Sister Mine (Dabi X OC)

Without A Shadow Of A Doubt

Ascending the steps to the very familiar gray hospital building, Hotaru shoved his hands inside the ratty remains of his jacket before pulling out a handful of crumpled up bills. It wasn't much but it was all he had earned from the last couple weeks at the shipyard.

Sure, in actuality the shipyard wasn't any place for a twelve year old child but it was the only work he could find that didn't bother to check for an ID or ask any sort of questions. It was mostly just heavy manual labor, overworking the kid more times than not, simply just because it was obvious he needed the money.

With both his parents dead from a villain it was the only option he had. Otherwise Hotaru knew he'd be thrown into the nearest orphanage and forgotten. That always seemed to be the fate of kids without parents. But no master what, the boy simply couldn't let that happen.

Because if he was sent away then all hope would truly be lost for Yuto.

Blinking back to reality, Hotaru quickly found the room he was looking for before forcibly ordering his sore muscles to loosen in order to push open the door with a small proud smile.

And just as all the times before, he heard the same small excited voice echo back. "Brother! You're back!"

Almost immediately the boy began to cough, causing Hotaru to shake his head in exasperation before strolling forward into the room. "Hey, quit it. You know what happens when you get too excited. I already told you I'd be back."

Giving a sheepish smile, six year old Yuto replied. "Sorry, I just missed you."

That caused Hotaru's chest to swirl with happiness before reaching down and rubbing his kid brother's hair in order to make it messy. "Same here, stick bug. Now sit back down before you break something again."

And as his brother complied with his wishes, Hotaru couldn't help but soften his eyes at the sight. Yeah, this is what everything was for.

It didn't matter if he worked from sunup to sun down in order to pay for his hospital bills, it didn't matter if he passed out from overexertion somedays, it didn't even matter that the boy didn't have a childhood anymore.

No, none of that mattered except seeing his little brother's smiling face.

Flashing back to the day of his parent's murder, it almost killed Hotaru to see his baby brother lying in a pool of his own blood next to his mom and dad. Thankfully he was able to survive, although that also meant that he would have to live with his injury for the rest of his life in this hospital.

Surrounded by wires in order to keep him alive, that's the life those villains had given him. It wasn't fair, they had no right to take that from him. He was just a six year old kid.

Of course, Hotaru was glad he was alive regardless, never focusing on the gruesome details for the sake of his brother. He had already been through enough.

"Brother, why are your hands so bruised? Did you get hurt again?

Snapping him out of his memories, the black haired kid then looked down at the purple and yellow bruises on his hands before closing them with a playful lie. "Ah yeah, I got into a fight on the way here. Sorry about that."

Yuto widened his eyes in horror at that, slapping his brother across the shoulder. "Brother, you said you would stop fighting! That's no good!"

Laughing to himself, Hotaru then put up his hands and surrendered. Yuto didn't need to know that he was getting hurt for his sake. That would truly break his heart. "Sorry sorry. I promise. Next time, I'll be better."