Sunsets

Better

Inko held Todoroki in her arms as the television played in the background. It was seventeen days since Inko got the news about Izuku's death.

It was eleven days since his funeral.

Class 1A was given a week off school and any work that came from UA.

Todoroki had taken the news harder than anything. Over the whole search, he had been relatively optimistic. Yes, he missed his friend, but he always thought he would see Izuku again.

And he finally did. But it wasn't the same.

He saw Izuku during the open casket at the end of the procession. He had cried.

Izuku was gone.

And the nightmares he kept at bay returned full force.

Almost every night, Todoroki woke up from night terrors. And they ranged from losing Midoriya--imagining his close friend dying right before his eyes--and his past abusive home. Sometimes there was a mix of both before he woke up with a start.

But sometimes he was stuck lucid dreaming--and that was worse than any night terror he had ever experienced.

Currently be was enveloped by Inko's warm embrace. His heart-wrenching sobs bounced off the walls. He had accidentally fallen asleep during a movie with Inko. Since both had experienced a major loss during Midoriya's death, they began spending a lot of time together.

Sometimes they just needed a hug, and this was one of those moments.

Todoroki had seen a Silver-Age All Might commercial on the television. It reminded him of the bandaid he had woken up wearing in the hospital. It was a smaller cut, which the staff hadn't seen wrapped in the bandaid.

Todoroki knew it was Midoriya's doing.

He didn't remember the greenette putting the bandaid on him but he just felt Midoriya was the one to do so.

Inko petted the boy's hair, unknowing of what set the poor teen off.

She was officially Todoroki's temporary guardian until his mother recovered. Even then, she might still take on the role of a guardian however. Though maybe not full time.

But she took the teen into her house in stride. Todoroki moved into the guest bedroom, leaving his siblings to deal with Endeavor's estate.

Neither had moved anything from Izuku's room, though sometimes they would find each other sitting inside quietly. Izuku's room was calming despite all the hero merchandise.

After her husband's death a few years ago, Inko would take night walks and stargaze. It had always calmed her. But since Izuku's passing, she found her son's photos and drawings more important  than the stars. Said items were strewn around the house and hung all over the walls of his room.

They felt at ease when inside, yet they rarely had the state of mind to enter the room.

Slowly, Todoroki calmed down and closed his eyes in exhaustion.

Inko Midoriya picked her phone up off of the coffee table and began searching the internet. She had a question and she needed to find a solution.

"Todoroki, hunny, can you come to the living room? I have something to show you." Inko sung.

It has been a few days since Todoroki had broken down on the couch, and both were fairing slightly better than before. Their loss was still painful, but they were slowly healing.

Todoroki closed Notebook Thirteen before exiting his room. He had been rereading the unfinished writings for the millionth time.

Sometimes he wondered what Midoriya would've written in the last three pages if he had survived. But he didn't want to think about that at the moment.

He sauntered into the living room only to see a strange sight. His heart slightly leapt from his chest.

"My shifts at the hospital are starting to get longer again, and I don't want you to be alone. I also got him to help with your anxiety and nightmares. His name is Kusa because he was born with a mutation that  changed his fur color. That's why he is green. They named him after grass--so unoriginal." Inko laughed at the name.

Todoroki slowly moved towards the green dog. It was a short-haired dog, however its great coat was fluffy to the touch.

"Kusa...." Todoroki whispered, sitting on the floor to pet the dog. His tail thumped on the ground after hearing his name.

Kusa lunged and licked Todoroki's face once before sitting back down.

A small laughter was heard and the duel-haired teenager looked up to meet the gaze of a smiling Inko. "Kusa also has permission to go to school with you if you want. Nezu said he will teach her some tricks and help her become a Safety Dog--one that makes children feel safe when they're rescued, but not in the direct line of fighting."

Todoroki let out a small, hesitant smile. "Thank you. So much."

Inko and Todoroki would get better over time, that much was true. Kusa would help them find happiness and keep them company when they were down.

Kusa was also known in UA when everyone resumed school. Kusa usually sat with Todoroki and his friend group, but sometimes wondered off to other classmates.

As the months passed, everyone was getting better.

Aizawa, Tsukauchi, and the Hero's on the case were recovering. The students close to Midoriya were getting therapy form Hound Dog to cope properly.

And Toshinori, who was out of the country and ill-informed with the events reguarding Work Studies, was called back in for the funeral. He was heartbroken. He had been overseas to host a meeting in America regarding a UA trip for the third years. But he was unable to have stable communications, and his messages were delayed as he traveled.

So when he got the urgent message from Nezu to come back to Japan immediately, Toshiori was worried sick.

And rightfully so.

It took a long time to finally realize Midoriya was gone--dead.

And it took an even longer time for him to get over his sucessor's premature death.

Slowly, everyone recovered. It helped that the League wasn't messing with them anymore--though no one knew what had happened to the group of villains.

Nothing was heard from anyone. There were no sightings of any members--no new crimes committed by them either.

It was as if they had fallen off the face of the earth.

Everything had fallen apart but now life seemed somewhat glued together again. For multiple weekends, the class visited Mrs. Midoriya to check in on her. She was always so kind to them and often sent Todoroki to UA with platters of cookies.

More often than not, their visits would result in sleepovers where they all piled up and watched movies together, laughing and paying with Kusa. 

Most nights, Koda and Bakugo would meet in Midoriya's house and the four would simply take in each other's presence.

Bakugo grew up with Midoriya, finding his passion for heroism.

Koda found safety within Midoriya, eventually opening up enough to talk more freely.

Todoroki found himself with Midoriya's help, he found fulfillment and happiness.

Inko found hope, her son was always so optimistic and kind. She hoped she could follow in her son's footsteps. Her hero's footsteps.

Occasionally though, in the early morning when the sun rose and began to shine through the drapes in the Midoriya household, Inko would get up and walk into he living room only to find Todoroki looking out the window.

He always saw the sunrise.

And he never forgot to watch the sunset either--Kusa always by his side.