Home (BNHA x Male OC)

32: The Past Lives Inside Us

The car was silent, but not awkward. More, solemn. A stern sort of quiet that made even the music blasting in Miki's ears seem far off and silent. 

He thought back to the last time he saw his grandma. It was a school night, he had done his homework early and was just hanging around in his room. Miki remembered turning the page in the book he was reading without any thought.

The moment that page flipped his grandmother screamed and a thud rang out, echoing strangely in the tiny apartment. Miki stood up almost instantly, shoving the book off his bed and onto the floor, losing his place completely. 

He found her lying on the floor in her bedroom. Her eyes were closed. Looking back he sort of wished they were open. He never really saw her eyes, she was always wearing dark sunglasses. He wished he had seen them one last time. 

In a panic Miki had called the police and his grandmother was pronounced dead on the spot. It was a stroke. She might have been having symptoms for hour beforehand and he just didn't notice. 

What a grandson he was, staying in his own room while his elderly grandmother struggled for her life. 

Taking a deep breath, Miki let the reality that he would be visiting her grave in a few minutes sink in. 

The car stopped in the parking lot outside the cemetery and Hizashi looked back at Miki from the front row. He gave the boy a reassuring smile and the group disembarked. 

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The Kozume family headstone was dilapidated. No one had been here in years. Miki had never seen it before. His grandmother had never visited to give offerings to her grandparents or parents. Maybe her parents were like his, he knew his grandmother had spent some time in foster care. He'd never really know now. 

He was thankful that Shota and Hizashi had brought supplies to properly clean off the grave. Hitoshi and Himiko had come too, both to help and to pay their respects. Any family of Miki's was their family too. 

They started scrubbing at the stone, slowly revealing the engraved names of lost family members. Miki had never heard of any of them, at least until he got to the bottom. Carved beside each other were the names Kozume Yua and Kozume Fumihito. 

Fumihito was his grandfather. He never met the man, he died when Miki's father was in high school. There were a couple of photos of him with Miki's grandma around their apartment but that was about all he had seen of the man. When he had asked once or twice, his grandma would get a far away look and just repeat that he was a kind man. 'Far too kind for a world this cruel' She would tell him. 

The name Yua was still covered in red ink, the mark of a spouse still living after their partner. Silently Hizashi maneuvered so he was crouching behind the kneeling Miki. 

"Do you want to scrape it off or should I?" He asked softly. The pro hero couldn't imagine what Miki was going through. He didn't want him to be overwhelmed by solidifying his grandmother's death himself. He was only a child after all. 

But Miki just shook his head, grabbing one of the scraping tools they had brought to remove the red ink. It barely took a minute, but each scrape felt like someone stabbing at his heart. Scraping with nails and picks, trying to open the organ and watch all the blood gush out. 

When they were finally done the family stepped back to face it. Miki wanted to speak to his grandmother as best he could now, and he knew he wanted his parents too as well. But the teen himself couldn't bare to go first after cleaning the grave, so Hizashi and Shota did. 

Awkwardly, Shota began speaking. "Greetings-no hello." He said clearing his throat, "My name is Aizawa Shota, I'm a pro hero and Miki's father.". 

"And I'm his papa!" Hizashi chimed in, a bright smile on his face when the teens laughed, clearly embarrassed at the comment. "We love your grandchild very much. Rest assured that we're taking good care of him." Hizashi continued, lighting some incense.

Shota nodded in agreement. "You would be very proud of him. He's doing well in school, he has lots of friends, he's stopped a murderer, saved a kidnapping victim. The list goes on. Honestly you left us with quite the problem child." Shota said, an exacerbated sigh leaving his lips. "But I love him more than life itself, like I love all my children. I hope you can trust us with him.". 

Hizashi had finished laying out the offerings by then, so the two stood up and looked to Miki expectantly. During that time, Himiko and Hitoshi had disappeared. Neither of them had good memories of their biological families, so it was a bit overwhelming for them. 

Miki took a deep breath and knelt down in front of the grave stone. "Hi, grandma." He said. Fuck he already sounded like he was crying. "I'm so sorry for not paying more attention that night. And I'm sorry for causing trouble as a kid." He said quickly, as if he was trying to spit it all out at once. "I-" His voice caught in his throat, "I miss you. I miss you so much. There are so many days where I could be given the whole world and everything in it and all I want is to have you back.". 

He was full on crying now, not even ashamed about it anymore. "But I'm okay now. Sort of. I still miss you, not a day goes by where I don't, and I don't think one ever will, but I'm okay. I have my dads, and my siblings. You'd like them, they're lots of fun." He continued. 

"I should wrap this up." Miki said, wiping the tears from his eyes, a small smile on his face. "I'll come back to see you again. And again after that. I'll make it a regular thing, I promise." He said, keeping the smile. 

"Love you, grandma." He said. The statement had an air of finality too it. This was only the first time he had visited the grave. It was far from the last. But somehow, those words felt less like a beginning and more like an end. Like they were his last words to her. 

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Miki couldn't deny that on the drive back to U.A his head felt clearer. It was relieving in a way he couldn't quite articulate. 

And with that clarity came a new perspective on the case of the little girl trapped with the Shie Hassaikai. 

Midoriya and Mirio would save her. He trusted that. He trusted them. 

He wouldn't be able to participate, not in something as delicate as this. But Miki made that better by promising himself he would be there when the girl was reintroduced to the rest of the world outside the gang. 

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I'm sorry for this chapter being a little sad, but it had to be done at some point. 

I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for your support on my last author's note. I was just very stressed and ranting and you guys responded with such compassionate and understanding comments I cried all over again 😅

Thank you guys so much for being my support! Even if the situation with that particular class still isn't good I hope to start the days ahead with a clearer mind. 

While I was writing this chapter I remembered the special chapter I did for Shatter where the protagonist was turned into a toddler and I was wondering what that would be like with this series. Obviously 3 kids would be a lot handle.

Considering Hitoshi is Nao's age, he would be 3, Miki would be 2 and Toga would be 7. If you guys would want to see something like that I'm more than open to writing some uplifting content 

Stay Tuned!