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Natsuo has always been the odd one out.
It’s inevitable, he supposes; in a family that is so amazing, so incredible, so outstanding, he has always been the normal one, the average one, the one without some special power. He’s no Shoto, with his powerful Quirk, Shoto who burns so bright that he will one day light up the whole of Japan. He’s no Fuyumi, who is bright and responsible and the favourite of every teacher. And he’s certainly no Touya, caring and confident Touya with his warm smile and warmer hugs, who is everything an older brother should be.
Natsuo is just… Natsuo. He doesn’t possess a powerful Quirk and has yet to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He’s an average student, perfectly adequate but nowhere near outstanding. And while he loves Shoto (of course he loves Shoto, everyone loves Shoto), sometimes he looks at his little brother and wishes their father wanted him even a fraction as much as he seems to want Shoto.
But with all the recent upheaval – with them suddenly moving from their massive house to a tiny apartment, with Shoto suddenly allowed to spend time with them, with mum and Fuyumi flipping through phone books before he finally pointed out their name had to contain the word Yuki – it seems like perhaps he might finally have a chance to figure out how he fits into his family of bright, shining stars.
He finds his answer when he’s eight. Mama had decided they would go for a picnic, to celebrate some recent accomplishment of Fuyumi’s Natsuo doesn’t care about, just like he doesn’t care that Touya and Fuyumi spent hours getting the food ready the day before. What he does care about is the smile on mama’s face as they look for a spot to sit, and Touya’s laughter as he chases after a giggling Shoto, and that Fuyumi for once didn’t pack any books.
Only just when they finally find the perfect spot, when they’ve spread out their blanket and laid out their food, it starts to rain. They all immediately scramble for cover, of course, grabbing whatever random items they can along the way. Once they’re all safely squashed under the nearest roof, Natsuo looks up at mama and, even at eight – he can see the disappointment in her eyes, the defeated slump in her shoulders, and he just – he wishes there was something, anything he could do to make her smile.
And then he remembers a quote he saw on one of Fuyumi’s notebooks.
“Natsuo?!” he hears his mother call after him as he darts back out into the rain. “What are you doing?!”
“Learning to dance in the rain!” he shouts back, as he desperately twirls and prances about. For a second he feels foolish, as he slips on the wet grass. But then…
…Then he hears Shoto’s laughter, and looks over to find Touya spinning him around and around. He spots Fuyumi flouncing about, more graceful than he could ever hope to be. And when he looks back over at mama, she’s smiling as she holds up her phone, filming them, and Natsuo makes sure to treat her to a smile so wide, it makes his cheeks hurt.
Him and Fuyumi promptly come down with a cold the next day, and their mother sighs and sends them back to bed. As they lie there, listening to her bustle about in the kitchen, they look at each other and with a silent nod agree it was absolutely worth it.
And it is after that Natsuo comes to a realization – for all that his siblings are bright, shining, incredible people, they are still human. And sometimes, they push themselves too hard, they expect too much of themselves, they forget that they don’t have to be perfect all the time. Sometimes even they need to take a break; to laugh at something silly; to do something just because.
And Natsuo may not be able to measure up to Touya, may not be as smart as Fuyumi, may not be able to make massive glaciers with a snap of his fingers, but here, finally, is something he can do. So he learns to read them; he starts noticing when mum is a little more tired than normal, or when Shoto is missing his friends. He learns to recognize when Fuyumi is about to crack, or when Touya’s smile is ever so slightly forced. And beyond that – he introduces Shoto to the joys of pillow fights. He is willing to put his life on the line if annoying Fuyumi is the only way to get her to put her book down. He memorizes entirely too many cringy jokes because, for some strange reason, they make Touya laugh.
Nobody is surprised when, upon entering high school, he makes a beeline straight for the Drama Club stall. His family soon become used to him spouting random dialog over dinner, and Fuyumi, stressed as she is, takes to rehearsing lines with him with surprising enthusiasm.
Everybody is surprised, however, when Natsuo announces his intention to study psychology.
The thing is, Natsuo does like making people smile. But no matter how hard his family tried to shield him, he understands better than most of his peers that life is messy and unfair and sometimes just plain fucked up. He has looked out at his audience mid-performance and realized that whatever smiles he elicits are fleeting. All he is providing is a momentary distraction from their stressful, messy lives, and when the curtain falls, they will stand up and walk back out into their stressful, messy lives. And Natsuo… He wants something more.
He doesn’t have to look far to find his answer. He just has to flip through to his earliest family photos, where one child is always missing, has to simply remember Shoto, who at three years old didn’t quite understand that he was still a child. And Natsuo thinks back on that time, and wonders – what if he could bring back someone’s smile? What if his job meant taking those that are hurting and helping them rediscover the simple joys in life? What if, when he bid them a final farewell, he got to do so in the knowledge that he made things better?
Natsuo has never been as gifted academically as Fuyumi, but all that means is that he is not afraid of hard work. He throws himself into his studies now, determined; instead of taking a part-time job like his siblings, he finds a children’s charity and starts volunteering there, desperate for even the slightest edge. It all pays off; upon graduation, Natsuo Yukiyama is accepted into a perfectly adequate, slightly above average university. It’s not much, not compared to Fuyumi’s Gakugei or Shoto’s U.A., but for Natsuo it’s enough, and he smiles and decides maybe they could have a small party to celebrate.
His family disagrees though, and Natsuo arrives home two days later to find his siblings squabbling over the best way to decorate the most ridiculous, over-the-top cake ever, baked for the sole purpose of celebrating him.
Because what Natsuo, observant thought he may be, has never noticed is that to his family – his family comprised of siblings who all shine brighter than the brightest of stars… To those same siblings, Natsuo’s smile shines brightest of all.