Flames of the Phoenix

Chapter 6: Sibling Bonding

I woke up the next day and sighed. I leaned over the edge of the bunk bed, "Pst. Izuku. Hey, pst, Izuku. Are you awake?" He stirred and pulled his blanket up to his neck and hummed, "Izuku. Pst." As he began to stretch and sit up, I pushed away from the edge and held my sides as I tried not to laugh.

"Huh? Did you say something, Cyra?" After a moment of silence, he mumbled to himself, "Must have been my imagination."

I waited until his breathing fell back into the rhythm that told me that he was asleep. "Izuku, hey. You are going to be late for school."

He sat upright and fumbled out of bed. "Oh, no! I am going to be late!" I wiped tears from my cheeks as I burst into laughter. He looked up at me, "Cyra, why are you laughing? Classes start in half an hour! We are going to be late!"

"We don't have school today!" I gasped for breath as another fit of laughter wracked my body.

Izuku glared at me, "You are mean! I could have been asleep right now!" I continued laughing, even as a pillow hit me square in the face. Neither of us could fall back asleep, so we decided to make breakfast for Inko. "I'll make the pancakes. Could you work on the eggs?" I nodded and picked up a few eggs from the carton.

"Izuku, how do you crack the eggs? I think that I saw it on a show that they hit it against the side of the bowl." I brought the egg down on the edge of the bowl and blinked at the yellow goop running down my fingers.

Izuku looked over and began laughing, "Have you never cooked or baked before?"

My ears grew warm, "No! Harrison always cooked breakfast for me. He cooked every meal for us."

"Who is Harrison?"

I smiled, "Harrison is Dad's secretary and closest friend." Izuku turned back towards the pancakes and accidentally bumped into the flour, which fell and sent a white cloud over the kitchen.

"What is going on in here?" Izuku and I froze like deer caught in a headlight.

I gave a nervous smile over to Mom, "We are making you breakfast!"

She laughed, "Hold still." Inko pulled out her phone and snapped a picture while laughing. "Go get cleaned up. I will have breakfast ready by the time you are both out of the shower and dressed."

Izuku and I walked out of the room. We looked over at each other at the same time and began laughing. Flour covered our pajamas, and our hair was still messy from waking up. "You can use the bathroom first. I need to brush my hair."

Sure enough, by the time I finished getting dressed, Mom had already finished making eggs, and she was pulling the last pancakes off the stove. "Mom, how do you make food that quickly?"

She giggled, "It's a secret art called multi-tasking."

Izuku and I ate quickly. "Mom, can we go out on a walk?"

She pursed her lips, "I'm not sure if that is a good idea. Especially after you got attacked by villains yesterday."

"Please, we will stick together."

"Fine. But stay safe!"

We both kissed her forehead as we headed out. "Love you, Mom. We'll be back eventually!" Izuku and I left the apartment complex and walked to the street. "Izuku, you said something about a bridge in the forest over there. Can we go check it out?"

He smiled and nodded, "Alright." We followed a path that had been worn into the grass by many feet. He stopped and waved his hand forwards, "This is where Kachan and I used to hang out."

I stepped past him and looked at the river. It was flowing quickly. The bridge that went over it was a giant log. "This is beautiful. I wish that I had been able to wander around here when I was little." I looked over at Izuku. He was staring at the river below the log. "Hey, Izuku, are you okay?"