Hope Found in Ice and Flames

Chapter 29

Hope

It's been a year and a half since Touya was arrested, today, he was being released. Izuku and Shouto were now second years in UA, they had their hero licenses and worked in their father's agency.  Today, they were home for a holiday, Izuku sitting on his bed silently, listening to music and writing notes down in a notebook. 

Suddenly, he fell off of his bed, hearing his sister's high-pitched scream. He ran from his room and down the hall, stumbling as he reached the front room. His elder sister was rolling around on the floor with two of his brothers, tackling someone. 'Oh right, that's today.' Izuku thought, smiling softly.

Touya's home.

{Later that day}

The family of seven all went out today, going out on the town to shop for Touya. "Soooo, Izuku, got a girlfriend yet?" He raised his eyebrows, nudging his youngest sibling on the arm. Izuku scoffed, rolling his eyes, "No, but I do have two boyfriends." Touya gaped and stumbled back, waving his hands around like a madman. 

"Izuku you dog!"

"It's not like that!" 

Izuku explained the situation, Touya listening happily. He missed hearing his little brother talk. They rarely called while he was in prison, Touya was sure Shouto's comment from a year and a half ago still struck a nerve in him. Of course, how wouldn't it though?

Soon, the family had a car full of gifts and bags of clothes and room accessories. Izuku laughed at this, he knew Touya would probably only wear five of the fifty outfit bought for him and never put his decorations up in his bedroom.

The family stopped at a nice resturaunt when it got late, sitting around a large table and chatting, Izuku's eyes seeming distant as he barely included himself. Soon they'd gone home, Shouto trying to talk to Izuku to no avail. Izuku held a sort of grudge against his brother since that day. He'd never apologized to him, not once. Not in person at least. Izuku deemed this a lack of effort, showing his brother didn't actually care enough to apologize in person. Lately, Shouto's grown tired of his 'petty' behavior.

Izuku and Shouto sat in the living room, watching TV. Shouto sighed. " Why don't you ever talk to me anymore?" No response. "Izuku seriously, come on. It's been over a year, grow up." The rest of the family peered around the corner, listening but not interfering. Izuku rolled his eyes. "Stop being so childish! It's not like I meant it! You know that! Plus, I was right, Touya was the villain, you were the one in the wrong that day." Izuku snapped, standing up from the couch and slapping his brother.

"I don't even understand how you could think to make me the bad guy here." Izuku sneered, lowering his hand. Shouto stood, pushing the smaller teen back slightly. "You never apologized. I have a right to be upset with you." He spoke.

"I did apologize! I texted you like, fifty times that night! You ignored it! That's not my fault!" He shouted, clenching his hands into fists. The family stood in the hall silently, Touya at the front keeping his mother from stepping in.

"They need to sort this out on their own mom." He mumbled. She nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah, you wonder why ignored it!? Probably because you told me to my face that I'm not Touya's real brother. You told me I didn't know him. Not like you did. Well guess what Shouto, fuck you. That day you didn't even try to apologize in person. You sent those texts and kept it at that. What the hell do you think that gets us huh?!" He yelled. "You expect me to accept that lousy ass apology!?"

"Be grateful you even got one!"

"I'll be grateful when you put in some damn effort! You basically told me I wasn't a real member of this family!" The air was tense, two teens shouting at each other angrily, "How am I supposed to know you didn't really mean it if you don't attempt at showing me it wasn't genuine!"

Shouto stood silently. He'd known what he said was wrong, he knew that when he apologized over text Izuku had at least seen the messages. He never thought of it this way though. He lowered his head, approaching the trembling teen and pulled him into a hug. He held onto him tight, not letting go.

"Izuku. I'm sorry." He started, putting his face against his brother's messy hair. "I've never once thought of you as someone that's not a part of this family. I should've told you that sooner." His grip tightened. Izuku stood shocked. "I don't want to stay like this. I want to go back to how it used to be. I wanna be your big brother again." Shouto never wanted Izuku to hate him. He hoped that one day he'd be forgiven, he'd hoped that one day Izuku would talk and laugh with him like he used to. He just needed to step forward. "I don't deserve to be your brother after what I said, but I hope you'll let me."

Izuku stood silently, feeling hot tears fall into his hair. Shouto was crying. The shorter teen grabbed a hold of his brother's shoulders, gripping onto him tightly and letting tears fall from his eyes. This is all he'd wanted. He just wanted to know that Shouto truly didn't mean what he said. Soon, the rest of the family came in, joining the tearful hug.

They'd all been waiting for this moment. For the moment that Shouto would finally realize his errors. The moment Izuku would realize he was just as much a part of this family as the rest of them. The breeze of the wind from the open windows flew into the room, but the family never shivered. They felt so warm.

The family knew that everything from here on out would be rocky, all they could do now was hope. Hope that their disaster-prone family would at least be there for each other.

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1000 words