Halfway to the Moon

Basking in the Warmth (Pt. 1)

Blowing gently, Izuku brought the warm ceramic mug in his hands up to his lips, sipping gingerly at the hot tea. He hummed at the taste.

"Is it good, Izuku? It's a home recipe, you know!" Mitsuki called from somewhere in the kitchen before poking out of the doorway with a new tray of mugs. "My momma used'ta make her own recipes for everything. The tea was always the best, but it's a pain in the ass to make, and Katsuki never wants to help his poor mother."

"You never ask for help, you old hag!" Kacchan barked, snatching one of the mugs off the tray. The tea sloshed with the movement and a little splashed on Kacchan's hand, but if he even noticed, he didn't show it.

"I think she's saying she shouldn't have to ask, Katsuki," Inko giggled from where she sat suspiciously close to All Might in his lithe form.

Kacchan looked like he wanted to argue more, but stuck to grumbling quietly to himself instead.

"Minding Auntie Inko but not your own mother? I see how it is, fuckin' brat," Mitsuki berated her son, a smile on her lips all the while. She lent down to plant a kiss on the top of his head as she walked by before handing out the rest of the mugs, to which Kacchan repaid by snapping his teeth at her.

They were all sat around the Bakugous' common room, perched on the comfy brown sofas circling the coffee table. His mother and All Might - known only as Mr. Yagi to Mitsuki and Masaru - were curled up on the loveseat, Mitsuki and Kacchan sat on the couch, and Masaru and he were seated on floor cushions.

Warm lights hung low from the ceiling and bathed the room in a cozy atmosphere. Perfectly polished picture frames sat on every available surface, almost all of them reflecting Kacchan's scowling face. One of them was taken when he was younger and smiling, though it was more of a haughty smirk, and included Izuku. They were young, a big fish hanging from Kacchan's fist and a much smaller fish cradled between a teary-eyed Izuku's pint-sized palms.

"Ah, do you remember that, Izuku?" Masaru spoke from beside him, having caught him staring at the picture. Izuku chuckled lightly and dragged a hand across the back of his neck.

"Not really," he admitted. "I just remember being really sad."

"That's because you didn't want to hurt the fish," his mother recalled. "You saw the hook through its lip and burst out into tears!"

"I believe you wanted to put a bandaid on it before we put it back in the water. Of course, we couldn't do that."

"Oh, Izuku. Always such a bleeding heart. He apologized to it too. It was so cute, if a little sad."

"That's... embarrassing..." murmured a red-faced Izuku. Why did parents always have to bring out the embarrassing childhood stories at every get-together? It wasn't fair to his pride!

He sighed into his mug as he took a sip.

At least they haven't mentioned the bruises.

Having been just released from the hospital, he hadn't really had time to stop and put makeup on. His mother told him he didn't need to, that they realized how hard it was for him to talk about and they wouldn't bring it up again if it wasn't necessary. Nobody's eyes lingered on his face, except Kacchan's for what Izuku suspected were entirely different reasons, and he knew none of them judged him. But he felt exposed.