I open the door to the house. It still creaks as if it was a haunted, it's always been like that. I don't need to say 'I'm home!' since the door is loud enough, though I don't know if he's sleeping or not. Maybe he's not even here?

Hopefully. I've always found him annoying, but what can I do? He's my guardian.

I immediately drop my bag and head towards the kitchen. It's always been a little cramped, there's not a lot of space, but it's functional so I shouldn't be complaining. Especially if some people don't even have houses where they could have kitchens. I open the fridge. There's not much. Barely anything, really. Some leftover sauce from last week's dinner, half a gallon of juice, a molded cake, and a lot of beer bottles. I take the sauce out.

I could maybe make some pasta from this? The sauce isn't really specified for spaghetti, but it will have to do.

I quickly start the work.

"Denki~." He calls me after closing the door.

My body freezes after hearing his tone of voice.

He's drunk.

"H-hi d d-dad." I whisper back to him.

I've always found it intriguing how you can start stuttering from fear or a feeling of nervousness especially when you weren't feeling that before.

"Are ya cooking? Let me see whatcha got for us." He starts walking towards me.

"I- i I." I dropped the bowl of sauce right onto the floor. The sauce and pieces of ceramic scatter to the ground. My breath hitches and I start to tense up until the door bell rings. He grumbles a bit before going to answer the door. He was so close to me.

"Who is it?" He swings the door open so hard that it bangs on the wall.

"Delivery for a Denki Kaminari?" The mailman says. It must be that ointment Recovery Girl recommended.

"This is his address, but he's not here. He's at school. I'm his father though, so I will sign it." He deceives the mailman and I can't do anything about it except cry. He is not my father.

"Perfect! Just sign here." He hands him a notebook and pen. Mr. Akagi signs it with probably a fake name. "Thank you, have a nice day!"

"You too." He says before closing the door. He lets out a huff and I can tell his lustful mood has changed into an aggravated one. And it just makes me tense up more.

"Clean this shit up. Now!" He yells before going upstairs with the package. Guess I won't be needing that.

I quickly drop to my knees to clean up the mess. Slightly thanking whoever is out there that this bowl wasn't glass. I try to pick up the pieces as fast as I can, but my shaking fingers keep dropping them. The sauce even managed to get under the fridge. It'll be a pain to clean up.

Now what am I gonna make?

I check the time. 3:08. I don't have much time left before the kids get here and when Haru comes back from the bookstore. Pasta doesn't seem like an option now.

I hate having to do this.
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"Den Den!" The five year old girl hops. "I missed you soooo much. I thought you had left me!" The tears well up in her eyes.

"You know I'd never leave you. Never ever!" I booped her nose.

"Pinky promise?" She holds out her small pinky.

"Pinky promise!" I agree. She laughs before running off to the living room where Haru is reading a book. I turn to look at the other 3 boys. "Now what did you do today, Koji?"

The loud boy beams as if he waited all day for this question. "I was leader at school today!" He puffs out his chest.

"Wow! Your teacher must've picked the strongest boy she knew, right?"

"Yeah!" He runs off to Sumie and Haru.

"Now what about my favorite twins?"

"We're the only twins you know, silly!" Toshi jokes. I pause for a moment before shrugging.

"Makes no difference ." I lift him up and he immediately starts a giggle fit. I love hearing the twins laugh. Just thinking about how they probably didn't before breaks my heart. Just thinking about that for any of these kids. I bring Toshi back down, yet he continues to laugh. His brother, Kai, isn't paying attention to it. I can tell he's looking behind me. He's looking at the dinner table.

"C'mon, change into your regular clothes before you play." I order. "We have to hurry up, you don't want to be late for Mr. Eto. We should be thankful he looks after you."

I'm relieved they never question the lack of food or complain, but it's also sad knowing that they're used to it. I should be doing a better job.

They all race upstairs to their rooms and only Haru stays. I tap his shoulder. He looks up at me questionably.

'Did you have fun with your lesson today?' I sign to him.

He only nods his head in response then continues to read his book. His jagged silver hair flops back down to his face. He probably can't even read half of the words in the book anyway, he's 5. I rustle his hair before I head off to get changed myself.

I hate to say it, but Haru is my favorite. Maybe it's because he's been here the longest, I don't know. Maybe it's because the reason why he got here.

Maybe I'm just jealous.

It's strange because I want to find all of them a family that would love them, but I want to adopt Haru. I know I can't though, I'm not the legal age and plus I'm pretty sure they wouldn't hand over a little kid with medical conditions that needs to be watched over to a teenager who has problems himself. Though Mr. Akagi wouldn't care.

I'm getting distracted.

Change clothes

Right

I walked over to the cabinets to fish for my cleaner clothes. It's not a lot of clothes to begin with, but I haven't gone to the Laundromat this week. If I rush it, I could get the kids clothes washed.

I leave my room and into the boys room. They haven't noticed me leaning on the door opening, but right now they're having a conversation about some kid at school. I've never seen Kai this happy before. Yeah he laughs and has fun, but out of the twins he's definitely the quieter.

"You boys meet someone new?" I ask before lifting Kai onto the bed to tie his shoes. His hands are always shaking. He can barely hold a spoon to eat, so usually I or Toshi do it.

"This kid today at school was talking about his family. He said it's really big, but when he described them he only said his mom, dad, and two sisters. That's not big!" Koji laughs. "He's so silly." I can see his eyes brighten up at the thought of this new mysterious boy.

"He's funny." Kai whispers with a smile. I'm glad they've made a friend at school. They rarely do.

"What's he look like?" I grab their dirty clothes in bags from the room before walking down the hall, with them hopefully following.

"He has really light purple hair! Like the flower you showed us at the park!" Toshi describes. Koji I know you're only 5, but I think we both like purple hair boys.

"Wow, just like the flower?!" I continue to walk to Sumie's room.

"Yeah I know, and his quirk is amazing he can-"

"SHUT THOSE DAMN KIDS UP, DENKI. OR SO HELP ME I WILL KICK BOTH THEM AND YOU OUT FOR THE WEEK!" Mr. Akagi threatens from his room. All 3 boys shut up. They're scared of him, they usually try to hide it, but when he gets like this it's hard to. What he says is true, and he will kick us out. He's done it before.

"Y- yes Mr. Akagi, we were just leaving." We reach Sumie's room and I take her hand to leave.

"Not fast enough." He quips.

Quietly we walk down the stairs where Haru is. He's visibly shaking and I let go of Sumie to comfort him. I know he didn't hear Mr. Akagi, but that doesn't mean he didn't see his quirk. Mr. Akagi was unfortunately gifted with a quirk similar to Haru's. So when it's activated Haru gets scared of it, it's as if he thinks another incident will occur.

I carry Haru while the kids hastily grab their belongings. Thankfully for me, Haru left all his things at Mr. Eto's shop. Once we walk out the door I immediately lock it.

Lucky for us, Mr. Eto's shop is only a block away. They're still so tense, I can tell. Toshi and Koji try to talk it out and Sumie is holding Kai's hand. For his comfort or her's, I still don't know. Then there's Haru, whose crying into my shoulder while I rub circles into his back. Everything will be fine.

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"Hi there, kiddos. Are you all ready?" Mr. Eto claps his hands together. They all cheer before running inside the bookstore with Haru walking behind them. He calmed down on the way here, thank goodness. He'll probably go to sleep though.

"Thanks again for watching them whenever I have to go to work." Mr. Eto is the nice man that watches them for me. He's more like a caretaker then I am.

"No worries, Denki." He waves it off. I smile.

"Have you've been sleeping lately? Maybe all this work isn't good for you. You're only a child." He examines my face closely. I made sure to reapply the makeup under my eyes. Right?

"I'm fine, just a long day at school. I have to work either way. Running low on money." I try to laugh it off, but he doesn't seem amused.

"Running low? Denki, did you kids eat today?" His face is full of worry.

"Yes. I made sure to pack them all something for lunch. It wasn't much, but they're not big to begin with." I smile. I'm starving.

"Did you eat?" Mr. Eto is a smart man and that will always be my downfall.

"U.A. provides a lunch."

"But did you eat it?"

"I wasn't hungry."

"Are you now?"

My stomach grumbles. "No."

He sighs before taking his wallet out of his pocket. "Here's a couple of dollars. I know it's not much, but please get something on your way to work."

My eyes widen at the offer. As many times as I've denied him from handing me money like this it still surprises me when he does.

"Thank you, I'll be sure to."

"Good. I'll give the kids some dinner as well."

My breathe hitches. "You don't have to do that."

"You're right. I don't have to, I want to."

I stare at him shocked.

"What? An old man misses his grandchildren. I need some squirts to spoil." He laughs wholeheartedly. It warms me up inside.

"Thank you Mr. Eto." Here I go again always thanking him.

"When are you ever going to accept the fact that I am basically your grandfather. The other day Koji called me Pops and I never knew how much I could still cry." And there he goes, never accepting them.

"Have a good night." I wave to leave.

"You too, Denki. And find something to eat!"

"Will do!"

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I don't.

I have to get this laundry done.