Capítulo 2084: 14
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Nemuri sighed as she adjusted her sweater. Today was always tough, but it was almost over. She just needed to go to Hizashi's place and spend some time with the others, then she and Hizashi would drink way too much. Shota would complain, and Emi would laugh, then Nemuri would wake up in her own bed or on the living room floor, and she'd go about things normally.
"You ok, Nemuri?"
Nemuri looked at the couch, seeing the concern in Izuku's eyes and her heart clenched. "Y-yeah, it's just uh... rough day today. I'm gonna be at a friend's place tonight, so you're on your own for dinner."
Izuku smirked. "Is Hirooki the friend?"
Nemuri blushed, but her face broke out into a small smile as she laughed. "Thank you, Izuku, and no, it's not. It's just a get-together of a few of us. We'll be... reminiscing, I suppose."
He still looked concerned, but he didn't press the topic, "well, have fun and try not to get stabbed."
Nemuri groaned as she headed for the door. "I get stabbed once after adopting you, and now you bring it up all the time."
The two laughed and said their goodbyes.
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Emi fidgeted as they approached Hizashi's place "ok, so I feel like I ask this every year but are you really sure it's ok that I'm here?"
Nemuri smiled as her green-haired friend. "Yes, it's ok, Emi. We're not just reminiscing about Oboro. It might be the anniversary of his death, but we do this for everyone we've lost over the years. You're our friend, and you knew some of these people, so it's ok, and besides, despite not showing it, Shota does enjoy having you around."
Emi giggled, her nerves fading as she smirked "of course he does. I'm wonderful to be around. It's just a matter of time till he sees that I'm the perfect wife."
"It might help if you didn't frame all your confessions as a joke. Also, as adorable as your quirk quick draw game is when you approach, it's not the best way to start things."
Nemuri grinned as Emi blushed and fumbled on what to say. Before the woman could recover fully, Nemuri opened the door to Hizashi's place and loudly announced, "what's up fuckers!"
"HEy-" Hizashi's voice lost all its omf as Shota's eyes glowed. "Oh, come on! You never let me have any fun, Shota."
Before Shota could grumble about his loud friend, Emi smirked "heya Shota-" she stopped and clicked her tongue as she felt her quirk be erased. "You're too quick on the draw, Shota. I can never get a laugh out of you."
Shota shook his head and released his quirk "you all are crazy, and I wonder why I hang out with you."
The noisy trio laughed as they started the evening. Hizashi and Nemuri started working on dinner while Emi cracked jokes to try and get Shota to laugh. As they talked, the conversation turned to Oboro, and Emi smiled. "Oboro sounds like he was a wild guy. I wish I could have met him."
Hizashi laughed "you two probably would have given Shota a hernia after three days."
Shota groaned. "I'm still glad you didn't go to UA."
Emi pouted, "Well, I'm not all my best friends are from UA. Nemuri and I would have ruled the school."
Hizashi chuckled "you and Nemuri probably wouldn't have gotten along. She had such a huge crush on-"
The voice hero yelped as Nemuri punched his arm "shut it, you cockatoo. I did not have a crush on him."
"Ooooh." Emi cooed, "you had a crush on Oboro, didn't you? That's so cute. Were you all blushy and flustered around him?"
The smiling hero ducked as Nemuri chucked a spoon at her. The R-rated hero's face had a faint blush as she crossed her arms. "I'll have you know that I never lost my composure around him."
"Except all the time. You nearly fainted when he called you by your first name." Shota stated in his usual tired voice.
Nemuri's face turned bright red as she hissed out, "how do you know that? You weren't even there?"
"Your situational awareness was bad back then. I was in the tree above you trying to sleep."
Emi doubled over, laughing along with Hizashi as Nemuri buried her face in her hands. Hizashi pulled himself together as he said, "well, she's keeping herself much more compose around-"
The voice hero yelped as Nemuri swung at him "what is wrong with you!" Hizashi squealed as Nemuri chased him into the living room.
"Your loud mouth that has no filter is my problem! You haven't even had a drink yet, and you're spilling all my secrets!"
Shota groaned and used his scarf to separate the two toddlers in grown bodies that were his friends. "Emi take over cooking. I need to lecture these two."
Emi snapped a salute "will do, and afterward, I wanna hear who Nemuri is crushing on now a day."
Dinner was finished shortly after Shota's lecture, and the group sat down to drink and eat while they told stories about those they'd lost and those who were still around. Before the end of the night, Emi had managed to learn that Nemuri was crushing hard on Hirooki and had gone on a couple dates.
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Izuku yawned as he switched the tv off. He had stayed up late, kinda hoping Nemuri would be back before he went to sleep. He was just worried about how down she seemed when she was leaving. Before he could head to his room, someone knocked on his front door. Izuku approached cautiously before checking the peephole, then blinking and opening the door slightly to reveal the smile hero Ms.Joke in casual clothes with his foster mother hanging off her.
Emi smiled "heya, you must be Izuku Midoriya, right? Man, you are as cute as Nemuri said." Emi ruffled Izuku's hair as he blushed and tried to process what was happening. "Oh, your hair is so fluffy."
Izuku stepped back as he opened the door "um, Ms.Joke-"
Emi waved her hand "ah, just call me Emi or Auntie if ya like."
"O-ok Emi why is Nemuri..."
"Drunk as hell?" Emi giggled as Nemuri gave a half-hearted cheer "well, we were reminiscing about some lost friends. She and Hizashi usually drink more than Shota and I. Since I'm good to go, I decided to get her home."
"Hizashi? Shota? I don't think I've heard her mention those names."
Emi blinked in surprise as she helped Nemuri inside "she doesn't talk about us? That's weird cause she wouldn't stop talking about you. She kept trying to get into a competition with Shota about his kid."
Izuku slipped Nemuri's arm over his shoulder and helped guide her to her bedroom. Nemuri landed on her bed with an oof. Emi clapped her hands "well, I'm gonna head out. Nice meeting you, Izuku. Get Nemuri to talk about us more. I'm sure the others would like to meet you as well, so talk about that, yeah."
Izuku waved as she left. He stared at his foster mother and realized she didn't talk much about her life outside of hero work. His meeting Hirooki when he did was an accident. Izuku sighed, deciding this was a problem for tomorrow. Before he could leave, Nemuri grabbed his arm "Izu..."
"Yeah? You need some water?"
Nemuri shook her head then groaned, "you're the best kid... I'm glad I bought you."
Izuku chuckled "you didn't buy me; you adopted me."
"Gah, same difference. You're my kid now... I have a family... and I made it my way so they can suck it."
Izuku tilted his head as he thought, 'they?' he patted her head, deciding to just bring it up tomorrow. "Goodnight, Nemuri."
"Goodnight, Izuku..." Nemuri was already snoring softly as she let go of Izuku's wrist.
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Izuku was putting the finishing touches on breakfast when Nemuri trudged in, groaning slightly. Izuku smiled and put down her plate first "good morning."
Nemuri smiled "thank you and good morning."
Izuku chewed his lip before sitting down across from her and saying, "so uh, I met Ms.Joke last night. She brought you home."
"Ah. did you get an autograph?"
"N-no, I was uh helping get you to bed. You were pretty out of it."
Nemuri blushed "sorry. Probably not the best thing to see your foster mom drunk and probably stumbling over herself."
Izuku shrugged. "You didn't vomit or say anything embarrassing, so it's ok... but I did realize because of what Emi said that I don't know much about your life outside of you being a hero."
Nemuri stopped short of eating a bite of rice. "Oh... right, I guess I don't talk about it that much. Do you want to know more about me? Outside of being a hero and what not?"
"Yes... I would like to but probably not before school."
Nemuri smiled "dinner. I'll tell you some stories from before I met you."
Izuku nodded "sounds good."
The two chatted while they ate, and Izuku revealed what Nemuri had said while she was drunk. The pro hero blushed, but when Izuku pressed her on who 'they' were, she promised to tell him another time.
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Izuku sighed as he and his friends sat down in the shade of a tree to eat lunch. "Nemuri came home drunk last night."
"Huh?" Toru said, looking up from her bento "why was she drinking?"
Izuku shrugged "reminiscing is all she said before leaving. On the plus side, because she was drunk, I got to meet Ms.Joke, but I didn't get her autograph."
Mina snorted, "Ms.Joke had to drag Midnight back to her apartment because she was wasted? What did those two get up to?"
Hitoshi blinked "wait is your mom Midnight?"
Izuku stared at his friend before sighing, "I'm not sure why but I assumed you knew she's my adoptive mom."
"No, I didn't. Also, your comment about reminiscing reminded me that my dad said something similar last night."
"Did he come home drunk too?" Toru asked as Mina used her chopsticks to swat Toru's away from her bento.
"No, but he was definitely a bit down and also irritated but somehow happy?"
Mina blinked "h-how does that work?"
"Well, he grumbles a lot and looks pissy, but if you listen to what he's actually saying, you realize he's not mad," Hitoshi explained, leaving the other three confused.
"What did he say?" Izuku asked, staring at Toru, who had been caught trying to steal from his lunch.
"I was kinda half awake. I only caught a couple names Hizashi and Emi."
Izuku blinked. "Ms.Joke told me to call her Emi since she and Nemuri are friends... Shinso, who's your dad?"
Hitoshi swallowed his bite as he watched his friends inch away from the invisible girl. "Shota Aizawa... also known as Eraserhead."
Izuku nearly dropped his lunch. "Eraserhead?! He's your dad?"
"Adoptive, but yes," Hitoshi explained as he moved his lunch out of Toru's range.
Mina groaned "ok, Toru, what is up with you? I saw you this morning scarfing down food before school, and now you tore through your lunch, and you're trying to get all grabby with ours."
Toru sighed dramatically as she laid on her back. "I've been doing extra quirk training. I'm so exhausted and hungry because of it. It takes a lot of focus and energy to refract light, you know."
Izuku shook his head as he finished his bite then passed the bento to her "you should just ask Toru you know we'll help you out. Also, you might wanna cool it with the extra training. We'll be starting Mr. Yagi's training regime at the end of the term, remember."
"Mr.Yagi?" Hitoshi asked as he watched Mina fork over some food as well to the invisible girl who was bouncing with joy.
"He's our personal trainer. We ran into him while cleaning up dagoba beach, and he offered to train all three of us." Mina said.
Hitoshi hummed, and the conversation moved onto small talk about nothing important for the rest of lunch.
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Midterms for the first term were bearing down on them. Hitoshi had squirreled himself away to study or train with his dad, so they only saw him at school. Izuku should be concerned by how lax Mina and Toru were being, but they were in the top five of their class, so he wouldn't press them too hard about studying. He wasn't in any position to talk, though. Izuku hadn't been studying much either, but not for lack of trying... it was just every year around this time, he couldn't focus on anything other than his parents.
Yasuda had been texting and calling more. She always hung closer to him around this time of year, and she had been asking if he'd visit. He knew she was talking about more than the orphanage though he did make plans to go again and to bring Nemuri and his friends, but that would have to wait.
Izuku chewed his lip as Nemuri entered. He spoke before he had time to back out, "two days from now, can you... come with me somewhere."
Nemuri stopped in the living room and looked up "you have school, don't you? Where are you going other than there?"
"I'm not gonna go to school then. I want to uh... visit my parents grave. I haven't been since... ever, really. I was there when they were buried, but since then I just haven't had the time, or maybe I did, but uh and I just figured I really should go cause the anniversary of their death is coming up, and I've never gone to their grave an-" Izuku was pulled from his panicked rambling and uneven breathing as Nemuri pulled him into a hug and sat next to him.
She gently rubbed small circles on his back and said, "of course I'll come with, and it's ok that you haven't visited till now."
Izuku felt tears prick his eyes as he hugged Nemuri and buried his face in her shoulder. "I-I feel like a bad person though... they're my parents, and I loved them, but I never once-"
Nemuri squeezed him tighter "it's ok. You're not a bad person. It's hard to visit the grave of someone you love. Sometimes you just avoid doing it until you're ready. We'll go and see them, and if you think you can't do it, we'll try again another time, ok? There's nothing wrong with that."
Izuku nodded into her shoulder as he pushed his tears away. The two stayed like that for a few minutes before Izuku pulled away and smiled "thanks."
Nemuri patted his head "you know it's no problem, Izuku."
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Izuku shot off a text to his friends telling them he was busy as he approached the graveyard. He'd tell them later what he was doing, but right now, he needed to focus. His stomach was in knots, and he felt kinda like he was gonna throw up, cry, or both at the same time. Nemuri squeezed his shoulder reassuringly as she said, "It's ok. Remember, we can leave whenever you need to."
Izuku nodded silently, not really trusting his voice. The duo walked through the empty graveyard until he found the family grave. Izuku stared at the names Hisashi and Inko Midoriya. There was a little blurb about them being loving parents and wonderful people. Izuku felt tears welling up in his eyes. The short sentence to describe his parents didn't do them enough justice. The whole tombstone front to back could be about them, and it wouldn't be enough. Izuku was only six, but in the short time he had them, he knew they were the best parents in the world.
Nemuri's hand on his shoulder steadied him, and Izuku took several deep breaths before smiling as best he could. The smile crumbled almost immediately as his legs gave out. Nemuri caught him and helped him sit down as he started to cry. Nemuri sat beside him and held him close as he let it all out. All the frustration and anger and sadness he had directed at himself for not coming sooner was let out as he sobbed into his knees.
Eventually, the tears ran out, and the two sat in silence till Izuku looked up at the grave and said, "Hey, mom... dad. S-sorry I haven't visited sooner. Um, this is Nemuri Kayama, aka Midnight, and d-don't worry, she's a lot different out of costume. She's... she's a really good mom to me. She's b-been taking care of me for a while now."
Nemuri stayed silent as Izuku talked. The boy spoke about everything from his experiences at school before and after meeting Nemuri to Yasuda and how good the orphanage was. Nemuri smiled a bit as he went on and on about his friends. He also talked at length about still wanting to be a hero and how excited he was to be training with Nemuri on how to use his quirk.
After a while, Izuku glanced at her and said, "I um... thanks for coming with. D-do you want to say anything?"
Nemuri pulled him into a side hug as she looked at the tombstone. "I think all I have to say is thanks to the both of you for being great parents and bringing this sweet nerd into the world. I'm glad to have met him."
Izuku whipped his eyes and smiled. "I promise to come to visit more. Sorry, it took me so long to get here." Nemuri gave him another hug before they left the graveyard.
Nemuri chewed her lip as they sat in the car. Izuku looked over, confused when she didn't start it up right away. "Um, you ok, Nemuri?"
"Yeah... just uh. I avoided talking about who 'they' were when you asked before."
Izuku nodded "it's ok. I wasn't expecting to know everything about you after one talk at dinner."
Nemuri took a deep breath "it's uh, this trip it reminded me of how things used to be. The 'they' that I referred to are my parents. I haven't seen them since high school, and the last time I talked to one, it was my mom, and we argued the whole time."
"You don't get along with them? Is it because of the whole Midnight thing?"
"Yeah." Nemuri chuckled "that's a big part of it. They also disapprove of my preferences when it comes to partners. I grew up in a conservative environment and was the odd girl who didn't fit in."
Nemuri sighed, placing her head on the steering wheel "things just kept getting worse as I refused to get in line with what my parents wanted but... I don't hate them."
Nemuri sat up and started the car. She had a hard look in her eyes as she said, "until we can come to an understanding, they don't get to know about my new family."
Notes:
I forgot I never gave this a rating. I'm making it mature just in case. who knows what future me will do. also thanks for all your comments on the name Hypno.
I picked Hypno because when I started making this fic I was watching a playthrough of Hades and was like oh Hypno the sleep god. perfect name.
SPOILER
it's so gonna be Izuku's hero name
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