Cigarettes and Smoke - Tododeku A.U

Chapter 9

~Shoto~ 

Combat training ended up being much less intensive than my first day of training, but much harder. For the first three days, I practiced with a punching bag while being coached by Izuku. Whatever was going on with him on that first day seemed to have been figured out and he was back to his confident, cocky self. 

When I arrived for the fourth day of training, I was surprised to find him in the same workout clothes as I wear. "Today you'll start sparring with me." he told me after I had changed, "This will make it easier for me to correct your form. Step onto the mat." I hadn't even noticed there were padded mats on the floor until he told me to step onto them. 

I obeyed Izuku's orders and stepped onto the mat, getting into the stance he taught me. "Good." he nodded. "For this, you want to pay very close attention if you don't want to end up with broken bones."

Just great.

~~~

 That evening I didn't end up getting home until midnight, and by then my black eye was already starting to form. There was no denying the fact that Izuku kicked my ass. Before he had started officially training me, he offered a "demonstration" which was basically him giving me a few hits and kicks. Afterward, he taught me how to defend myself, giving me more hits and kicks in the process. On top of my black eye, I have multiple bruises on my arms, abdomen, and legs. 

It was extremely painful to move and I was beginning to think I may have some broken ribs. Izuku assured me that he didn't hit me hard enough to break bones by saying, "If I had hit you hard enough to break bones you'd be in excruciating pain right now." as if I wasn't already in excruciating pain. 

After changing into pajamas I gently lowered myself onto my bed, gingerly touching my eye. I don't know if I can deal with another week of this. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Maybe if I ask, Izuku will go easy on me. I highly doubt that. 

My phone began to ring, pulling me out of my thoughts. I blindly reached for it, glancing at the name before I answered it. Fuyumi. "Hello?" I answered, flinching at the pain in my jaw.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I was trying to work out getting some time off." Fuyumi said. "I managed to get three days off to come to see you."

"Father doesn't know you're coming, right?" I asked, staring at the ceiling. 

"No, he doesn't. I'm telling him that I'm taking myself on a small vacation if he asks." Fuyumi told me. "My flight is in a few days. Will you be able to meet me at the airport?" 

"I'll have to ask my boss for time off work," I lied, "But I'm sure I can meet you." I made a mental note to ask Izuku tomorrow. 

"I'm so excited to see you!" she cheered. "I know it hasn't been long enough for you to have changed at all, but it feels like it." There was a moment of silence before Fuyumi said, "Well, I know it's late in Chicago, so I'll let you go. I'll text you when my flight is supposed to land."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later." I ended the call, setting my phone beside me. The thought of seeing my sister again brought a smile to my face. It'll be good to see her again, I thought happily. That was until I realized I would have a black eye by the time she got here. Try explaining that to her. 

That will be a fun experience.

~~~

During training the next day I decided to ask if I could have time off. "Can I ask a question?" I said as I dodged a punch. I was finally getting better at dodging punches, but I still had a way to go with the kicks. The high kicks were easier to dodge than the low kicks.

"Go ahead." Izuku answered, throwing a low left punch. I was too slow and his fist collided with my stomach, pushing the air out of me. Thank God I skipped breakfast today, I thought, catching my breath, otherwise, I would have definitely vomited. 

"My sister is coming to visit in a few days. Can I have three days off to spend time with her?" I asked, still panting slightly. Izuku lowered his fists, thinking about my question. "Please. It's the only time she can get off." 

He sighed and said, "Sure, but do ten reps of pushups for each day." What? I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up a hand. "If you won't do them, you don't get the days off. I'd say that it's a pretty fair deal, thirty push-ups for three days of vacation time. It's your choice. Do the pushups or don't see your sister. 

Just do it, I told myself, it's a fine deal. As much as I hated to do thirty push-ups, I hurried to get them over with. Around my fifteenth push-up, Izuku put his foot on my back, "If your chest isn't almost touching the floor then it doesn't count. That means your last five push-ups don't count." I wanted to say, "Fuck off." But that would just piss him off and probably add to my pushups.

After my thirtieth push-up, I collapsed to the ground. Between those and all the training, I've been doing my arms felt like wet noodles. "I'll let you rest for ten minutes. Do you want water?" Izuku asked. I nodded, rolling onto my back. A few moments later he returned with two water bottles, handing me one and keeping the other for himself. He sat on the ground next to me, studying my face. 

"I've been meaning to ask, where did you get your scar?" Izuku asked, taking a long swig of water. "It's a pretty gnarly scar."

"My mother. She poured boiling water on me." I said shortly, not wanting to unlock that memory. "She didn't like that side of my face. I don't really care to talk about it." He nodded, accepting my wishes. 

"Everyone has a memory they don't want to talk about." Izuku said, "It's just human nature. If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine." There was a short silence between us before he spoke again. "Can you see out of that eye?"

"For a while, I couldn't really see out of it. As I got older it got slightly better but after a few eye surgeries, I was able to see good out of it. But, if I close one eye things are off slightly. That'll be there for the rest of my life." Another silence settled over us, this one lasting the rest of the break.

Neither of us talked much for the rest of the training, and Izuku ended up letting me out early. Instead of going up to my apartment, I walked a few blocks over and picked up a few groceries as well as some take out before heading back.

People gave me odd looks, which wasn't unusal. Usually, I get odd looks from my scar, but today it seemed like more people than usual looked at me. I realized it was probably because my other eye was bruised and slightly swollen still. I probably look like I got jumped. I move like it too.

After eating I cleaned my apartment, which didn't take long at all. When I had gotten groceries I had almost decided not to get cleaning supplies since they were so expensive, but caved. Your sister is coming, you need to make sure this place looks presentable, even if it's small. 

Just as I settled onto my bed, my phone went off. I reached out for it but felt nothing. I remembered that I had left my phone on the counter by the sink. "It'll have to wait for tomorrow," I muttered, rolling onto my side. You should just get up and get it, it could be important, a little voice in my head told me. I tried fighting it, but in the end, got up to check it. 

When I picked up the phone the screen lit up to show a text from Fuyumi. 

My flight lands at ten a.m two days from now. 

I sent her a quick reply before plugging my phone in and crawling back into bed.

I'll be there waiting.