your version of the sky - k. bakugou

12 - mother.

cw: abuse 

"I know your father scares you sometimes, but that's still your father. Do you understand, Y/n?" 

At six, you already knew your mother had married a bad man. A very, very bad man. So, instead of being a compliant child and giving your mother the answer she wanted, you shook your head. 

She brushed a hand down your cheek. "Your father doesn't mean to hurt you or me. Has he ever been mean to us?" 

"Sometimes," you mutter, hiding the lower half of your face beneath your tattered butterfly sheets. 

"Is mommy mean to you sometimes?" 

"Yes." 

"When?" 

"When you get mad at me." 

"Do you still love me?" 

You nod. 

"See," your mother continued. "Sometimes that happens. Parents aren't always nice. We are your friends when the time is right, we are also your parents when the time is right. You won't always like us, but a family will always do their best to love each other. Sometimes, a little tough love is needed. Do you do your best to love me?" 

"Yes," you say, pulling the covers away from your face hesitantly. 

"How about your father? He does his best to love you. To love me. To love this family. What about big brother Tenko?" 

"I love them." Even this young, you were already lying to make your mother happy. Your brother was a different story than your father.  But still, your mother remained the center of your world. 

She was the reason for your laughter. Your best friend. Your only friend. 

You shared the same eyes, the same smile, and when you got older, you hoped you would be beautiful like her. You prayed she would gift you with those same smile lines, those same soft crinkles of age. 

"I love you," she whispered, kissing your forehead. "Sleep tight tonight, okay?" 

"I promise." 

She wandered to the door, routinely blowing one last kiss before switching the light off and closing the door. 

There was always guilt behind the promises you didn't keep. So almost all your promises. But they were all white lies, anyway. So how much harm could they cause? 

It was for the benefit of everyone else, anyway. 

You knew your mother wasn't necessarily happy with the reckless decisions she'd made in her youth. Those decisions had given her you, and she said you were the only gift she'd ever found in all her years. 

She introduced you to storybooks and music, any way to escape from the confusion you two faced at home. 

Your father was the main issue of confusion. 

Your mother liked to talk about heroes and how they would save you and her one day. One day, she promised. 

They'd come crashing down on this tiny house and whisk the two of you away to safety. And though this small house was all you had ever known, you knew it wasn't always necessarily safe. 

There was a knock at your door. 

"Sweetheart?" The voice called from the other side. 

"Yes, Mama?" You replied. 

The door opened slightly, your mother's sweet face peeking in through the crack. Light from the hallway was bleeding into the room. "I'm going out to run some last minute groceries." 

"Can I come?" 

"Not tonight, sweetie. I'm just letting you know. Tenko and your father will be here if you need anything." 

"Please? I'll be good, I promise." 

"Not tonight, honey. I already said no. I'll be home soon. Will you be good for me while I'm gone?" 

"Please, Mama? I don't want to be alone with Tenko or Father." 

"They won't bother you. And they won't hurt you." 

"Tenko scares me sometimes with his quirk." 

"He's your brother. He's just being mean. You're allowed to use your quirk, too, you know. You're his little sister, but that doesn't mean you can't fight back, okay?" 

You nod and reluctantly let your mother slip away, the door closing behind her. As much as you didn't like when your mother and father were fighting, the yelling brought some kind of comfort in times like this. 

The silence was what was truly terrifying. If their voices suddenly fell silent, what would you do? Did something happen to one of them? Was your mother okay? At least, if they were yelling, you knew your mother still had enough fight left in her to argue back. 

Your mother had left the radio on, the muffled sounds of the announcer's voice heard through the wall. Sometimes you wondered if she knew how you welcomed the sick comfort of loud voices. 

It was all you knew. 

Suddenly, the voice of the announcer on the radio fizzled out, becoming distorted like some demon. 

Then there was an ominous knock. 

"Yes?" Your voice was quaking. 

The door opened, creaking as two fingers locked around the doorknob. 

"Tenko?" You whispered. 

He was only eleven, but he'd begun to grow into a lanky, tall figure. His fingers were slender, a strange length began to stretch out his limbs, specifically his arms. You hated how they hung at his sides. Then there was his unfortunate hunch beginning to take over his body. 

"Did you destroy the radio?" One look at the dust on his fingers and you knew it had been him. "Why?" 

"I got tired of listening to it." 

You wished you could scream at him for his selfishness. "You could have just turned it off." Your voice was weak, as if you'd used it too much in the past week or so. In complete truth, you didn't say much unless you were around your mother. 

Even then, you were quiet for a kid your age. Perhaps silence had chosen to lay itself over you like a blanket. 

"Are you okay?" Tenko asked, his fingers curling around the doorframe, keeping one finger lifted out of habit. 

"When is Mama going to be back?" 

"She left?" 

"You didn't hear her leave?" 

"No, I didn't." 

"How...how is my father, Tenko?" My father. Because Tenko had gotten used to calling him Master early on. That's all he was to him.