@baleburned / @helectia wrote a starter:
Today was finally the day for a date eight years in the making. Years ago, Shoto had told him they'd eat soba together; guess some of him really liked that idea. So much so that he'd thought about it every day now since then. No one thought he'd make it this far ━ well, except for maybe Shoto, and if he didn't, he'd never really shown it. He always came to visit when he could.So did Dad.
Even though he'd spent much of his time unable to move around properly or do anything but sit, he enjoyed their company. When he was a kid, he'd watch them train togetherand wish that one day he'd be allowed to join in… Maybe somehow, he started to feel like he was finally included, even if it was nowhere near the same thing.
People should've known better than to count him out. This wasn't the first time he'd cheated deathand lived way longer than any doctor had told him he would or could. And you know what? He was feeling pretty good, especially today. The restaurant was pretty small and out of the way, but Fuyumi had recommended it. He arrived on time and was a little surprised to find Shoto already waiting for him. "H-ey, Shoto. Sorry if I kept ya' waitin'. I'll haveta work on gettin' qu-icker."
A promise they had made, eight years ago. Shoto never brought it up, never spoke of it ever again, nor asked his brother if he meant to keep it, to keep on living until this day, for he had absolute faith in him, never having doubted this day was bound to come. Shoto believed in Toya— someone had once believed in him as well, when it seemed as if he was lost in darkness with no chance to get out. He knew Toya could get out of his own darkness. There wasn’t anything impossible. They had taught him, his friends, his oldest brother, standing before him, having defied death once more.
He rarely lost his appetite, yet since he had woken up this morning, he had an uneasiness in his stomach he couldn’t get rid of. The same uneasiness he used to have whenever he’d get a chance to get near his siblings, the same yearning, from when he was still forbidden of being part of their lives. Patiently he had waited for many years, yet those few minutes felt much longer until he’d watched him cross that door. As if he were five years old again, his face would light up, even if subtly, like when he'd watch his siblings play, hoping for a single moment to join them. Except this time, Toya was meant to join him.
❝ Toya. ❞ He stood up by instinct, to tend to him in case he needed any help, but wouldn't move unless it was asked of him. ❝ It's alright. I arrived a bit earlier. ❞ He had so much he wished to say, for someone who didn’t speak much. About the hero he had become. The person. Recently he reached number two in the hero ranks. Like their father once was. He wanted to know what Toya thought of it. Of him. What his emotions had shaped to be, after years of resentment and years of recovery. His brother was kind not to speak of his REAL emotions anymore, despite carrying honesty in all his actions— in how hard he tried, in choosing to live. How much of the burning resentment that once fueled his fire was still inside of him? Maybe, there would always be a part of Toya that couldn’t forgive him. Shoto didn’t know himself if he had forgiven his father for everything he had done, and mostly, if he had forgiven his own self. He had accepted it, what couldn’t be changed, accepted to be the one to carry the weight of all their sins. If it meant his family could move on, if Toya could have soba with him.
The reason he was born into this family . . . Maybe it was for this day.
