroki was worried about threats and everyone had their own concern. "You have to hand me over to the villains!" Katsuma said and we all froze. "He said he wouldn't kill me. And it's fine if I end up losing my quirk! As long as it means everyone on the island is safe."

"No, we can't do that." Izuku said as he walked in. He kneeled in front of Katsuma and started talking to him but my mind was going too fast for anything to process with lip reading. Bakugou showed up and we all took a breath. Midoriya gave us a pep talk and we all joined in.

"We got this." I said softly, my mind still cloudy.

"Spit it out, earbleed." Bakugou said while signing.

"You all know what to do if you think I'm not me?" I asked and only a few nodded. "Look, the guy has All for One's quirk. Yet we've never crossed his path until now, never even heard of him. This has the League written all over it. We're worried about more villains showing up. So if they show up, and for any reason one of you thinks Toga took my place, I need to know for my own sanity everyone has something foolproof to ask and what to do if you don't."

"We will." Iida said and I nodded. "And we're going to go beyond! Plus Ultra!" We all cheered at the same time.

"Izuku! I got an idea!"

"I think I have the same idea. Castle ruins." He said and I nodded.

He pulled down a map and we got to planning, using the castle ruins as our main base so the villains have one route in and out. The cave will be the safe place for everyone and have someone guarding Katsuma.

We spent the rest of the night relocating everyone to the new stronghold. All of us ready at daybreak, everyone in their positions. I was sent on the team with Ashido and Tokoyami to handle the girl with the red hair.  We waited patiently for the fight to start.

"Tokoyami? Would it be weird if I talked to Dark Shadow?" He looked at me curiously but his quirk pointed to itself before coming towards me.

"This is a first." Dark Shadow said and I nodded.

"I gotta go over something with you." I said and the shadow nodded. "I know the darkness is your territory and you thrive in it, and I know you're protective of people. Especially your friends."

"I am." The shadow said and I nodded.

"I need you to promise me that if I get hurt, you won't lose control in rage. I'm prone to it."

"I'll do my best." The shadow said and I awkwardly stuck my hand out for a fist bump, surprised that I actually received one.

We felt the ground rumbling above us and waited, all ready when she finally fell into the trap. Mina melted some of the stalactites at the ceiling, the villain narrowly dodging them as they shot down towards her.

"Shattering waves!" I yelled as loud as I could, watching the rest of them fall. She used her acrobatic skills to get through them, sending out a wave of pins from her body, a decent amount of them slicing me.

"Naughty boy. Did nobody ever teach you how dangerous that was?" She asked as we circled around each other, her hair hardening into points, looking like mechanical spider legs and she had gloves with needles on the end of them, or maybe those were just her fingers.

"Guess I missed the lesson in personal safety." I said with my quirk on full blast, watching her face contort in pain.

"You have a fun quirk, Nine might have fun with you. Maybe he'll add it to his collection." She said, going to swipe at me with her needles for nails. I rolled forward and swept her legs out. "Or maybe I'll just have fun with you."

"If you can find me." I said before dark shadow grabbed me and pulled me back, Tokoyami stepping forward.

"Darkness is my domain." He said while dark shadow covered his body.

"You cheeky boy."

I snuck around the sides and used my wires to get out of the cave, rushing to the front line to fight Nine. Bakugou and Midoriya were going against him now, and I couldn't see anyone from the original defense.

"Let's surround him!" I said and Bakugou and Midoriya immediately jumped on that plan. "A few shields can't stop sound!" I yelled to Nine, his shields immediately going up. "Both of you back up! I'm about to level the playing field!" Bakugou went high, Midoriya taking a few steps back so he could get a running start as soon as I did my part. "Shattering waves!" I yelled as loud as I could in one breath, watching as a large amount of the earth deformed and crumbled. "Now!" We went back and forth, attacking in sync to try and get him to spend his quirk. "Again!"

Bakugou and Midoriya dove in, but Nine already had shields up as well as haphazardly shooting out those purple beams, and more than one of them struck me. I fell to my knees and yelled in pain, utilizing the yell against Nine. I had to make everything count. A piece of tape grabbed me and pulled me away from the immediate line of fire.

"Tsuka, where'd you get hit?" Sero asked me, his mask half broken. I moved my hand to show him my side, blood seeping out, along with other parts of my body. "I'm worse for wear, get to the back lines where the kids are." I got up and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"I'm not leaving you here. Hold on tight." I said, shooting out a wire. We raced through the air and Shoji caught us.

"I got you two." He said, setting us down.

"Shoji. They're getting pushed back. You have to... you have to move them. Before it's too late." I told him and he looked at me panicked. "I'll be okay. I'll support them from here. Get them out of here. Follow the escape route." I told him.

"Tsukare." He said softly. I looked to the sky, watching as it turned into a cloudy vortex. The same one from the lightning he used.

"Lightning. He's gonna.. he's gonna use lightning. Get down." I said as loudly as I could. Shoji extended his arms over us and I felt my body starting to go cold.

"Tsukare." Ojiro said, patting my arm. "He's bleeding out." I looked down to see I was sitting in a pool of my own blood and it made sense as to why my reactions were slowing down.

"Torniquete." I said, barely audible. A gash across my thigh, one on my side, another on my arm, along with all the places the girl sliced me. "Grab a stick." Jirou moved and grabbed one off the ground. "Ojiro, tear off part of my pants." He nodded and did so. I talked them through getting the torniquete on my leg before grabbing a piece of medical wrap and tying it to my side. "Major bleeders are under control. Now get the kids out of here." I said again while Nine started walking towards us. Shoji ran and I got up on shaky legs. "Hanta. Act like you're unconscious. He won't touch you if he doesn't think you're an active threat." I told him and managed to speed hobble towards Jirou and Ojiro. "Now where do you think you're going?" I asked the villain and he scowled, sending another purple beam at me. I keeled over and bit my tongue, blood pooling in my mouth.

I watched as Jirou and Ojiro were knocked out by the blue dragons. I used my quirk again before the dragon came towards me, smashing me into the ground. I felt multiple bones in my body snap before I stopped trying to move. I could feel a few of my ribs break. I wouldn't be any help if I punctured a lung. I barely remember anything else, the world eventually went black. It faded in and out. I saw a mirage of colors, shadows, and a glimpse of sunlight. I remember the ground under me broke. I remember struggling to breathe. But when I started regaining some consciousness, I saw those red wings from all those years ago.

"Hawks?" I croaked out. "Are we... gonna go flying?"

"One day kid, when your bones aren't broken. We gotta get you and your friends to the hospital."

"Is everyone okay? Katsuma's safe?"

"Onryo?" I saw my Dad and I looked over. "Hawks. Is he okay?"

"I'm breathing." I said through the struggle of it. "I'm tired. Do I.. still have my leg? Am I me?"

"I think you're you. Let's get you patched up." Dad said and I let my eyes fall shut.

I woke up in the office we'd been using, my body bandaged beyond belief. My breathing was still labored and everything hurt.

"Dad? Pops? Where's Toshi?" I asked once I fully came to.

"He's resting. You have a visitor though." I looked at Pops confused, slowly I sat up and he propped a pillow behind me. Dad handed me my now charged hearing aids before going to the door, Hawks walking in.

"Hawks?"

"The one and only. Your parents asked me to stay until you woke up, said you've been itchin' to talk to me."

"Yeah. I've been wanting.. to thank you."

"To thank me?"

"Yeah. For flying me.. off the roof that night." His face softened a bit.

"You don't have to thank me for that."

"I do. You saved my life.. even though I didn't know I needed someone to."

"I'd do it again. You're a good kid."

"And thank you for.. being friends with Yoru. He can be a bit of a doofus."

"Vine Mind?" He asked and I nodded. "Ah, so you're the kid he was tellin' me about. Said you put it together we were buds but didn't tell me how. Care to fill me in?"

"Known him since I was born. He's picked up a lot.. of your mannerisms. Gave it away."

"He said you were a smart kid, now I see what he means. Gotta say, I'm still kinda bummed that you didn't take my offer from the sports festival." He said and I laughed a little, grabbing my chest from the pain.

"You're smart. You should know why. Our quirks would clash.. in a way where I wouldn't.. learn a lot. You're too fast." I told him and he chuckled a little.

"You got me there. Hey kid, what'd you mean earlier when you asked your old man if you were really you?" He asked and I licked my lips, aimlessly feeling for the inevitable glass of water until I found it, the cool refreshment soothing my throat.

"Toga. She has a lot of my blood. And Nine. The main villain. He had All for One's quirk. Figured there was a connection. I don't take chances." He hummed at that, a calculating look in his eye. "Yoru took your thinking face."

"You're a smart kid. Expect the unexpected and nothing's a surprise."

"Exactly." I said, however a new puzzle was in my brain and he saw it fairly quick.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Might freak you out. People don't like when I can read them." I said and his brow furrowed.

"That's the most unsettling thing I've heard a kid say, but now I'm curious. Lay it on me."

"Just remember, you asked." He splayed his palms and I took a shaky breath. "I've seen you in press conferences and stuff, you're known for wanting pros to.. be able to relax and have nothing to do. But you don't seem like the type to be able to sit still. You get bored easily. You keep on the move. It's a major contradiction and it hurts my brain." His eyes darkened as he looked at the ground.

"You're pretty observant. What makes you think that?"

"Your response alone. But it's just the vibe you give off. You're seen everywhere. You're the fastest for a reason. You have the freedom to fly. Doubt you know what a day off is. But your response? If there wasn't any truth behind it, you never would've called me observant." He crossed his arms and leaned back while smirking.

"You're clever. I hope you reconsider my offer when you have another work study. Rest up, kid. Still gotta take you flying one day." He said and I nodded, giving him a mock salute as he left.

My family came back in soon after, Hitoshi with our parents who looked pretty rough and Chiyo right behind them.

"You need to learn when to slow down."

"I did." I told her, earning a side eye from her. "After I broke my ribs."

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 110

Warnings: Bullying, heavy talk of s/h and scars Word count: 3978

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

Masterlist

Volt 109 | Volt 111

It had been a few days and the messages hadn't let up. I kept blocking people but some of them made new accounts and messaged me again. I had still been avoiding talking to my Dad after what I said to him. I was scared, that maybe that guy was right. Maybe my parents will just realize that it was a mistake taking me in.

"'Ryo?" Pops said and I sat up straighter, looking towards the board. "Can we talk?" He asked and I followed him into the hallway as Uncle Ecto walked to the classroom. "We'll just be a minute, sorry to hold him up Plasm."

"Please be quick." He said before walking inside.

"How much sleep did you get last night?" He asked softly and I shrugged. "Hey, don't give me the cold shoulder, little listener. I'm worried, so is your Dad and I'm sure Hitoshi is too."

"I got an hour or two of sleep." I softly admitted and he nodded.

"And for the last week?" He pushed gently.

"About the same."

"Okay. It's better than nothing right now. I hope you know that you owe your Dad an apology?"

"I know. I feel guilty, I shouldn't have talked to him that way." I said and he nodded.

"Okay, we'll talk later, alright? I think we need to have a family talk and clear the air, set whatever straight." I nodded and he ruffled my hair. "I love you, have fun in class."

"I love you too." I said and gingerly walked back into class and took my seat. A few sets of eyes were on me and I tried to ignore them.

All of math class, I was checked out. If anything, I scribbled a few notes at best. Until my head started to dip every few minutes and I was struggling to stay awake towards the end of class. Soon enough, it was time for lunch but I was exhausted.

"I think I'm gonna go to the sensory room for lunch today." I told Denki as I stood up and he nodded along to what I was saying.

"Okay, I'll swing in there a few minutes before lunch ends so you aren't late to class." He told me cheerfully and I smiled a little.

"Thank you." I said sincerely and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

I trudged over to the sensory room and dimmed the lights before plopping onto a giant bean bag. I set a few alarms to be on the safe side and it didn't take long for me to take a nap, or for the nightmares to start.

My psyche was tormented with Shiroka.

The league.

Middle school.

Anything my brain could piece together in my subconscious to wake me up with a jolt and dysfunctional lungs.

Instinctively, I searched around for my bag but realized I didn't have it. I forced myself up and managed to get to Recovery Girls office. She quickly got up from her seat and rushed to get me my inhaler she had.

"There you go dear. Take it easy now. Deep breaths. Here's a glass of water once you're ready." She said softly while I heaved in a few breaths.

"Thanks. I left my bag in class, my inhalers in there." I explained through a breaths.

"If you weren't in class, then where were you?"

"Sensory room." I breathed out and took a sip of the water.

"I see. I also see that you haven't been in to take your medication in the morning." She said and I stared at the floor. "I'm not blind, I can see clear as day where you're at mentally. I can't force you to take medication, but I hope you realize you not taking them is adding onto how you're feeling right now."

"I'm fine, Chiyo." I mumbled and she scoffed.

"You skipped therapy last week, if you were fine you wouldn't skip it, now would you?" She badgered and she had a point.

I just didn't want her prying.

"Well, I'm fine. I gotta head to class, it's starting soon." I rushed out and walked out of her office before she could interrogate me.

Denki was walking down the hallway as I stepped out and immediately started waving to me.

"Everything okay? I thought you were gonna be in the sensory room." He asked once I was in ear shot.

"Asthma started acting up a little, nothing major." I told him and he seemed to relax hearing that.

"We better get to class before Iida has our heads on the wall." I chuckled softly under my breath and walked beside him mindlessly, basking in the momentary peace and comfort he brought my mind. He rambled about a new game that was coming out and truthfully, I didn't know what he was talking about, but his happiness made my smile a little bit bigger, along with the way he spoke about it and the way his voice relaxed me. "Sorry, I just talked the whole way here, huh?" He asked abashedly, reaching up with his spare hand and rubbing the back of his neck.

"You know I like hearing you talk." I admitted once again, ignoring the blush on my face as I said it.

"I wanna hear you talk though! I think you just need to remember to tell me when to shut up if I start rambling too much." He said and I rolled my eyes sarcastically.

"Tsukare! I see those dark circles! Don't think you can fool me! I know you have not been sleeping the proper eight hours every night yet again!" Iida yelled as we walked in and I sighed.

"Thank you for announcing my insomnia for anyone who didn't know." I said with a mock salute and he seemed to not know what to say.

"Maybe you could try some melatonin or natural supplements to improve your chance of sleep, it could be beneficial for your overall health." He said and I gave him a thumbs up.

The painful irony to me was my overall health was shit. I'm sure that some lavender, chamomile or something else would benefit my overall health and my demented shopping list of health problems.

The rest of the day went by like I was watching a movie, simply watching it through someone else's perspective. As soon as the final bell rang I was out of my seat and ready to leave, but as soon as I stepped out of the classroom door, Hitoshi grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side.

What's going on?

Nothing.

Come on, don't give me that bullshit. You almost fell asleep in class. You skipped lunch today. You and Dad have been acting weird around each other. Pops pulled you out of class to talk to you. You haven't been sleeping, you haven't been taking your meds, you snapped on Auntie Nem, you've been off since the festival ended. What the hell is going on?

Dad tried to talk to me and I snapped, I shouldn't have. He was just trying to help. I said something and I could tell it hurt him and I've just felt guilty about it this whole time. I was going to let you know on the way to the dorms that Pops is calling a family meeting.

Okay. He signed with a sigh. Okay. Then let's go get changed and head over to Dad and Pops'.

I gave him a small thumbs up and fell in step with him to the dorms. I ignored Takai staring me down in the hallways and kept my head forward.

It didn't take long to get changed, tell Denki where I was going and get to our parents place. Dad wasn't back yet but Pops was already there, he was dancing around the kitchen while he made a cup of tea. Hitoshi just walked right in without saying anything, effectively startling our Pops to the point that he almost dropped his tea.

"You are the carbon copy of your Dad any day of the week scaring me like that!" Pops exclaimed, making Hitoshi laugh. My brother awkwardly danced around the kitchen with our Pops as he started making a pot of coffee and I stood off to the side. It was nice to see the first shot at anti-depressants seemed to be working for him, his dark circles even looked a shade lighter. "I need my carbon copy in here too!" Pops said as he played the music he was listening to a little bit louder. I hesitantly entered the kitchen and somewhat danced around with them, slowly enjoying the family bonding moment until I saw the light from the front door opening. Dad walked over to us curiously and watched for a second before Pops grabbed his hand and dragged him into the kitchen. I could see the love in Dads eyes as he swayed ever so slightly to appease Pops.

"Well this is something pleasant to come home to." He remarked and Pops gasped dramatically.

"I'm always pleasant to come home to!"

"Yes you are, Sunshine." Dad said before pulling Hitoshi into a side hug. He went to give one to me, but seemed hesitant and I felt the guilt churning around in the pit of my empty stomach. I stepped forward and gave him the tightest hug I could muster. He slowly hugged me back with the same force and I could feel my nerves calm down.

"I made coffee." Toshi said plainly and Dad and I grabbed our mugs before we all migrated to the living room. My brother and I sat on the floor with Spots while Dad and Pops were on the couch with Mittens

"Before anything else, are you two ready to go to Nabu Island with your classmates for the week?" Dad asked and Toshi nodded.

"I got my stuff packed and ready to go."

"Same here." I mumbled awkwardly. "Do we know when they're getting a new hero?"

"Not yet, but this should be a good experience for everyone. So take it as it comes." Dad reminded and I hummed, tapping my mug nervously.

"I'm sorry for what I said." I said weakly, truly regretting all of it.

"I forgive you." He said gently and I could feel some of the weight lift off my chest.

"Wait, what did you say?" Toshi asked and I took a sip of my coffee.

"I told him he couldn't help me." I weakly admitted and he looked at me like I had grown a third arm.

"It's Dad and Pops." He said pointedly and I nodded softly.

"So, care to tell us what's been going on?" Dad pressed and I shrugged, feeling myself shut down a bit to get away from the situation.

"I don't wanna talk about it." I feebly said.

"Stop going in that circle already." My brother sighed and I stared at the warped reflection of myself in my drink.

"I'm allowed to not want to talk about things." I murmured.

"Little listener, I know that you feel alone and like you have to do whatever it is on your own, but we're all here for you." Pops said softly and I nodded a little.

"I know and I appreciate that a lot. I just don't wanna talk about it."

"Does this have any relation to you not wanting to be called problem child anymore?" Dad asked and Hitoshi's head whipped towards me again.

"Excuse me? What is he talking about? Dad, what are you talking about?"

"I called him that, and he told me he doesn't want to be called that anymore." Dad said in a lax voice but I could hear the underlying grief and confusion.

"Bro talk. Now." He said firmly and I looked at our parents confused but followed him nonetheless to the music room. "Who?"

"What? Where? When? Why? How?"

"Don't. You know what I mean. Who?" He pressed.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Clarification might help."

"Who got in your head?" He asked and I forced myself not to recoil at the direct question.

"Nobody."

"Who got in your head?"

"Nobody got in my head." I reiterated but he wasn't having it.

"Bullshit. Tell me who got in your head." He demanded.

"Nobody got in my head. Is it so hard to believe that I just don't want to be called that anymore?"

"You and Izuku have always been 'problem child', we had to think about who to call one and two. There's nothing wrong with that."

"I don't want to be called that anymore." I said in a dull voice.

"What did we bond over when we first met?" He asked and I felt my heart clench behind my lungs.

"Our parents being our favorite heroes, they're the reason we want to be heroes, and our love of cats, it was what Pops used to convince you to come home because of Spots and Mittens." I told him and he stared at me.

"So then who got in your head? You're clearly you, that's the only logical reason I can think of for whatever the fucks been going on but I don't know what happened. Was it Bakugou? Takai?"

"I'm not doing this." I mumbled, not wanting to get aggravated again. I walked out of the music room and back into the living room, Hitoshi right behind me.

"That was quick." Pops commented and I tugged on my sleeves, barely slipping them over the palms of my hands.

"I think I'm just uh," my voice trailed for a moment as I felt the telltale buzz in my back pocket, "I think I'll just go back to the dorms." I mumbled and hesitantly stood up, ignoring the second buzz. Pops looked defeated for a moment, Toshi looked irked still and Dad looked concerned.

We said our 'I love you's' and I slowly made my way back to the dorm. Everything was just starting to feel suffocating and overwhelming. I understood that they wanted to help, but I had this under control. I was doing what I was supposed to for the most part. Don't engage, don't give a reaction because that's what these people want, delete, block, ignore, repeat. Even if I did want help, there's nothing they could really do anyways. It was simply out of their control.

"Hey babe!" Denki yelled from where he sat on the couch with Momo and Jirou.

"Hey." I said softly once I walked up behind him. I gave him a hug from behind the back of the couch and a kiss on the cheek. "Working on math homework?"

"Yeah, Yao-momo was trying to help me with it but I'm still kinda stuck."

"Let me go grab my homework, I should probably get it done." I told him and he nodded contently.

It didn't take long for me to grab my bag and my assignments and get back downstairs. I sat on the ground and leaned against Denki's leg a bit, not wanting to crowd the others on the couch while we did our homework. I got my english homework out of the way first, then my math and whatever else I could focus on after that. Which wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

My attention strayed further when I felt my phone buzz in my back pocket and I just ignored it, hoping if I did so, that meant it wasn't an issue. But that's all I could think of. I no longer knew what to expect when I checked my phone, and for so long, I had it down to a science. A lot of buzzes back to back meant a group chat. A single buzz meant Izuku or Denki sent me something off of social media to the account I used for nothing else. Two buzzes meant a text, usually my family, Izuku or Denki.

Now? Now any of them could mean anything and I hated it. Aside from the discomfort found in the predictability being broken, it was usually also filled with detest.

"Babe, your phone buzzed again." Denki said and I hummed, looking up at him.

"Oh, yeah, it's probably just 'Zuku sending me a post or two about heroes." I brushed off but the best friend in question just had to chime in.

"What about me?" He asked and I could feel some of the blood in my veins tun cold.

"He was just saying you probably sent him something about heroes." Denki explained lightly and Izuku simply looked confused.

"I'm doing homework right now, I haven't been on my phone actually." He awkwardly said while rubbing the back of his neck.

"You should probably check it then." Denki suggested and I nodded along.

"I'll just check it later. Don't wanna fall down the doom scroll rabbit hole while I'm trying to get this done." I used as an excuse and he quickly seemed to understand.

"I hate when that happens, it's like you're just frozen and the only thing you can move is your thumb!"

"Executive dysfunction strikes at the worst times." I said and he nodded rapidly.

"I'm so glad that my boyfriend understands ADHD shit." He said and I laughed slightly.

"Babe, on our second day of class you handed me a fidget cube. What else do you expect?"

"True, very true. Do you need one right now? I have a few in my pockets."

"I'm okay, but thank you." I said sweetly and he smiled brightly before returning to his work. I only returned to my thoughts though, completely spacing out as my mind delved down the rabbit hole of what may have been sent to me today.

More name calling?

A new insult?

Another slur?

Who knew what to expect at this point.

I rested my head on Denki's leg and without realizing, started scratching my forearm. The urge today was ever present and suffocating, verging on all consuming.

"I think maybe a change in scenery might help us with our homework, Onryo, do you wanna go up to my room?" Denki asked me and I slowly lifted my head.

"Uh, yeah, let me just get my things situated." I said slowly, confused on the abruptness of his suggestion. But I followed him up to his room nonetheless and he set his bag down. "I thought we were doing homework?"

"Figured we both could use a break." He said and I nodded slowly, eventually sitting down on his bed. He soon sat in front of me and I waited for him to speak since I could tell there was something on his mind. "Can I ask you something? Without like, upsetting you? Cause I know it's not an easy topic for you and stuff, so I don't wanna like, overstep or anything." He rushed out and I nodded. "Okay. So uh, I don't know much about what it's like to struggle with self harm or anything, but after the hot water and stuff I looked into it a bit so I might be able to understand without overwhelming you with questions cause I know it's not your favorite thing to talk about cause you never talk about it. I remember that I read something about it being addictive and some of the stuff I read was people talking about their struggles with it and stuff and I saw that you were scratching your arm earlier and I know the last week at least you've been in a slump and I guess what I'm trying to get at is, are you having any urges?" I felt my brain lag as I processed everything he just said.

'He cared enough to look into it?'

'He wants to understand?'

'Why is he being so patient? I don't deserve this.'

"Sorry, just uh, caught off guard I guess." I mumbled, quickly clearing my throat to buy time. "Sorry." I whispered, ducking my head to hide the onslaught of emotions.

"It's okay. Take your time." He whispered and I took a deep breath.

"There's almost always a little bit of an urge. Usually it's just a lot easier to ignore because it's barely even there, it's like an after thought for lack of better words. Being in a depressive episode makes the urge more known for me, harder to ignore and stuff."

"Did the itching have anything to do with it, or was I just reading into it way too much?" He asked softly and I hesitantly nodded, feeing guilty about the truth. "Can I try something to help?"

"Uh, sure, yeah." I mumbled and he got up and grabbed his pack of gel pens and a few markers.

"Roll up your sleeves." He said in a light hearted tone and I could feel myself start to clam up and retract. "What's wrong?"

"I just, uh, I've been really self conscious about my scars lately." I explained weakly and his head tilted to the side like a golden retriever.

"You know I won't judge, right?" He asked me softly and I knew he didn't mean any harm. I knew that. But my brain took it in a way where it was a trick question, like no matter what I said, the answer was wrong.

"I know." I mumbled and he looked concerned.

"I won't judge." He said in a reassuring tone. Nervously, I pulled the ends of my sleeves to my palms and folded my hands in my lap. "Hey, you can talk to me. I wanna be able to understand better."

"Rationally, I know you won't judge. You haven't been that way any other time and you've never made me feel bad about them. I just, I hate how they look. I hate how they feel. I hate seeing them. I hate everything about them. And I'm scared that if you look at them enough or I talk about them at all, then you'll realize that..."

"Nothing could ever make me hate you or your scars. I'll tell you that as many time as you need to hear it. Nothing could ever make that happen." He told me and despite all my hesitation and discontent towards the marred skin, I pushed up my sleeves some and found myself staring at my forearms. Criticizing their existence, appearance, what I had done to them. I did this to myself and I knew I'd have to live with it, but it didn't make it any easier.

I watched as he slowly started drawing on my arms, entranced by how his bangs hung in front of his eyes as he focused on every line he created. He didn't complain about the divots or raised lines making his personal task more difficult, nor did he look at me with disgust. On one arm, he drew planets and stars. A cluster of them were turned into a rocket ship, a few of the concaving ones became shooting stars and meteors, two raised ones became saturns rings. On the other arm, plants were drawn a top everything. Vines, leaves, petals and stems disguising what was beneath.

For once, I thought my arms looked pretty.

"I read about how some people would draw on themselves to kinda redirect it and I figured it might help." He said softly, the first thing he said since he had started almost an hour ago.

"I love it. You did a great job." I almost whispered, and he smiled brightly.

"Did it help at all?"

"Yeah, it did actually." I said and his smile only got wider.

And what scared me more than anything, was that I was starting to think I was in love with him.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 109

Warnings: Bullying, use of a slur, too many heightened emotions happening Word count: 2510

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

Masterlist

Volt 108 | Volt 110

The day after the festival, I was still riding the wave of dopamine and serotonin from everything.

But I should've known, riding a wave that big, the crash was bound to be fatal, especially with how gradual it was over the next seven days.

The day after the festival, Denki and I walked around Shizuoka, got some ice cream and had a movie night in as a cute little date night. Then the crash started as a minor bump in the road, Takai messaged me again which lead to me finally blocking him. But on the second day, the other messages started coming in. From people I didn't know. People from my old schools. Kids from old foster families. Old bullies. The messages just kept coming over the course of the week.

'Scar face.'

'Fag.'

'Predator.'

'Liar.'

'Mutilated.'

'Disgusting.'

'Worthless.'

'Mistake.'

'Problem child.'

'Monster.'

The list only grew as the insults and messages multiplied. One managed to stand out amongst all of them once I read it.

Lose the victim complex. If you can't accept any help then don't go and cry about it. It's almost like you were asking to look like a cutting board if you act that way. All he wanted to do was help you, if you can't accept that then it's your fault. You getting adopted was a fucking mistake, I hope you know your parents are disappointed in you and made a mistake with adopting you.

I wiped the tears that spread across my face as I read it again. So many emotions ran through me and the first one I held onto was the anger.

I slipped on my shoes and walked out of my dorm, only saying a small 'I'll be back soon' before storming over to class C's dorm building. My fist rapped against the door brutally, and Tanigawa was the person to answer.

"Tsukare! Hey, is everything okay?" He asked gently and I took a breath, not wanting to misdirect my anger and frustrations on him.

"I'm fine. Is Takai here? I need to talk to him." I said quickly and he nodded. I waited as he went back inside and Takai came out soon after.

"Hey, Sweetheart." He said but all I could do was glare at him.

"Who the fuck did you tell." I gritted out and he backpedaled, clearly not prepared.

"What are you talking about?" He asked and I took a shaking breath. "Swee- Tsukare, I don't know what you're talking about. Is this about in the hallway? Cause if it is, I didn't tell anyone." He told me, his voice hushed and strained as he tried.

"Don't fuck with me." I spat out.

"I'm not fucking with you, if I was then I'd call you short stack or something." He told me and I pulled out my phone, showing him the text.

"Then what the fuck is this?" I asked harshly and as soon as there was a crack in his resolve, the split second I needed to read him and his realization, he knew as well as I did that he couldn't shirk away this.

"That's my best friend. I want to be able to help and it was eating away at me that I couldn't, so I reached out to him for advice. That's all. I told him not to bother you because he's one to confront people, I didn't think he would do this though." He told me and for a moment, I almost believed he was remorseful.

"Lemme guess, he has friends that went to Fujinomiya, or maybe Aldera." I asked him rhetorically, watching as he pieced it together. "I told you to forget you saw me that day. I told you to drop it. That's what you should've done. So leave me alone." I said firmly, my tone nearing venomous. I turned around and started to walk away before I did something I would regret while seeing red, but then he grabbed my arm. I whipped around and grabbed the collar of his shirt, the hand that he quickly let go of, was ready to punch him.

"What's going on over here, boys." I heard my Auntie Nem and I felt my muscles go lax. "Onryo, let's go. Now." She said in a stern voice and I let go of him, watching as he backed away before I walked over to her. She walked down the path with me for a moment, not saying anything. "I'm sure you've figured that we're going to your parents place by now. Care to fill me in on what just happened back there?" She asked softly and I stuck my hands in my pockets.

"Doesn't matter." I mumbled and she sighed.

"Onryo, we both know that's far from the truth. Despite these glasses, I'm not blind. I can tell you haven't been sleeping and your parents aren't ignorant to it either. So what's been going on, young man?" She pressed.

"Nothing. Okay? Absolutely nothing and I'd really love if we could drop this now." I said curtly and she huffed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk to you that way. I also shouldn't take anything I'm feeling out on you. You don't deserve that." I said softly.

"I accept your apology. Now, inside." She said and I begrudgingly walked into my parents place with her hot on my trail.

"Little listener? Nem? What brings you two around this way?" Pops asked as he popped out of the kitchen wearing an apron with music notes all over it.

"Is Shouta here? I feel as though this may be a family discussion." Auntie Nem told him and he looked at me confused.

"Sho! Can you come here please?" Pops yelled and Dad slowly came shuffling out of his office.

"Nemuri, Onryo, what's going on?" Dad asked and I just looked at the floor. "Onryo?" He pressed slightly.

"I don't wanna talk about it." I said as though it was the simplest thing. "There's nothing to talk about, okay?" I said softly, almost rhetorically but Auntie Nem knew better.

"It must have slipped my mind that you almost punching that boy in class C is nothing." She said and Dad and Pops turned to me, now more serious about the situation.

"Problem child, what happened?" Dad asked and I felt something in me withdraw, along with physically.

"I don't want to be called that anymore." I whispered and Dad looked like I just spat on his grave with how confused he was.

"Little listener." Pops said softly.

"I don't wanna talk about it. Okay? I didn't actually punch him so no harm, no foul. I'm gonna go, love you guys." I said and walked out of their place.

I took out my almost fully charged hearing aids and put them in their case before walking into the dorms. I went up to my room and grabbed my duffel bag, signing on my way up that my ears were out for anyone who might've been trying to talk to me.

On my way back down, Denki stepped in front of me and I took a slow breath as his hands cupped my face, gently tilting my head so I could read his lips.

"What's going on?" He asked gently and I looked off to the side, hoping to compose myself.

"Nothing, I'm just really worked up right now and need to go blow off some steam. I already snapped on my Auntie Nem and I don't want to snap on anyone else. I promise I'm not mad at you, I just need to go clear my head and if that means I need to go at a punching bag, then so be it." I told him gently and he nodded. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and all but rushed out of the dorms.

I walked into the school and to the work out area, completely done with this last week. I quickly changed into a pair of basketball shorts and a thin long sleeve and the first thing I did was run on the treadmill. I burned off as much energy as I could that way until I moved to the punching bag. I didn't bother wearing gloves or wrapping my hands like I know I should but I didn't have it in me to care.

I didn't care as my fingers bruised and the skin around my knuckles started to crack and bleed.

I cared about making this anger go away.

I cared about feeling something else.

I didn't care about the consequences if it meant I got to feel something, anything, other than this.

I couldn't handle this again.

The longer I got lost in my thoughts, the longer it took for me to notice my Dad standing there until he flicked the lights a few times. I let out a sigh, knowing exactly what this was about, and steadied the punching bag before grabbing my hearing aids. As soon as they were in my ears, he started talking.

"So, you almost punched Takai. Care to explain what exactly's been going on?" He asked and I shrugged, stalling this.

"Nothing." I said like it was the truth.

"And suddenly a nickname I've had for you and Midoriya for years makes you upset. Are you telling me there's no correlation?" He pressed and I shrugged again. "Onryo." He said sternly.

"What? I'm sorry, okay? I already apologized to Auntie Nem for snapping on her earlier, I don't know what else to tell you other than I turned to a healthy outlet for being aggravated. There's nothing going on that's worth talking about, alright? So can we please just drop this?" I asked him, completely exasperated.

"No." He said plainly and I rolled my eyes. "Suddenly my sunshine child has an attitude and is clamming up, so I'm not dropping it."

"Well I'm done talking about it." I told him and went to go shower, but he stepped forward and walked in front of me. "Dad, please, just drop it. Family rule."

"Family rule was thrown out the window when you failed to protect your hands and began to bleed. Stop trying to shut people out." He said and I didn't say anything. I simply stayed silent. "Onryo, I want to be able to help you with whatever may be going on, but I can't do anything if you don't tell me."

"You can't help." I told him weakly and he froze. "I'm gonna go shower." I mumbled and walked past him.

I grabbed my duffel bag and walked out of the gym, my knuckles quickly started to throb as I got closer and closer to the dorms. Once I got inside, I walked straight to my room and set my bag down, grabbed some clothes and went to go shower.

I made it quick, not wanting anyone to come in here looking for me, especially if I put the water too hot again. Denki was already waiting for me, though. I slightly ducked my head as I rushed to the cubby area to get dressed, feeling very self conscious about him seeing my scars.

Nobody could seem to let me forget that I was mutilated, disgusting, a monster, and I didn't want to give the one person outside of my family who saw past all of that any reason to think differently. I hesitantly tucked my hearing aids back into place and his eyes instantly fell to my bloodied knuckles.

"Babe, what happened?" He asked and I stared at the floor.

"Just forgot to wrap my hands. It was my fault." I mumbled and when I stole a glance at him, the look on his face made my guts twist and turn.

"That doesn't hurt?" He asked, audibly concerned.

"It kinda does." I said softly, trying to make it seem like less of a problem. "Okay, yeah, it hurts a bit, but it's not a big deal. I just gotta disinfect it and wrap it up."

'And ignore the urge crawling up my arms and into my throat.'

"Do you want any help? I'd offer to do it, but I've never really punched anything enough where I needed to know how." He said awkwardly and I nodded.

"Yeah, that'd be nice. Thank you." I said and grabbed the first aid kit. I went through cleaning and disinfecting everything first before asking him for help. "Could you hold the gauze and the end of the bandage in place?" I asked him, my voice barely a whisper but he heard me nonetheless and quickly did so.

Meticulously, I wrapped the bandage around my wrist to stabilize it and followed it all the way up. Once I was done, he placed a tender kiss to my bandaged hands and pulled me into a hug.

"I wanna be able to help you, but I don't wanna push you to open up if you don't wanna." He admitted and I pushed away the burning tears brimming my eyes.

"I'm sorry." I whispered into his shoulder, hoping to hide my warbling voice.

"Do you wanna talk about any of it?" He asked and I sniffled.

"I think I hurt my Dad, and I feel guilty. I said something I shouldn't have and he's probably really upset with me now." I weakly told him, and he waited to see if I would say more.

"I'm sure you two will get past it and talk it out when you're both ready. You two have a good relationship." He said trying to console me but I only held onto him tighter.

"I'm sorry." I told him and he hesitantly rubbed my back.

"What're you apologizing for?" He asked and I took a shaky breath.

"Because you deserve someone better, and I know that. And I just break things and I don't wanna hurt you." I told him and he leaned back to look at me, and the evident hurt on his face only made my heart seize even more.

"Are you saying you want to break up?" He asked and I shook my head.

"No, no, I don't want to break up. I l- I care about you, so much. I'm just scared that I'm gonna hurt you. I don't want to hurt you." I admitted, and his thumbs rubbed against my hips, the small gesture soothing me ever so slightly.

"I don't think you'd hurt me, especially on purpose. I don't care if you hurt me. You're worth that chance, I don't see it happening, but you're worth it. I promise." He said and my lip started to tremble.

What did he mean I was worth it?

"I-" The words died on my tongue and he simply pulled me into another hug.

I clung to his body, using it to stable out my trembling one and tried to figure out how to process my emotions.

[passerine-writes]

Silent Sparks - Volt 108

Warnings: Anxiety, that's about it Word count: 2730

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

Masterlist

Volt 107 | Volt 109

"Tsukare!" Jirou called out to me as we were getting ready back stage. I was already dressed and I felt as though I looked ridiculous with the suit I was wearing. I looked like giant under ripe tangerine.

"Yeah?"

"How are your hearing aids? Are they synced how you need them to be?" She asked and I nodded along, nervously fumbling with my sleeves.

"Yeah, they should be. I think. Gods, I'm so nervous. I feel like I'm gonna be sick. Where's Izuku? We need him here already." I mumbled, starting to pace.

"Babe, hey, breathe. We did the dress rehearsal yesterday, it's gonna go off smoothly. Okay?" Denki said, gingerly grabbing me by the waist to ensure he had my full attention.

"What if I mess up again? I know I got it close yesterday but what if I mess up the part?" I rambled, shaking my hands between us to try and settle my nerves.

"You're gonna do great." He told me sincerely but my brain just couldn't believe him.

"I'm gonna fuck up. So bad. What if I do actually faint and fall off the stage?" I asked him and he waited, ensuring I was done before talking.

"You know what to do if you feel like you're gonna pass out. It's gonna be okay, we're all gonna kick ass up there." He told me.

"Language, little listener!" I heard Pops say sarcastically and I turned around, completely frazzled. "I figured you might be getting cold feet, so I had your Dad save us a good spot before I have to go patrol. You okay?" He asked gently and I nodded without thinking. "'Ryo, you look as nervous as I did the first time I stepped on stage."

"Seriously?" I asked and he nodded. "What did you do? To make the nerves go away?"

"I took a few deep breaths and I reminded myself how much I loved music. I was shaking until I played that first note on my axe. Then it all kind of, melted away. It helped that your Dad was there, so was your Auntie Nem and Uncle Oboro. But your Dad is the one who really got me to calm down." He told me and I nodded slowly, trying to shake these nerves. "You and your brother and your friends are gonna do great. No matter what happens, just remember that we're all so proud of you guys."

"Thank you." I whispered and he pulled me into a hug.

"I love you, little listener. Go kick some ass."

"I love you too, Pops." I said and watched as he left from behind the curtains.

"Feel better?" Denki asked and I nodded.

"A little. I'd feel a lot better if I knew where Izuku fucking went. He should've been back a while ago." I mumbled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking around to try and calm my shakiness.

Stupidly, I decided to peak out of the curtain and I wanted to vomit on the spot.

There were so many people. It was a full house.

"There are way more people here than I thought there'd be!" Uraraka said as she came up beside me.

"Yeah." I whispered.

"At least everyone sounds like they're in a good mood!" Sato said, trying to lighten the mood.

"This is nauseating." I said and took a step back.

"Let's get in our places." Jirou said and I nervously followed suit, ignoring the blood pounding in my ear canal from how fast my heart was beating while I got in position.

Izuku ran on stage and narrowly made it in his place beside me just before the buzzer went off and the curtains were drawn.

The lights faded to black and I took a final breath.

"Now! Start, dammit!" Bakugou yelled before letting off an explosion as our cue. And as soon as I made the first dance move, it started to come naturally.

"Thanks for coming out today!" Jirou said into the mic before she started singing.

The smile that fell on my face felt natural, especially when I saw Eri and Mirio in the crowd watching. Midoriya and Aoyama launched into the air, and his lasers shot out like glittering fireworks, illuminating the shock on Eri's face.

I caught Aoyama so Midoriya could take his leave for stage crew and I knew what part was coming.

I turned my head slightly and shared a look with Denki. His golden eyes that were shining brightly under the stage lights, looked into mine for a split second. We signaled to each other with a head nod and his guitar was soon in the air.

Our switch, that we practiced so many times, went off flawlessly. I ran over and caught it just in time to play my small riff while Jirou slightly belted her note before the second chorus. And with a single moment of hesitation, I slid over to the mic and sang the chorus with her like she asked time and time again. Both of our eyes lit up as I got the chord that I had been fighting for the last month right, and for that single moment.

All of us on stage, dancing, singing and playing our hearts out, and Eri smiling genuinely for the first time in the crowd, I wasn't scared.

It felt magical.

It felt right.

——————

As soon as we were off the stage, I had tears rolling down my face from how happy I felt in the moment. Hitoshi came running over to me and tackled me in a hug.

"You did it!" He yelled and I nodded, still crying with a giant smile on my face.

"That was amazing!" I told him and he pointed over my shoulder.

"Those are my brothers!" Eri yelled from where she stood with Mirio. Hitoshi and I crouched down and waved her over. She came running as fast as she could and pulled both of us into a hug with her tiny arms. "That was so cool!" She told us and I wiped the tears off of my face.

"I'm glad you liked it!" I said and gave her another hug.

"That was crazy!" She exclaimed.

"At first when there was a loud noise it was scary, but then everyone was jumping with the dance and then there was a flash and Deku, you went away for a little bit and Onryo was there the whole time but I didn't see Hitoshi. And a guy started flying in the air. That's when it started to get cold and I saw birds and there was a spinning light and a bunch of people said 'Wow!' and you know what I said? 'Wow!' too. It was so fun!" Eri repeated everything she was saying to Hitoshi and I earlier, but this time to Izuku once he got back towards the end of clean up. And this time, Mirio, Hitoshi, Denki and I were half-assed acting it out behind her.

"I'm glad you had such a good time, Eri." Izuku told her, effectively making her smile, and before she stopped, I hurriedly got a picture for Pops.

"We have to finish cleaning up, but do you wanna wait here with Mirio and then we can go have some fun around the festival?" I asked Eri and she nodded excitedly.

I helped break up the last few chunks of ice, letting Izuku carry them, only to be curious when I walked up to the front for people to be standing out there telling us we pulled it all off.

"Mirio!" I yelled, catching his attention. "The beauty pageant! We gotta be there for Hado! We gotta go!" I told him and he gasped.

"You're so right! We gotta be there for our girl! Let's go!" He agreed as our class was pretty much done with clean up at the same time and we all rushed to get decent seats.

Kendo added martial arts to her performance. Then the winner from last year came out on a golden robot.. of herself.

"What kind of dance is she doing?" Eri asked from where I was holding her in my arms so she could have a decent view.

"Maybe I'm not the person to ask about these things 'cause I'm totally lost." Mirio said and I nodded.

"I don't know if she's dancing, Eri. I think she's mostly just spinning." I told her and she hummed. Nejire was announced and we watched as she floated down. "We gotta cheer for her, so yell as loud as you can, okay?" She nodded firmly and yelled as loud as she could along with me, Mirio, Amajiki, Hitoshi and Izuku.

Nejire used her quirk to float around, the yellow beams of energy swirling around her and she looked in her element. She almost looked like a fairy as she painted a flower in the sky with her quirk.

I put in my vote for Nejire and slowly started walking around with, Midoriya, Mirio, Amajiki, Eri and Hitoshi, hoping to find others in our class and see what there was to do.

The first person we found was Denki.

"Onryo! There you are!" He called out to me. "Can we do the haunted maze? It looks crazy!" He asked me.

"If you want to we can." I told him and he was practically bouncing in front of me.

"Eri." Hitoshi said, making both of us turn towards him. "Wanna come hang out with me for a bit? I think Kaminari and Onryo are going to go do their own thing." He said and she nodded excitedly. I set her down and she quickly grabbed onto Hitoshi's hand.

"Can you take my jacket? I'm overheating right now and I just need to breathe." I asked my brother and he held out his free hand tiredly. I quickly removed my suit jacket and handed it to him. "Thank you!" I said cheerfully and he rolled his eyes.

"You two go have fun." He said and I grabbed Denki's hand with a giant smile on my face before we left to find the maze.

While we were waiting in line, I loosened my tie, undid the top two buttons on my shirt and rolled my sleeves up to my elbows.

"I think we beat a lot of the line, there's only a few people ahead of us." Denki commented, his eyes practically glued to me as I adjusted my clothing.

"I'm surprised you wanted to do this." I told him and he rolled his eyes.

"I feel safe doing this type of thing when I have my super hot boyfriend here." He said and it was my turn to roll my eyes. "You're not scared, are you?" He asked and I shook my head.

"I already have a feeling of what's going to happen in there. So, not really?" I said awkwardly and he dramatically sighed.

"I never thought I'd be the scaredy cat in a relationship." He said and I couldn't help but chuckle. "Woah, is that Tanigawa?" He asked and pointed down the line to where he was admitting people.

"Oh, yeah. I'm glad he's liking his haircut. Hey Tani!" I waved to him and he waved back as soon as we were in front of him.

"Hey! I'm glad you both made it!" He said happily.

"If you don't mind me asking, do your classmates know?" I asked softly and he shook his head. "Got it, I just didn't wanna accidentally out you."

"Much appreciated. Are you two ready to go in?" He asked and I looked at Denki. He was starting to look a little nervous but he ultimately nodded and I followed him inside.

The students popping out from behind walls and corners didn't really scare me, let alone phase me. I was more focused on Denki who was clinging to my arm and side.

The most difficult part of it all, was not reflexively punching Takai when he dropped out of the ceiling. Instead I just glared at him and kept walking through the maze with Denki.

I kinda wish I didn't hold back that reflex though. The detention or suspension would've been worth it.

"Tsukababes! Kami! There you two are! Did you go through the maze? It was so spooky!" I heard Mina yell to us from where she stood at a crepe stall with Momo, Uraraka and Aoyama.

"Yeah, it was okay." I said awkwardly, not appreciating how Aoyama's gaze stayed fixated on me.

"It was crazy spooky!" Denki said and I shrugged. "Totally worth taking 'Ryo in there, he almost punched Takai."

"Tsukare, you shouldn't punch people." Momo lectured softly.

"It was more of a reflex that I had to forcefully stop from happening." I explained gently. "I'm gonna go get some crepes. Denks, do you want one?" I asked him and he nodded happily, moving to sit beside Mina and Momo.

I waited patiently in line, ignoring one of the sets of eyes on me, Aoyama seemed to have a staring problem today and it was starting to give me the creeps. I looked back at Mina and Denki, my boyfriend smiling widely when I looked at him and I couldn't stop the small smile on my face.

It didn't take long for me to get the crepes and bring them over to Denki. We both took a bite and hummed at the amazing taste.

"Très bien. C'est délicieux." I said contently and Aoyama looked at me with an even wider smile, while Mina and Denki looked slightly confused. "Crepes, french, seemed fitting." I brushed off but Aoyama was staring at me like I cracked a secret code.

'The engraving he made on the rock. He probably knows I read it. Did he want me to find it? It would make sense as to why he left it where it could be found. But him leaving it there could also mean it wasn't anything that should be a secret. I still have to figure out what the original meaning is. It had something to do with latin I think. Maybe an old king or something?'

"Babe?" Denki asked and I looked at him confused.

"Sorry, I blanked out. What's up?"

"Do you want a fidget? I'm sure I have one somewhere." He said and started patting his pockets.

"I'm okay, thank you though."

"We should totally take pictures in the photo booth!" He said out of nowhere, everything about him making it impossible not to smile.

"Yes! That would be amazing!"

"Tsukabro! Kami! Mina!" Kirishima yelled and I waved to him and Tetsutetsu. "Any of you guys doing the obstacle course?"

"I don't know." I brushed off, not too concerned about making it in time.

"You definitely should! It looks like fun, man! Kaminari, you in?" Kirishima asked him.

"I'd be up for watching Onryo do it." He said and I rolled my eyes playfully.

"I'll do the obstacle course if you do." I said and he stuck out his hand. I shook it once and he smiled coyly.

"Deal." He said with a smile.

The rest of the festival was amazing. A bunch of us went through the obstacle course, Denki and I took pictures together, followed by pictures of me, Toshi and Eri. Dad and Pops both managed to slip away for a few pictures with us as well. Izuku, Mirio and I played a few rounds of tag with Eri. We all cheered as we watched Nejire win the beauty pageant. She earned it.

Mirio and I watched in excitement as Izuku presented her with a candied apple that he made with Sato. My sisters face lit up in delight as she tried the first bite.

"It's the best thing ever!" She said.

"Then we can make them again! And if you want, when you're older, you can learn how to make them too!" I told her and she bounced in place.

"Can we really?" She asked and I nodded happily. I gave her and our Dad a hug goodbye before I went back to the rest of my class.

Today seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye, but it was almost perfect.

Almost.

[passerine-writes]

There's more!!

I can't believe I almost forgot to post this on here???

@kaelyns0810-blog also drew Tsukare and Kaminari!! I definitely cried when they sent me this (happy tears) cause like, this is so amazing

I'm still speechless

[passerine-writes]

Okay so I am nowhere near close to shutting up about this

They did such an amazing job drawing him!! Like, I can't even properly express this or put into proper words how talented they are!

@kaelyns0810-blog literally did such a stellar job drawing Tsukare!

Their drawing of him came out so much better than how I was picturing him in my little pea brain!

I'm going to go back to kicking my feet over this now