Glass Heart

Glass Heart - Chapter Eighty-Five

"So here then?"

"... no. Try moving it a little more left, over there."

"There!"

"No, that's too far-!"

Shoto sighed in an irritated manner, glancing over at Hitoshi. "Do you think he'll ever be able to do this?"

Hitoshi frowned, looking defeated. "Izuku has faced many challenges... but teaching Bakugou chess?" As he spoke, Bakugou finally blew up, chucking the chess board across the room with a loud yell, the pieces scattering everywhere. As one flew past Hitoshi's face, his expression turned even more exhausted. "... might be impossible."

"Come on, Bakugou, blowing up the chess board won't get you anywhere." Izuku said in a slightly bored tone of voice. His words only seemed to make Bakugou angrier, to the point where Izuku was starting to wonder if there was even a point to all this. But... at least he hasn't broken the table yet?

"How do you understand the tiny pieces?!" Bakugou yelled, batting the remaining knight and rook off the table, letting out a long groan of defeat. Izuku couldn't help but feel the slightest bit of pity for him... after all, Bakugou is trying to learn the entirety of chess... in less than a week. And this is only day one.

Shoto picked up the knight piece, passing it to Izuku, who smiled and thanked Shoto warmly. But then... as Izuku stared at the piece, he had an idea.

"Look- Bakugou." Izuku said, placing a row of pawns on the chess board. "This – enemy – has a strong line of defence. One that's completely impenetrable." Okay, it technically is penetrable, but for any piece (aside from the knight) it would be a multi-turn break in. "As a hero, if you see this sight, what do you do?"

Bakugou stared at the pieces as if he didn't care, but after a moment he glanced back up at Izuku. "If the enemy defence is powerful and would take time to break through, you'd look for an alternate route. Usually above or below."

Izuku nodded. "That's right. But the ground here..." He tapped the wooden table. "Is completely solid – making going down not an option. That means, you need to go up. And that piece, is the way you get there." Izuku pointed at the knight piece, explaining it's rules again. As Bakugou carefully listened, the rules of chess being modified to fit a hero's attack format, he slowly began to grasp it.

About an hour later, the two of them were looking a lot more confident. "Well- practise in your own time, and come to me if you want some practice matches." Izuku said with a grin, as the two of them bumped fists. "You'll need a LOT of practice if you want to beat me!"

----Timeskip----

That night, Izuku sat next to Hizashi, a Disney movie on as per usual on their nights. When Shouta and Hitoshi get a choice, Hizashi doesn't even want to stay in the room! Crime movies can be very gory – which tend to be Hitoshi's favourite kinds.

Luna crawled up onto Izuku's lap and he absentmindedly scratched behind her ears, with the little cat purring happily, curling her tail around him. "I know I haven't been spending as much time with you lately..." He murmured gently, watching her with a concerned and gentle expression on his face. "I promise, I'll spend more time with you from now on."

He's been so busy with UA, and his hero work, and protecting his identity, as well as dates with Shoto, classes with Nezu, spending time with his friends and family, study, hero documents – when has he really taken a moment like this... to pet Luna, and think about his wellbeing...? To just relax?

It's been... a really long time.

Of course, by tomorrow, all the troubles and stresses that he's currently putting off, will all be back, and stronger than ever. But for now... maybe he'll get to truly take a breather, to focus on just resting his mind, instead of expanding it? Hizashi seemed to be relaxing too... and while Hitoshi always said that Disney movies are boring, he's sitting and watching it too. It feels rather sweet... having everyone together.

Izuku turned to Shouta, who was sitting on the other side of the sofa. "Dad... did you notice how much better Bakugou has been getting at controlling his anger?" Really, it was a strong improvement. It's only been a short period of time since everyone has started UA, and yet... Bakugou is making such a big personal change.

Honestly...? I'm rather proud of him. Izuku thought to himself, and glancing at Shouta, he couldn't help but think that his Dad feels the same way.

"Yes, I noticed. While it is admirable, it's also something that should really have been done years ago. But I'm pleased that he's putting in the effort himself to improve." Shouta replied, his answer making Izuku smile at him. Yeah...

Everyone's working to improve themselves... some just take a bit longer than others.

Hello! It's been a while.

A lot of things have been happening to me, but while I contemplated marking this book as abandoned, I knew that I'd regret it. I want to finish ALL my stories (that includes the danganronpa one I haven't finished yet) even if it takes me forever to do.

If you missed my comment on the previous chapter, I'm writing all the book at once, and uploading them a few days apart ASIDE FROM THIS CHAPTER.

This chapter I am releasing early because I want to know:

What are the loose threads you still have questions about from this series?

I still have the full plot written down in my notes, but there's a high chance that there's something I spontaneously added three or – god, three?? – so years ago, might slip through the cracks. Additionally, I wanted to ask for your kindness for if I mix some smaller details up. I don't remember everything about this story yet, and hopefully I will in time, but for now, it's just something I'll have to try my best with.

If you have any questions for me as well, I'm happy to answer them. Just comment here and I'll check on them tomorrow and answer any nice ones – unkind words (as always) will not be tolerated!

I can't give an exact detail for when the chapters will come out, but after this one – when you next get a chapter update from me, you'll know I have finished all of them. Hopefully this means you won't have to suffer with waiting and getting only breadcrumbs each time.

And thank you all again for being so patient with me. I've been busy yes, but I've missed writing so much, and I'm excited to get back into it. Looking forward to continuing writing soon.

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊