Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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I didn’t have an alarm clock. 

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I know I didn’t. I hadn’t had one in a long time. Just hadn’t needed one. So, then, why exactly was I staring at an alarm clock as it blared at me? I don’t remember buying an alarm clock; I don’t even remember setting an alarm clock. Why was there an alarm clock? Normally it was just waking up dead tired that woke me up. 

BEEP BEEP BEEP 

Also, why the hell did I actually feel well rested? That was actually new. No headache, no grogginess, just, actually being fucking awake. The fuck? 

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Okay, enough of that! I brought down my hand and tapped on what I thought was the snooze button. But what I saw wasn’t my arm. Not in the slightest. My muscles were never that big, even when I worked out extensively. My hand never looked that big either. Come to think of it, this wasn’t even my room. The bed was too close to the ground, the style was Japanese, and where the hell was my computer? 

I sat up, looking around and trying to figure out what the hell was going on and how much of this was a dream. One thing was for sure though, I was fucking huge. Like I could out-bench Gaston easily. Though, he would have more hair than me. Wait, where was my chest hair? I looked at my body, moving the red tank-top—which I didn’t remember ever owning—to the side and finding a few red chest hairs. 

A jolt of pain shot through me when I plucked one and brought it up to look at it. “Holy crap, I’m a ginger?” 

I brought my hands to my face, trying to see if I could feel something similar, not that I knew how my face felt, but I did notice one thing that stood out. My glasses. I was seeing without my glasses. Perfectly. That was pretty cool. 

“Okay,” I slid my hands down my face and looked around the room trying to figure out what exactly was going on. I couldn’t come up with anything. Not a damn thing. When I attempted to scratch my chin I noticed something about my hand. It was on fire. 

No wonder it was so warm. 

When I tried to flick it out the fire did nothing. It stayed there, clinging to my skin like a thin glove. If anything, it got larger, spreading up my arm! I tried to put it out with my other arm but it was on fire too! Why was I on fire!? Quick! Stop drop and roll! 

I did that, still fire! 

I rolled again! Still fire! 

There was more fire!

Still more fire!

I brought my arms up and stood touching my head and hoping that there wasn’t even more fire there. “Why am I on fire?”

“Dad?” I looked towards a sleepy looking red haired child looking at me. His name came to me instantly. Touya. He. He was my son. “Why are you screaming? Didn’t you want to train me?”

Never had a kid before.

I glanced around the room, hoping that I wasn’t the only one in here. I was. Realization hit me like a truck as memories surged forth. Anger, lots of anger, lots of drive, motivation, of desperately trying to be better, to do better, to be stronger, faster, and all those other things as I strove to surpass All Might. 

“Umm,” I swallowed, quickly using my quirk to put out the flames that covered my body, even the ones on the ground dwindled quickly—no burn marks!—“Do you want to train today?”

That shocked the sleep out of his eyes. There was a bit of fear in his eyes as he looked at me. “No?”

“Oh, well, you can go back to bed, then, I’ll see about breakfast.” Crap, did I even know how to make a Japanese breakfast? More importantly, crap! I didn’t know the first thing about Japanese culture! Sure I knew a bit, but that was basic weeb stuff and no way applicable to their whole culture. I didn’t even like their cuisine! I couldn’t even read Japanese. 

Wait. I looked at Touya’s pajama shirt, which was of some cartoon, and realized I could make out the characters well enough, and could even read them. Convenient. 

“I can?” Touya asked, his eyes lighting up as he all but bounced on his feet.

I nodded. “Yeah, unless you’re too excited.”

“Can I go get Fuyumi and watch cartoons with her and Mom?” 

“Is today a school day?”

“No, it’s Saturday!” 

Great! One less thing to worry about! I smiled and nodded. “Then sure, go ahead. But don’t wake your mom up if she’s sleeping alright?”

“Okay!” 

I waited for him to leave before I started to freak out again. Part of me knew exactly where everything was in this house. It had been mine for years now, a large traditional Japanese style house right in the center of Tokyo. I had bought it after I saved someone from a villain attack and they offered it to me for cheap. 

Though, I really shouldn’t say that I bought it. I wasn’t the original owner of this body. 

I stepped into the bathroom, hoping against hope that I wasn’t who I thought I was. 

The man that stared back at me was Enji Todoroki. 

The abusive asshole that was so driven to beat All Might that he forced a woman into marrying him to produce powerful children, and just a real grade-A jackass. As far as I could tell this wasn’t a dream—I could still feel everything and I even had to use the restroom—but there wasn’t much of Enji’s personality left in me. Sure we were both a bit on the angry side, but I wasn’t him. 

“Okay,” I splashed myself with some water and tried to think. I remembered everything I could about myself, this world, and who everyone was. 

Twenty-five years old, father of two, husband to Rei, avid workout-er, and the number two pro hero in Japan. Twenty-five years old, so Fuyumi was three? And there were talks—demands—with Rei about another child, that would be Natsuo wouldn’t it? That meant I was about twenty years from canon. 

In five years, Izuku and Shoto would both be born, and it would still be more than a decade before I knew what was going on. That was twenty years of butterfly effects to screw everything over. Hell, there was no way of even knowing when exactly I was supposed to have sex with Rei to make sure Natsuo or Shoto were born. 

Trying to keep things the same would be impossible. “Besides,”—I rolled my neck and smiled at myself in the mirror—“I always did say canon was boring, right?”

That sounded cooler in my head.

“Still, one thing is for certain, I can’t do this on my own. I need to talk to All Might.” I blinked, stroking my chin. Were we even friendly at this point? I could check my phone. “And Nezu… if he’s alive at this point.”

What were my options? What would it take to make that happy ending? Hopefully I remember everything right.

XXXX

What kind of tea did Rei like? Was it too early for tea? What was I thinking? It was never too early for tea. Still, the question was, what kind of tea did Rei like? I searched through Enji’s half of the memories and found that when it came to what his wife actually liked it was pretty much limited to that one flower, and one thing that made her―

I felt my cheeks warm and stowed that thought for later. Much later. Which tea was the most used? Or which one did we have the most of? I checked the pancake, smiling at the pancake making device that they had; it made those really fluffy looking perfect pancakes like no one’s business. I already had three done, though I doubted that Fuyumi could eat a whole one at her age. Could she even eat a pancake?

Should I have trusted Touya with her? It was better than trusting me with her. 

“Hmm, let’s go with this one.” I grabbed one of the boxes that we had four of for some reason. The open one was almost out of little tea packets and I started the process of brewing some up. I could recall Enji being a coffee drinker, and I could feel my tongue shrivel up at the thought of drinking something so bitter. Apparently, I didn’t inherit his tastes. 

Which was probably a curse. A big big curse. I was probably going to starve in Japan. 

From what I could tell, Enji left the cooking up to Rei. How was he not poisoned? Oh, right, money. And Rei was actually a nice person. 

I let out a sigh as I thought about Rei. She had a strong quirk, as powerful as my own, and she had wanted to be a hero. But her health was poor, poor enough that she’d need medical treatment to keep living. That was how I got her. Money. Money for the treatment that gave her a normal life, at the cost of being a slave to Endeavour. 

I stared at the tea for a moment as I thought about what to do. 

“Enji?” I looked up and found myself struck dumb by Rei standing in the doorway. Her long white hair was full, giving her a cute almost pixie-like quality, while her face was just plain beautiful, and her grey eyes struck a nerve in me. A good nerve. Endeavour was a fool. Despite her beauty, Rei looked haunted, a ghost of fear loomed behind her as she took a careful step forward. “Why are you here?”

She tilted her head, one eyebrow raised. “And why are just your eyebrows on fire?”

Because I was really bad at controlling this thing and it’s a miracle half of Japan wasn’t currently on fire. 

“Uhh,” I swiped my hand over my eyebrows and extinguished those flames before placing some tea down on the table and gesturing towards it like it was some grand prize. “Good morning Rei, I made you some tea. I’m not sure if it’s the kind you like.” I held up the box I pulled it out of and smiled. “I also made pancakes.” 

Rei’s mouth dropped, but she moved closer, heading towards the tea cup as she watched me with suspicious eyes. “What happened to training Touya?”

“He said he didn’t want to train.” 

She shook, and grabbed the cup tightly. “Oh. I’m sorry. I should have―”

“He asked if he could watch cartoons with Fuyumi and I said yes.” I scratched the back of my head, turning away from her as I felt an odd combination of adoration and guilt as I looked at her. While Enji hadn’t hit her―yet―there was a tension between us. And why wouldn’t there be? She was effectively a breeding machine to Endeavor. “Is that okay?”

Again Rei’s mouth dropped and she held the cup a bit tighter before shaking her head. “No, that’s fine, I... Thank you... For giving him a break.” 

“Don’t mention it.” I placed a cooked pancake in front of her and shrugged. “I don’t really know if you like pancakes but―”

“No,” she blinked and shook her head. “I mean, I do, I just.” She shook her head again, staring at the plate. “They’re fine. Thanks.” 

“I’ll go get Touya and Fuyumi, I’m sure they’d love to eat with their mom.”

Their father, on the other hand. I couldn’t remember ever even holding Fuyumi. Endeavour judged her too quick; she was a female, and that made her weak. Damn, I really ended up in an asshole, didn’t I?

“I’m still thinking about having another kid,” Rei whispered, still looking at her cup of tea. “I’m sorry, but please, give me more time.”

“Oh,” I blinked, scratching the side of my cheek as I glanced at her. Such a haunted beauty. Sure, Rei had smiled before, but it was never because of Endeavour. “Don’t worry about that, we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Rei gasped, “I, what? Are you sure? Didn’t we―”

“Yeah,” I paused before she brought up much of the past. I already felt guilty for everything. “You might find this hard to believe, but I’m not going to force anything on you. Besides, I’m not sure if I want another kid either.”

I didn’t even want the first two. 

“Oh,” Rei blinked, she took a sip of her drink. “I see.”

I saw it then. For the first time as Enji, I saw her do something wonderful. She smiled. It was small, confident, charming, and made my heart beat faster. She was way out of my league. “Well, I’ll go get them.”

“Your hair’s on fire.” She called as I left the room. 

I needed to fix that ASAP! 

I found Touya and Fuyumi in the living room, Fuyumi laying on the floor staring up at her big brother while the little redhead sat way too close to the T.V. He wasn’t watching anime. He was watching the news. All Might had saved a bunch of people. 

Again.

“Hey―” I started softly.

Touya jumped and quickly changed the channel. “Uhh, sorry dad I, Fuyumi just―”

“You like All Might, right?” I asked walking over to scoop Fuyumi up. This was another first for Enji. Was I supposed to carry three year olds? She wasn’t a baby, just like a big toddler right? I should have paid more attention to my child development classes in college. Still, she could talk. Right? 

“Dad?” Fuyumi asked, looking at me confused. I knew so little about her. But she wasn’t struggling. That was good. 

Now to try and pretend I didn’t write several stories of my now daughter in romantic relationships with some punk that wasn’t even born yet.

Touya on the other hand looked scared. “No, I mean, well yeah, everyone likes him, he’s the best hero, but I think that―”

“You don’t have to lie to me, Touya, you can say you like all Might. I won’t get mad.”

“Really?” He asked with wide eyes. “I don’t know what happened to you, Dad but you’re awesome today! After breakfast, can we train? I wanna be a hero like All Might one day!” 

I laughed and nodded. “Sounds good! Now hurry up and get to the kitchen, there’s pancakes.”

Kids were easy. I watched as Touya bolted out the door and headed towards the kitchen.

Fuyumi followed him with her eyes. 

“Do you want me to put you down?” I asked her. 

Her head spun and she looked at me with wide blue eyes before nodding. 

I unleashed the Fuyumi and watched as she did that awkward toddler waddle-run. 

They would probably appreciate some alone time with their mom. It wasn’t something that I should pollute at the moment. Besides, I could eat my pancake in a minute. But right now I needed to make a call. 

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through it looking for All Might’s number. I didn’t have to look far. There was at least one missed call each week from All Might. It was almost like he was my ex-girlfriend. 

Quick memory check proved that was a no. Thank god. 

I hit redial, and listened to the phone ring for a few moments. Would he even pick up? Should I wait for him to call me? How did that work with All Might? He seemed goofy enough that he’d be really excited that I’d be calling him. He might even—

I turned the news on again and watched as All Might fought a villain, I could see him scrambling to pick up his phone.

I hung up. He’d call me back after he was done. 

Before I could even take a step away, my phone started ringing. It was All Might. I sighed, watching him fight the villain with his phone pressed to his ear. Sure he was the best hero, but wasn’t this showing off? 

I answered. 

“ Endeavour!” All Might shouted into the phone. “Sorry I missed your call earlier! I was fighting a villain and was a bit distracted!”

“You’re still fighting a villain.”

“What? No I’m not, what makes you ― ”

“I’m watching you on the news right now.”

“Oh that? This is just some fun! But what can I do for you?” I watched as All Might all but obliterated the villain on the T.V. and even pausing to flash the camera the peace sign all on the phone with me. 

“Do you think we can meet in person soon? There’s a lot we need to talk about.” I tried not to laugh as I thought about All Might acting like this. It was somehow both out of character and in character for him to just be so lax about actually fighting crime. 

“Certainly! I know just the place! We can even do lunch if you prefer. How about at—”

“Do you know a Nezu?” I asked before he could get to set on a place. “And is there a place we can meet with him as well?”

A semi awkward silence followed. “How do you know about him?”

“It’s why I want to talk.”

“Right. Meet me at U.A. at 3.” 

“Okay.”

I glanced towards the clock. That gave me five hours. Five hours to figure out exactly what I wanted to say. 

Chapter Text

In general, my life goal was pretty much just to not die, something that was pretty doable as a shut-in. However, given how my current occupation was that of a pro hero, that goal felt much more difficult to achieve. Especially as Endeavour, of all people. Underqualified was a great way to sum up how I was feeling.

I let out a low growl as I examined Endeavour’s hero suit; he’d wear it under everything when he went out, a classic workaholic. Though that wasn’t the whole truth, Enji thought of himself more as Endeavour than he did as Enji. But in a world where being a hero is a full time job, it probably wasn’t uncommon. No doubt Toshinori thought of himself as All Might first and Toshinori second.

I placed the suit back with its counterparts and stared at them for a moment more. In theory, all the training that Endeavour did was still in my mind, ready to be recalled at a moment’s notice. But his instincts weren’t. And my instincts were roughly the equivalent of a peanut butter sandwich in a room filled with begging dogs.

“Do I own a single tie that doesn’t have flames on them?” Each and every single one of my ties were some basic color with flames at the bottom. Even a white and black one I thought looked good turned out to to have a black base with a white flame. Where was the fun!? Screw it, there had to be a tie with pink on it. There wasn’t.

Rei stood at the doorway as I finished the last few buttons of my more professional suit. Ideally I’d be able to show up in a set of basketball shorts and a T-shirt, but this wasn’t just a casual meeting between friends.

“Is there something happening?” Rei asked, her hand barely touching the door frame.

“I have a meeting with All Might.”

That made Rei’s eyes go wide. She gripped the door a bit harder, her hands shaking as she bit her lip. She was afraid. I wasn’t used to seeing people be afraid of me, especially someone sweet like Rei. I hated it. But that wasn’t something that was going to be fixed overnight. Any nice gesture I did for her might be suspect of having ulterior motives. Besides, I still needed to figure out exactly what I was going to do.

“Would it be alright if I take the kids to see my mother tonight?” Rei barely managed to squeak out. Any previous time that Endeavour had met with All Might, he had come home angry. Angry enough to scare Rei.

I smiled at her, and for a moment, surprise replaced her fear. “If that’s what you want, sure. I don’t really know when I’ll be back, so I was going to suggest you didn’t have to cook for me. But going to see your mom sounds like a great idea.”

Hopefully in the future when I surprised her, she’d be smiling.

Rei stopped shaking, her head tilted to the side for a moment as she looked rather confused, somehow I feel like this whole day had been more confusing for her than it had been for me. And I was the one that had woken up in a giant flaming asshole. Seriously, I went from never married to a wife and two kids faster than I could have in Vegas.

“I, we, yes. We will. You. Umm. Thank you.” Rei shook her head and bowed again, her soft footsteps echoed through the hallway.

Now back to struggling with my arch nemesis, tying a tie.

I still needed to figure out what I was going to say, and what I was going to do. There were way too many moving parts for me to act, and even if I did, would I be able to do anything? Sure, I was Endeavour, but at the same time I wasn’t. What could I even do today?

List of heroes, list of heroes.

Hawks was probably still in diapers. Or wait, wasn’t he closer in age to Fuyumi or Touya? What even was his first name anyways? Should have paid more attention to him. Burnin was like, six or something, Miurko was about that age too. Eraserhead was probably being a problematic preteen somewhere in the world. Who else was there?

Gang-orca? He looked old but I honestly had no idea what his age was.

I miss the wiki so much right now.

Gran Torino might still be active, or more active at least. Should have asked All Might to drag him into this too. Hopefully Nezu and All Might would be able to help me with this.

Then there was Natsuo. He was close to twenty. That would mean Rei would likely have to be pregnant with him soon.

The man in the mirror looked back at me, short red hair, blue eyes, and one hell of a resting bitch face all stuffed into a well fitted suit and sealed with a badly tied tie. I looked like a mess. A bit of fire was on my head that was quickly snuffed out with a finger. A hot mess. Rolling my shoulders I set out for U.A.

“I’m sorry Natsuo, but I won’t force myself on her.” Though, his character probably would have been okay with that.

XXXX

Thanks to my experience with playing Persona 5’s intro at least a dozen times, I had a decent idea of how the train system worked. I still almost got lost. Somehow, I managed to find my way to the U.A. gates.

The locked gates.

I moved over to the large keypad and scanner and stared at it for a moment. Endeavour had been here before; he was an alumni after all, having been from the first generation of heroes to graduate from the school after All Might’s rise to fame. And what a rise to fame it was. The first year alone the crime rate dropped 10%.

“Look out below!” All Might’s cheerful voice told me that I was standing in completely the wrong spot as he came shooting down from the sky and landed right next to me. Honestly, the fact that I was 6’5 now really didn’t make All Might’s towering height and mass any less impressive. With any luck, that would be All Might’s form for a long, long time. The man greeted me with open arms and a wide smile. Much like myself, All Might had elected to wear a suit, the same one he later wore as a U.A. teacher, yellow pinstriped, and practically bursting from raw muscle. “Endeavour! It’s good to see you, I see you’re as punctual as ever!”

I nodded. What the hell was I even supposed to say? Hi, I’m not really Endeavour and god you’re huge? “Thanks for agreeing to this.”

“My pleasure! Though I must say that I am rather curious as to what this is all about.” All Might opened the door with a few quick key presses. “But we can talk inside, shall we?”

The bustling school life of U.A. reminded me that here in Japan a six day school week was considered the norm. Did Touya lie to me? Why didn’t Rei say anything? Why were there Saturday morning cartoons if there was Saturday school? Was that just for middle and highschool?

Anime did not prepare me for this.

“I must say the students here at U.A. are getting better every year.” All Might walked with his shoulders back, as he exuded confidence. Just being next to him made me want to adjust my posture and stand tall beside him. “What do you say later we show them what some real pros can do?”

I blinked, and briefly saw death flashing before my eyes. All Might would completely destroy me, hell, half these students would destroy me. I didn’t even know if I could fight, I could barely keep from setting myself on fire.

“Ahh, Enji, you uhh, have a bit of flame on the top of your uhh-” All Might held up his hand as though he was whispering, his blue eyes were focused on top of my head. He blinked and then reached out and I felt him snuff out a flame. “I’ll just, take care of that for you.”

“Ahh, sorry about that, and thanks.” I probably shouldn’t have said that let alone say it like that nor smiled, because it made All Might’s hand drop and he looked at me oddly. “Right, well, Nezu is this way right?”

All Might stood and shook his head, “Not at all, he’s on the top floor. He was getting ready to make himself known to the public, so I’m still a bit concerned as to how exactly you know of him.”

“I’ll explain what I can once we get somewhere private.”

All Might’s smile was replaced with a frown for just a moment. “Did something happen to you?”

I only nodded.

The way All Might treated me changed slightly, from an overeager puppy that just wanted to play, to how a concerned father might act. In a way, it was sweet. In others, it just made me miss home.

I had been to colleges before, sprawling campuses built on any flat spot they could find in the valleys and mountains of my home. But, none quite compared to U.A. The main building itself was like someone tried to turn an entire college into a skyscraper and succeeded, to say nothing of how absolutely small the ceilings made me feel. They had to be at least 20 feet high, maybe more.

The view from the top made me all the more impressed by U.A’s general size, a campus so large that buses were often needed to go from one end to the other. It felt so fantastical, and amazing.

All Might lead me to a cozy looking meeting with a set of couches flanking a coffee table. Nezu stood on the table, handling a large―comparatively―tea pot with both hands as he poured a wonderful brew that had a bit of a crisp spicy niceness to it. Though, seeing the equivalent of a stuffed animal pouring tea was a bit on the odd side.

“Hello, Nezu,” I bowed politely as I entered, staring at the creature perhaps a bit more intently than I should have. In person, Nezu was a lot less whole than he normally appeared. There were patches in his fur that were thin enough for his spotted skin to be seen underneath. That, or this Nezu had yet to fully recover from his past.

Nezu placed the pot down carefully, before wiping his hands off on a cloth and looking up at me. He placed both hands behind his back, the suit he was wearing was well fitted, though the boots he wore reminded me of Izuku’s gigantic red pair. “I was reluctant to agree to this meeting, but Toshinori claimed you could be trusted, so my question to you is how do you know me?”

“That,” I began, “is a long story, and I do plan to explain everything to you. To both of you.” I looked back to All Might and gave a half shrug half smile and gestured for the seats. “I’m going to need both of your help with this.”

“I see.” Nezu placed his paw over his mouth and then hopped from the table to the couch. “Well then, have a seat, and let’s begin, shall we? I must say, I’m rather excited now that I’ve spoken to you. There must be so much on your mind for you to want to meet with all Might.”

I took my seat opposite the two of them All Might towering over Nezu as the two took a sip of their tea so in sync that it might as well have been practiced. I took a sip and found that the crispness of the tea calmed me instantly.

With a long, steady breath I thought about how to say this. I had been thinking about it for the longest time, but no way seemed good. It felt like no matter how I put the words that it would constantly fall flat on its face and leave a sour taste in my mouth. Well, it wasn’t like I ever planned any of my stories to start with, might as well just talk and see what happens.

One of the most important parts of telling a story was the Hook. The thing that grabs the reader, listener, or viewer and sucks them in. Fortunately, I had a lot of hooks up my sleeve and All Might and Nezu were looking like very eager fish.

“I’m going to start with this.” I took a deep breath and felt my hands shake as I prepared for the truth. “I’m not the Endeavour you know. I’m not actually any Endeavour, really, I actually just woke up in his body this morning, I don’t know how or even why, but the truth is that I’m not the man you know.”

They were both silent for a moment. All Might shifted in his seat, glancing at me with concern while Nezu folded his hands in his lap.

“Then what happened to Endeavour?” All Might was the first to ask.

I shrugged, “I honestly don’t know, I have his memories inside of me, and I can find his feelings in there, but as far as a persona there’s only me in here.” Felt good to use the word persona in a conversation not about the game. “But, that’s not all. You see, I’m not just some random person from this world that switched bodies with Endeavour, or even someone that took him over.”

Deep breath. Deep steady breath. It was time for the real wild part.

“In the world I’m from we don’t have quirks, everyone is just a normal human.” Mostly, “But, in my world, there’s a Manga, one called My Hero Acadamia. It’s set in this world, twenty years from now and it follows your successor, All Might.”

“Successor?” Nezu questioned, looking up towards All Might.

The color drained from All Might and I saw the first hints of the skinny malnourished man he could end up becoming. “How much do you know?”

“About One for All?” I asked, watching his eyes go wider. His hands were balled into a fist, he was shaking. “Probably more than you.”

“Excuse me, what exactly is One for All?” Nezu asked, raising his hand. “I feel like understanding that would help me believe this is not some elaborate hoax.”

Now it was my turn to be surprised. Twenty years from now Nezu knew about One for All, he was one of the ones trying to get All Might to pass on the quirk to Mirio after all. I looked towards All Might, and extended a weak hand in apology. “Sorry, I thought he knew.”

All Might let out a long sigh and relaxed. “It’s alright, I’m sure if what you say is true, then he must eventually know. Though I find a lot of this hard to believe. Is there something more you can tell me?”

“Your name is Toshinori Yagi, you were born quirkless but still wanted to be a hero and thought that Japan needed someone strong enough to be a pillar of peace and justice.” I took a deep breath and maintained eye contact. “You left an impression on your late master, Nana Shimura and she gave you One for All. Do I need to go on?”

All Might frowned. “This is not at all what I had in mind when you said you wanted a meeting”

Was All Might pouting?

“So, if I’m understanding this correctly.” Nezu looked up towards All Might and gave him a speculative glance. “You possess a quirk that can be passed down from one person to another?”

“Yes, that’s the gist of it, I can explain more later, but why don’t you continue, uhh, I’m sorry what exactly should we call you”

Enjimbra?

“Just, call me Enji.” It was close enough to my real name anyways, if I played with the letters a bit. And the sounds. Okay, so it had two similar letters but that was close enough. “It’ll make things easier. Or Endeavour, it is who I am now, kinda.”

“Well then Enji, it appears as though, you’ve gotten All Might to believe you.” Nezu took a long sip of his tea finishing the drink with a content sigh. “And while that would be enough for me normally, I’m still a bit suspicious. You’re claiming to have knowledge from twenty years in the future in the form of a manga you read. It seems a bit convenient, so what are your goals?”

“Long term? I don’t really know.” I shrugged showing both of my hands as I leaned forward onto my knees. “For my personal goals it’s to make sure that the family I found myself in is happier than the one I know. But, beyond that, I don’t know. That’s why I came here, not only are you two of the smartest people I know, but you’re also both firmly on the side of good. And if I’m wrong about trusting you, then I’m wrong about a lot of things.”

“So, if you want to know what my goal for coming here is? It’s to get your help. I’m not asking anything for what I know. I’m not even sure what I know will even be of any help right now, most of it is in 20 years from now, and things are already going to be different.” I looked at my hand and stared at it for a moment. “I’m not Endeavour, I’m not a hero. I don’t know if I could save the people he saved; I can barely go five minutes without setting myself on fire! So, that’s my goal, my goal is to trust you two.”

I looked at both of them and gave my best smile. “So please, help me.”

All Might’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “Fear not Enji! We can team up for a while and I can get you into heroic shape in no time flat! This will be great! The two of us teaming up! Can you imagine all the good we’ll do?”

When I looked at Nezu, I made certain that I looked like the most pitiable person on the planet in hopes that he would save me. Part of me, a large large part of me, just didn’t want to be a hero. That wasn’t who I was as a person. I panic, and the idea of me being responsible for someone’s life or death made me light headed.

“Perhaps.” Nezu gave a sadistic smile. Right, he was sadistic. “But for now, Enji, please, tell us all you know.”

Chapter Text

ThuwwBwhammThonk!

This felt a lot like highschool.

A red rubber ball slammed into my face with enough force to put my face onto the ground and my ass up in the air. I glanced across the court towards All Might as he winced at the result of his throw. That was apparently him going easy on me. But, I should have known better, he was still probably frustrated over everything. Being told by both myself and Nezu that we would have to wait.

I knew that Tenko was born this year, but I didn’t know exactly when, never paid much attention to stuff like villain’s birthdays. Hell, the only reason why I knew his age was because I was surprised he was actually kind of young. Still, we had five years to intervene. All Might just wanted to work on a faster time scale.

Which was fair.

I’m not exactly patient either.

“Ahh!” All Might gasped, running over to me, his shoes squeaking against the gym floor that had been leant to us for a brief period of assessment. The principal―who was grooming Nezu to be his successor―had been more than amiable and even made sure to keep it a secret that the number one and number two pro heroes were playing dodgeball. “Sorry Enji, I thought you could handle that.”

I accepted his hand as I stood, the room was ever so slightly still spinning as my head reeled from what felt like a rubber train hitting me in the face. I placed my hand on his chest and smiled, mostly to steady myself. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t think you gave me a concussion.”

All Might grabbed my hand and lifted my arm up, his dark blue eyes burning into my soul as he inspected me closer. The frustration was written all over his face. “You weren’t kidding when you said you didn’t have any instincts.”

He wasn’t really wrong, really the only instinct I actually had was flailing my hand in front of my face when I heard an insect. “I’ve never even been in a fight before.”

I looked at my hand, how many times had I dreamed of having magical abilities? How many times did I cast fireball as a Wizard in D&D? Countless. With a deep breath I reached into Enji’s deepest memories, finding that first moment. For him, it had come naturally, from the moment his quirk awakened the flames were under his control.

I did not have that luxury. I focused on my hand, picturing a flame on it. My hand ignited into a bonfire that nearly singed All Might’s eyebrows off. “I said it before, I’m not a fighter, I’m not a hero. I’m just some guy, in a rough spot, that wants to do the right thing. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to learn my quirk. So please, All Might. Have some patience with me.”

All Might gave a fierce smile and placed his hand on my shoulder before moving his other hand to put out another fire in my hair. Why was I constantly on fire? “Ha! Well said Enji, well said. Though to be honest, I have no real advice on how to learn how to use a quirk, it just came naturally to me.”

Right, he sucked ass at that, didn’t he?

“That’s fine, I normally like to figure stuff out like this on my own.” Mostly due to stubbornness. “But even then, I still have a lot to learn and not much time to learn it.”

“Hmm,” All Might crossed his arms and tapped on his chin, “I understand your goal well enough, but I have to be honest, I’m confused about what role you want to play. You say you’re not a hero, but, you also want to do the right thing.”

“That’s nothing new, most people struggle to find their own place in life.” I stretched, looking at him in the eye. Even though I was so much taller as Enji than I had been All Might still made me feel small. “Weren’t you the same?”

“Nope, I’ve always known exactly what I wanted to be.” All Might struck a pose and beamed with energy. “A pillar of peace and justice.”

“But, before that.”

He blinked in surprise, his pose deflating.

“I don’t mean this in a bad way, All Might. But, you know this struggle as much as anyone. And you’ll know it again, once you pass it on.” I scratched the back of my head. What the hell was I doing lecturing All Might? “I mean, when you were in middle school, did you not struggle because your dreams were far larger than your own capabilities? Didn’t you ever feel lost because of that? And you only found your path because of Nana?”

“You,” All Might let out a sigh that nearly sounded like a growl. “You’re far wiser than Endeavour ever was.”

Not really, I just study storytelling and know how character arcs are supposed to work. At least in theory.

“Right then. Enji, I’ve made up my mind, if it’s fighting you need to learn there’s only one man we can turn to.” All Might shook a bit nervously. “You know him right? The one who taught me how to fight?”

I was never good at dealing with angry old people.

“Gran Torino, right? Sorahiko?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“That’s right! I can give you his contact information and his address, he’s currently living out in the countryside so you might even be able to-”

I walked forward and placed a hand on All might’s shoulder. “All Might, one of my goals is to make sure that you know how to actually teach a bit. So, you’re coming with me.”

All Might paled, and looked completely unlike the great hero he was at this time, I saw the first hints of his struggling character I was familiar with. “But why do I have to go? There’s no need for it so-”

“Nope, while I’m learning how to fight, you’ll be learning how to teach.”

“But he’ll be even more annoyed by that!”

All Might, the number one pro hero and a man that could punch with the force of a nuke was whining. Part of me took a great deal of pride in that. It was amazing what you could do when you understood a character’s background, motivations, and fears.

“You’re going to have to talk to him eventually, don’t you want to talk to him about Nana’s kid?”

All Might let out a long huff and his shoulders deflated. “I’m going to have to get used to you being right, aren’t I?”

“You and me both.”

“Alright then, we’ll head for his cabin tonight!”

“Tonight?”

“Better late than never, if I called him to tell him we were coming, he’d be annoyed that we weren’t already there.”

For one of the fastest men alive, that made a lot of sense. Also, better late than never? Wait, was he referring to how he was too afraid to even call Gran Torino? I’ll let it slide, but just why? “Wait, wouldn’t he be more annoyed if we did show up unannounced?”

Once again All Might deflated. “Good point.”

“Right, well, you call him, I need to make a phone call.” Though, given the current situation, she might not even answer, or even be bothered that I wasn’t coming home tonight. So many memories of Endeavour staying late hours and never contacting Rei for anything. She really was just an object to him.

“Call? Who?”

“Rei, my wife. Touya and Fuyumi as well,” I scratched my neck; training to become a hero might delay the whole being a good father plan I had going. But, I’d make up for it.

“You sure do care for them, even if they aren’t really your kids. That’s admirable.”

I shrugged. “Not really, I’m just-”

All Might’s hand fell on my shoulder again and he gave me a rough shake. “Enji, learn to take a compliment.”

XXXX

Riiiiing ~

Riiiiing ~

Riiiiing ~

“Hello?” Rei’s soft spoken voice was less than a whisper over the phone, especially after I spent so much time talking with All might recently. It was actually nice, I generally preferred the quiet. “Enji?”

Her voice had a bit of shake to it. Maybe a few extra days away from each other would help her calm down?

“Hey Rei,” I said in my own hushed tone. I caught a glimpse of myself in the locker room mirror. The U.A. gym suit that I had been lent was snug, but fit well. “How are things with your mother?”

“Huh?” I could hear Rei shifted. “She’s well.”

A pause.

It’s not like I could expect much more, that would be my response as well.

“And the kids?”

Another pause. I could feel her discomfort through the phone. Maybe I was trying too much? My lack of relationship experience was probably hurting me here, but it was easy to tell that Rei didn’t want this phone call.

“My dad is playing badminton with Touya, and Fuyumi is just about to take a nap.”

“I see, well, I guess I’ll have to talk to them later.” Thought it might have been a good idea to at least let them know what I was doing, better to hear it from me than their mother. Or maybe not. At least that’s what I would have preferred. “But, I’m just calling to let you know that I’ll be out of town for a while.”

“Oh, I see.” Rei’s voice was soft.

“Yeah, it’s just going to be a training trip with All Might,” was that too much? Rei didn’t seem like the gossip type, especially not about me. “So, the house will be pretty empty for a while, but, when I get back, why don’t we all go out to eat?”

“Sure?” She sounded confused.

“Great, I’d hate to leave it to you but can you help me pick a restaurant that the kids might like as well? We can invite your parents as well.”

I heard her gasp through the phone. “Are you suggesting a family dinner?”

“Nothing that formal really, just, well, yeah, together, as a family, one where you don’t have to cook.”

“I… Sure, I’ll talk to my parents about it.”

“Great.” I scratched the back of my head and frowned at the lack of a timetable I had for current events. Few things annoyed me more than not being able to give a set date. “I don’t know when we’ll be back, but I’ll try to let you know ahead of time. Oh, and Rei.”

“Hmm?”

“Tonight, when you’re reading Fuyumi her story, why not have Touya read it with you? I’d do it but I won’t be home.” Memories of reading the stories to my little sisters stuck out the most from when I was Touya’s age.

“Oh, umm sure.” Rei paused again. “Umm Enji?”

“Yeah?”

“What. I. Um. No, never mind.”

“Alright.” She probably wanted to know what happened to me. There was a time and place for that. And over the phone wasn’t it. I needed to tell her sooner rather than later. “Take care, Rei.”

“Thank you. Enji.”

The phone went silent and I stared at it for a few moments. The kids, I wouldn’t need to tell, they probably wouldn’t understand anyways. Well Touya might. My first night of being a father and a husband and I was already going fishing for the weekend. Still, I didn’t have much of a choice. I was a hero, not even by choice.

Kind of shows how boring adults were. Now that I was a hero, I was dreading the idea of it.

What was that about character arcs earlier?

Fuck.

I stood and walked back out towards the gym.

Time to get my ass kicked by All Might at dodgeball, before we set out for Gran Torino’s cabin.

When we exited the gym I saw a student looking at me; abnormally tall, plain looking, lanky, with sharp glasses and green hair marked with yellow. It was Sir Nighteye, but younger. He was wearing a school uniform as well. Miri? Mirai? Which one was it?

I was about to wave to him, but he darted away. What were the chances that he was such a massive All Might fanboy that he was too shy to come say hello?

XXXX

I learned several important lessons on my way to Gran Torino’s cabin. The first of which was that All might couldn’t drive. The quick to follow second lesson was that in Japan, they drive on the left side of the road. The third, was once again All Might-related as he wasn’t exactly the best at directions. It was already dark, and we had gotten lost twice.

“Alright, I’m positive this is it!” All Might pointed towards the small dirt road that was going up into the mountains.

I would say that if he was wrong this time he’d be carrying the car back down the mountain, but he already did that. It was terrifying. “If you’re sure.”

We took my somewhat nice car up the road and gave a light twitch when I heard the gravel hit the undercarriage. A brief flicker of light alerted me that I was on fire again, and once again All Might put it out. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure, sorry for getting lost.” All Might relaxed in the back seat of the car. Largely because we discovered quickly that between the two of us, it was cramped in the front and that I wouldn’t be able to see out of my left window with him scrunched in there. Apparently, he didn’t have the ability to freely switch between forms. “Say, Enji, why don’t you tell me a bit more about yourself?”

“Like, what?” I kept my eyes on the winding gravel covered road that was partially reclaimed by nature. It was one of those roads that looked like it had been carved by a car, with a ridge of grass in the center and two ruts filled in by gravel. It made me feel like I was trying to drive on two very narrow roads.

“Well, you’re vastly different from Endeavour, so why don’t we start with your occupation?”

Oh joy. Sharing. Well, it wasn’t like I had my old life to be private about anyways. Besides. I really wanted All Might to trust me. “Well, I actually had several jobs. I suppose two were actually important. I actually worked in IT, err, with computers, like what they do at I-Island just more boring and completely different.” Come to think of it, all that information is probably going to be completely useless in this world, it was very likely that the languages I was used to operating on were completely outdated. That, and there was a good chance that this world was filled with anime bullshit computer science. “But before that I was a teacher.”

“Oooh?” All Might sat forward a bit, smiling. “A teacher? What subject?”

“Math; it was only for a year, but I was a bit too young to handle a job like that.” I laughed as I remembered that hellish year. Generally speaking, I tended to not stay with a job that gave me a black eye. So why the hell was I going to be a hero again? The good news was that math was math. It was really really hard to change how math worked. So at least I had that. “But, what I really wanted to be was an author.”

“Oh, were you ever successful?”

The remainder of the trip was spent telling All Might about myself, and when it came to an end, at a lone cabin in the middle of the woods near a lake, I swear I could hear All Might shit himself as I saw a very annoyed, and much taller Gran Torino standing there glaring at us.

“Get out of that car!” He stomped his foot and glared at us. “You two would have been here quicker if you had ran here! So now we’re going to run around the lake! Get going!”

Fuck.

Chapter Text

My first shower in this world was far more humiliating, degrading, and frustrating than anything I had ever experienced. Cold, silty mud swallowed my hands nearly to my wrist, and my toes were so deep into the mud that I could feel myself taking root. Beneath my stomach was a pile of pointy rocks - he would have used hot coals but those wouldn’t work on me. Above was a hose, pouring down a lot of fresh lake water down onto my back. It felt slimy.

My goal was to keep a fire lit on my back strong enough to not be put out by the water but also not so hot that it would burn the really thin string preventing my face from being turned into a skillet by that looming egg.

This was technically torture, and I have no idea why I agreed to it in the first place? This had to be some anime bullshit trope. Only in this case, the training made sense. Relearning how to control Endeavour’s quirk was more than needed, especially with how strong he had trained it. Often times it felt like my quirk was a large dog that did what it wanted. Only instead of the main danger being the fridge raided it was burning down the countryside.

Control was needed.

“You’re an asshole.” Sorahiriko stomped down in front of me, his casual flip flops, relaxed shorts, and Hawaiian print shirt was his way of saying ‘fuck you you fuck’s this was my vacation!’ He pointed back towards where All Might was, the large man was currently resting his head against a nearby tree. “What the hell makes you think I can teach that numbskull how to think?”

I let out a dry laugh and smiled. “I didn’t, I just wanted him to suffer alongside me.”

“Prick.” The man kneeled down and looked at me with a wry smile on his face. “But I guess I can’t really be too mad at you, considering all you managed to tell us so far. But, is there nothing in there of the old Endeavour? That boy could do work.”

“Memories mostly.” Basic things like the language were really convenient, knowledge of how to get around Tokyo was also good. “But it’s not like I’ve actually done those things. So, here I am. Asking some grumpy old man to train me.”

Sorahiriko gave a sharp laugh and poked me in the side with a stick. “You’re a bit weird. From what All Might told me, you don’t exactly want to be a hero.”

“I don’t.”

“Then why go through this? Being a hero isn’t easy, it’s something you have to put your heart and soul into. At least it was back in my day. Now it feels like people all want to be heroes for the wrong reasons. A life saved is a statistic now.”

“It’s my job.” That was the only reply I could get out with short breath as I focused again on the flame. “Though, maybe it’s more than that. I wasn’t put into the shoes of the hero second to All Might to say it’s too hard and give up.”

Though the thought has been on my mind ever since All Might first hit me with a dodgeball, and even before then. It really felt like everything was just happening way too fast. I hadn’t really had time to consider what I wanted to do. I hadn’t even slept in my own bed, let alone actually take the time and do things that just felt more important.

Like making Rei not afraid of me. Also raising the kids I now had. Did Fuyumi know how to read yet? She seemed like she’d be a smart girl. Then again she only said like two words at a time to me. I needed to buy a parenting book.

“Hmph, doing it because you have to. I can respect that,”

How many people was I going to end up having this conversation with? Well, with Sorahiriko he was the last one I was planning on telling about who I was, except for Rei, but that wasn’t for a while. So one last time. I wonder if she would tell me that I’m a hero too. I hadn’t even done anything heroic yet.

“Well then, I have no idea how I’m going to train your quirk.” I had a feeling that would be the case. “And your body’s already in top shape, so the only thing left for me is to get you to fight.” Sorahiriko gave a short sharp whistle and glanced back towards All Might. “Toshi! Get your numbskull over here, you’re going to spar with Enji until he can put up a fight!”

I could have stayed in Tokyo if I wanted to do that.

Sorahiriko poked my side and gave a sly grin. “This is for all the trouble you little bastard.”

Before I could speak the string was cut and the egg slammed into my face.

XXXX

Every single part of my body hurt.

A lot.

For four days I had been tossed, punched, kicked, and generally yeeted into the nearly freezing lake, each one accompanied by an apology from the seven-foot-tall man that was currently sleeping on a couch a few feet away from me. Gran Torino’s cabin wasn’t built for a family. It had a bedroom and that was about it. The shower was pretty much on the outside.

“Hey, Enji.” All Might’s voice lacked its usual boom and it was instead something more down to earth, human-sounding, like all the bolster he had all this week had left him. “Are you still awake?”

Were we twelve-year-olds have a sleepover now? Though, I suppose after a few days of getting my ass kicked by him All Might was close enough to a friend. It just felt so hilarious that All Might was an overgrown adult still acting like a child at times. But then again, I didn’t even know what being an adult meant.

“Yeah,” I groaned, looking over to see All Might reclined on the couch, his massive arm supporting his head as he stared up at the ceiling. “Something bothering you?”

All Might gave a mighty sigh that caused his entire chest to rise and fall. “How do you make an impossible choice? I’m torn between a single-family and the greater good. I know what I want, but, I don’t know if I can be selfish with this.”

I let out my own sigh, a tuff of flame escaping my lips and illuminating the room. “You’re talking about the Shimura’s and All for One right?”

Silence. Contemplation. The cold side of the pillow.

“Yeah, I want to save them.” All Might’s voice cracked for just a moment. “But, is it right for me to save them?”

“You’re talking about what Nezu said right?” I closed my eyes, the callousness of that option, that plan, it didn’t sit well with me at the time, but I could understand why. If I had talked only to Nezu we probably would have gone with that plan from the start. It was by all accounts, the safest plan. But. The least humane.

Nezu was pragmatic. He believed in the greater good and had grand plans on how to achieve just that. He believed in sacrifices.

All Might. All Might wanted to save everyone.

I folded my arms and let out a breath when All Might didn’t say anything. “I know why you’re conflicted. On the one hand, you have a chance to save five people right now.” Plus the countless others that Shiggy would have killed if he wasn’t saved. “But, on the other, you have a chance to get at One for All.”

“All for One.”

“Sorry, the names are really close and I’m going to get those confused a lot.” I blame tom and jerry with the Mouseketeer episodes for teaching me One for all and all for one, or however, that actual saying went. “But you get what I’m saying.”

All Might grunted.

He was the one that wanted to talk. I sighed and rolled my shoulders. I wanted to sleep on a bed. Wait. My bed was a mat on the floor. I should buy a real bed. A big one. And one pillow. A really good pillow.

“If you’re asking me to make that choice for you it’s not something I can really do. In theory, stopping One for, err, All for One is more important than a single life. But, by just saving one life, you can save countless lives.” I let out a sigh and rolled off the ground and headed for the kitchen. “But, we might not be able to save them. It’s not something you can really punch to solve.”

“I know, but, just trying, that might change something right?” All Might sat up from the couch, his blue eyes fluctuating in the darkness of the room. “If I can be there for them, to remove some of that hatred of heroes, to embrace them, then maybe, that will work.”

I grabbed a water bottle and tossed one to All Might before making my way back to my spot on the ground. “Maybe, but, the problem is-”

“His quirk right?” All Might stared at the water bottle for a moment before he opened it and all but crushed it into his mouth. “A quirk that can only destroy. For a child that might want to become a hero a quirk like that would do nothing but harm. It’s tragic.”

“If we find them quickly, who knows what could happen?” I shrugged, sitting down and glancing towards my water bottle. “There’s a lot we don’t know about quirks, and while Endeavour studied a lot, it’s not an exact science, you can’t judge a child’s quirk until it manifests. There’s a chance, however small, that is that Tomura’s quirk will change.”

I gave All Might my best smile and nodded at him. “And even if it doesn’t, I know that you’ll be able to help him.” I blinked and took a drink from my water bottle. “Just, do me a favor and promise me you won’t give him One for All? I’d hate to picture what a quirk like that would do supercharged.”

All Might gave a dry chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’ll be holding onto One for All for a good long time. I admit I’m curious about this Izuku you mentioned. When the time comes, I hope I’ll still be able to confide in you.”

“I’ll do my best to be there when you need me.”

How strange it felt being the main character in a story for once.

“Hey, Toshi? Think you can do me a favor?”

XXXX

Being excited to return home was nothing new to me. I was a homebody at heart and even if this was a new home for me, it was still home. It was still a place where I could relax. It felt new, exciting, and I all but sprinted into the front door. I opened it and stood there for a moment just basking in the sensation of finally being home. I felt so at peace.

“Rei?” I called in a loud-soft voice. “Touya? Fuyumi? I’m home.”

Fuyumi came running around the corner doing that odd toddler waddle, her balance was off and it looked like she might fall over but she made it around the corner like a pro. She paused right in front of me with wide eyes and a frazzled look. “Pancake!”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I bent down to scoop her up. Apparently, she was instantly addicted to pancakes. That was good. I had a weapon now. But probably shouldn’t feed her too many of them. “That’s for breakfast Fuyumi, and only when you’re really good okay?”

“Mmkay.” She nodded and stopped struggling for a bit.

Rei and Touya came walking around the corner next, Touya looked happy, which was good, but Rei, Rei looked concerned.

She stood nervously and shifted slightly. “I thought you were going to call.”

“Sorry Rei, really, I should have but, I wanted to surprise you guys with something.”

She looked more confused and worried now. “A surprise?”

Fuyumi flopped in my arms as she saw the surprise coming first. “All Might!” She cheers, extending her arms out towards him.

“Hello, Little One!” All Might grabbed her from my arms and hoisted her up to his shoulders. His seven-foot-high shoulders. It should be fine. It was All Might. Kids were bouncy. It was fine. Totally fine. He walked into the house and smiled widely. “Never fear for I am here! For some tea, and I heard that I had some fans!”

Touya’s mouth dropped and he looked at All Might then he looked at me. I nodded.

He hugged All Might’s knee cap with maximum force.

All Might smiled towards Rei and nodded. “Sorry for dropping by unannounced, Enji said that he wanted to surprise you.”

“Oh, umm, it’s,” Rei blinked several times and placed a hand on her forehead. “It’s fine, please, come on in All Might, you’re,” she looked at me, I smiled at her, hands on my hips and doing the best I could to look as un-scary as possible. “You’re my husband’s guest, so you’re more than welcome.”

She gave a short bow and turned to leave. “I’ll go get the tea ready.”

“Oh, I’ll help.” I followed Rei into the kitchen, wordlessly helping her get the tea ready.

Partway through the process, she paused, her grey eyes met mine directly for more than a second, perhaps for the first time. “Enji? Did something happen to you?”

I smiled and nodded at her. “I’m fine Rei. I just.” I paused, part of me wanted to tell her the truth now. Another part of me didn’t want to. I didn’t know why she deserved to know the truth, didn’t she? It could be a good way to let her know that her nightmare was, in a way over. “I want to be a good father.”

“Oh.” She stopped moving, her face perplexed and she let her shoulders slump. “I see.”

“I also want to be honest with you. So please, give me some time, to gather my thoughts. And don’t worry, I won’t force you to do anything against your will?”

She blinked, and for the first time smiled at me. It was small, barely there, a whisper of amusement. “Does that mean we can skip dinner with my parents?”

I gave her my biggest smile and shrugged. “I’d still like to meet them, but we can do that when you’re ready.”

Rei nodded and we continued to make the tea, boiling it with my quirk, and Rei’s quirk to quickly cool the tea as we made a pretty good team in the kitchen.

Chapter Text

Starting a new job was always stressful. Normally, I had hundreds of questions I wanted to ask, but was too afraid to ask someone as I constantly worried about messing up. It’s part of the reason why I avoided jobs where someone’s life could be in my hands. It was a borderline phobia. And being a hero was combining all the worse aspects of that.

What if I was late? What if I misread the situation and made things worse? I hesitated putting my shoes on! How was I supposed to even fight? I barely even managed to get a hit on All Might during a crash course of fight training that was really just me swimming in cold water and trying not to burn down the entire mountain because holy crap was that that easy with my quirk. At least I didn’t break my bones when I used it or anything.

Was it wrong to make fun of someone that wasn’t even born yet?

I’m going to go with no, purely so I don’t feel like an awful person in the future.

Besides, he might not even be born. Endeavor could have easily saved Inko and Hiashi’s life at some point and there was no guarantee that I was going to be there to make that happen; there were dozens upon dozens of ways that Izuku might not even be born. Though, at the same time, he might just end up being vital to this universe and all but inevitable.

Maybe I should have talked to Nighteye when I saw him at U.A. But then again, it didn’t really matter. Not right now at least.

Right now, I needed to focus on my job: being a hero. Which meant walking around and fighting crime when I saw villains using their quirks or rescuing civillians when possible. At least I remembered most of the laws and rules for being a hero. Still, I shouldn’t be too worried.

“Why so glum Endeavour?” All Might gave me a slap on my back, sending a fit of embers up despite there being very little fire on my costume. Both of us were dressed in full hero regalia, All Might was in his alternative hero costumes, Izuku called them ages or something, I really don’t remember. Let’s go withs silver age. All Might leaned down and smiled at me. “You know you gotta smile when you save people.”

“That could be a problem.” I gave a crooked smile to All Might and shrugged.

He let out a laugh and patted my shoulder. “That’s the spirit! Now then! Let’s get this patrol along the way! People are starting to stare!”

People already were staring, from the very moment we walked out of the agency all eyes had been on us. It was impossible not to hear the whispers, people were wondering why the number two and number one pro hero were walking down the street so casually. Some were even worried that something big could be going down. It was hard to blame them.

Still, I hoped that this was just going to be a nice peaceful stroll.

It took all of twenty minutes for that dream to be shattered.

A car crash got both of our attention and All Might took off in a dizzying sprint that I couldn’t hope to match, but still, I found myself running towards the sound of the accident, cutting through an alleyway between two large buildings and emerging onto the busy street, where I saw what had happened. It wasn’t just a car crash.

By the time I had got there. All Might already had a large wolf-headed man wrapped in a bent street pole. Basically, he looked like a giant werewolf in biker clothes. Several cars had been flipped over and some were nearly totaled. I stared at the scene for a moment, what was I supposed to do what was I—

“—Help Them!”

Right!

I ran towards the nearest car—it was upside down—and there was a woman stuck inside, with blood on her forehead. The door was stuck shut by the damage to the car, and wouldn’t budge when I pulled on it. My quirk. Localize the heat towards the weak points. Using a jet of flame coming out of my knee, I weakened the joints and metal inside just enough for me to pull off the door and get the woman out quickly. I pulled her out as quickly as I could and checked her head.

My first aid knowledge was limited, but in general, passed out and bleeding from the head was a bad sign.

Looking into the car I saw the driver, a man, currently struggling to get out of his seat belt. He had curly black hair and was. Breathing fire to cut his seatbelt.

I looked at the woman. Green hair.

“Inko!” The man gasped as he fell down onto the ceiling of the car. “Is Inko alright?”

You have got to be shitting me.

“She’s breathing,” I replied and extended a hand towards the man and pulled him out of the car with far more ease than I thought I would. I looked at the man and noticed his arm was bleeding a lot. “What about you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” He moved his arm and grimaced slightly. “Just a little cut up.”

“Alright,” I moved Inko to the side and gestured towards her. “Watch her until the paramedics arrive.”

“Thank you so much, Endeavor.”

I nodded and moved to the next vehicle. There were a total of four that had been caught up in the accident, and Inko was by far the worst case with everyone else being in various stages of disgruntled, shocked, and done with this shit. It took the paramedics only five minutes to show up, which for a busy city like Tokyo, was probably pretty good.

Inko was stabilized on the spot and then taken to the hospital for a more thorough check, while everyone else was given a clean bill of health.

It was all a bit strange. The way the werewolf looked wasn’t ferocious, or vengeful. If anything, he just looked downtrodden.

I walked past the officers as they loaded him up into the police truck and managed to meet his eyes.

“Hey, what happened?” I asked in a low voice that wasn’t quite a whisper.

The werewolf blinked at me and in a low growly voice pointed towards his leg. There was blood on it. “It was an accident. I got hit and it set my quirk off.”

That didn’t feel right. It really didn’t. Being arrested for an accident. But that was the law in this world.

“If you need me as a witness, call me.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of a dozen cards Endeavour had made for various reasons. Mostly lawsuits. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

His tail started wagging, slapping an officer in the face a few times before he was shoved into the van.

All Might stood near me as we watched the transport take off and the tow trucks appeared to move.

“Not bad for our first team-up.” He nudged me slightly and nodded towards the road. “But we should get going before the reporters show up.”

“Hey, All might, what did you see when you showed up?” I asked looking up towards the man. An unquestionable sense of justice, the willingness to always do the right thing, and the strength to do it: those were the qualities that made up All Might. Or, they should have been. “I mean, what was that man doing?”

“The villain? Well, he was growling and flipped a car over. His eyes were red too, though he didn’t put up much of a fight. Why?”

I shrugged, “I’m not sure because I was too slow, but I think all of this was an accident. That man doesn’t deserve jail time.”

All Might’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “I understand why you’re concerned. But that’s what the investigators are for.”

I just hummed and followed All Might on our patrol once again. It still didn’t sit right with me. Hopefully, the police and investigators were good at their jobs and could figure out what happened.

Hopefully, the rest of the day would be uneventful.

It wasn’t.

I found myself just chasing after All Might as he would ditch me, and already have everything done with by the time I showed up. Which was actually pretty alright, because that meant I didn’t have to use my quirk to fight, mostly I just helped people. But man, were people just addicted to crime and accidents in this world or something? Or maybe this was standard and I’m just used to living in a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere.

“Oh, man!” All Might slapped his forehead and smiled down at me. “My bad Enji, I’ve been hogging all the action today, haven’t I? Sorry! I was so excited to be doing a team up with you that I got a little ahead of myself.”

“Oh, don’t worry it’s—”

“Nonsense! Why don’t I let you handle the—”

As if on cue—because of course it was—a scream of terror followed by shattered glass resounded from down the alleyway.

“This one is all yours!” All Might nudged me forward. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out if you need any backup!”

Before I could protest, All Might jumped away, and I ended up finding my legs heading towards the screaming anyways.

Once again it was another scene that at first looked bad. A large man, even taller than All Might, that had the armor of one of those black beetles―actually beside the human face, he looked like a Heracross from Pokemon―was standing amongst the wreckage of a restaurant front, his large wings buzzing as he looked rather furious.

“Hey,” I waved to him and walked over to the scene. Everyone looked at me with a sort of respect that felt a bit out of place. Then again, it could just be fire safety. Or gun safety. Both? “So—”

“Endeavour!” The beetle shrieked, his large wings vibrating. “Back away! Or I’ll—”

“Look, I’m not here to fight.” I raised a hand and put on my best smile. “But if you run, I might have to do that. And I know what happens when you heat up a beetle.”

Not really, but I assumed it wasn’t pretty.

“Oh!” The beetle-man tucked in his wings and pointed to the store. “I umm. I placed an order and.” The miniature beetle-like limbs on their torso twitched and fidgeted. “With the app, and when I came to pick it up they refused to serve me, because of my appearance.”

An employee stuck his head out from inside the restaurant, he was a younger guy, with thick pink hair. If that was a Hatsume I was going to punch something. How many people lived in Tokyo? A lot! That’s how many! Far too many for me to keep running into the parents of all the characters I know.

Besides! Mei wasn’t from Tokyo, she was from Kyoto.

In theory.

The fake-Hatsume jumped a bit and pointed towards the beetle. “The girl that was taking the order has arachnophobia and started screaming.”

“But he’s a beetle.”

The employee shrugged.

I let out a sigh and looked up to the beetle. “I can understand being upset about being refused service; I’m not allowed to go into firework stores. But,” I gestured towards the ground and all the damage he caused, “that still doesn’t mean I can wreck the place.”

“I know.” The beetle continued to twitch their hands. “It’s just I’m so hungry, and I just wanted to get my food, and I’m tired of people screaming at me, and I lost my cool for a bit. I’m not a villain I swear.”

“I believe you,” Honestly I did, really I don’t think that half the people labeled villains actually meant any harm, but I haven’t seen all that much of it. “But, still, when you’re your size, you need to be more careful and be more patient with others.”

“I know,” They whined, and looked at me with a pout. It wasn’t cute. “What happens now?”

I scratched my head and shrugged. “You might end up spending the night in jail? Or we could just file an accident report with the police. I can stay and talk with them once they show up if you’d like.”

They nodded eagerly.

I looked up at the skyline and saw All Might giving me a thumbs up. How the hell did he hear that conversation from all the way up there? He jumped away, no doubt continuing his patrol solo.

Or he was going home. We had been doing this for nearly half the day already. I rolled my neck and looked at the shop inside. Well, it wasn’t Mexican food, but it did smell good. But damn, could I go for a burrito right now.

I pulled out my phone and dialed.

Rei picked up on the third ring.

“Enji?” Her voice was soft.

“Hey, Rei, It’s going to be a bit before I head home. Have you started cooking?”

“No, not yet.”

“Good, do you want to? Cause I’m standing right next to a take out place if you’d like.”

A pause. “Sure. That’d be fine.”

XXXX

A scream woke me up in the middle of the night.

My heart pounded in my ears and I was towards the door before I even registered getting out of the bed.

That scream.

It was Fuyumi.

I crashed into the wall, my feet barely gripping the smooth wooden floor as I made my way to her room. I found her sitting up on her bed, crying, and screaming.

“Hey,” I said gently, scooping down to pick her up and holding her to my shoulder. “It’s okay, daddy’s gotcha, you’re okay now, you’re okay.” I bounced her a few times and moved to turn on the light, “It’s okay Fuyumi, it was just a bad dream. You’ll be okay.”

“No!” Fuyumi grabbed on tight and pressed her head into my neck. She was crying. What was I supposed to do? I had no experience with crying, little girls! Which was probably a good thing. But what did my little sister do when they had a nightmare? Sleep in front of my door? I don’t think that would work here.

“You’ll be okay,” I repeated, still patting her back. “Do you want me to look under your bed?”

“No.”

“What’s wrong then?”

Fuyumi just let out a few more sobs and continued to cry.

I couldn’t help her if I didn’t know what scared her. I let out a sigh and tried not to let my own tiredness get in the way of helping Fuyumi. What was I supposed to do? I should read some good parenting books. Or something.

“Enji?” I turned and saw Rei standing in the entrance, her hand was gripping the wall slightly, and I could see bits of frost forming where her hand touched. Anger? Fear? Distrust? “What happened here.”

“Mama!” Fuyumi pulled herself from my shoulder and extended her arms towards Rei.

I gave her to Rei without a second thought. “She had a bad dream. I ran here as soon as I heard.”

“Yeah,” Rei said calmly, bouncing Fuyumi on her hip with ease. “Thanks. Thanks for that.” Rei kissed the top of Fuyumi’s head and smiled. “It’s okay, Fuyumi, Mommy’s here, do you want to sleep in my bed?”

Fuyumi nodded and held onto her tight.

I sighed. That made sense. “Hey Rei,” I asked in my own soft voice. “How do I become a good father?”

She stopped in her tracks and looked at me. She looked right at me for a long long time. “I don’t know,” she admitted after a moment. “But, I think you’re on your way. Good night Enji.”

“Good Night Rei. Night night Fuyumi.”

“Night night Papa.”

That night, I dreamed of Tacos.

Chapter Text

Being a hero sucked.

For so many reasons that I couldn’t even begin to explain. There were people. A lot of people. Then there were the villains, some of them were just having a bad day, some were just punks, others were quirk rights advocates, and some were just assholes that wanted me dead. Oddly enough, my time on the internet had actually prepared me for most of them.

The only exception was the black eye.

Never got one of those from the internet.

I really shouldn’t have let my guard down quite like that. But I suppose I’m lucky that I wasn’t killed. Then again I could have plot armor or something. But that wasn’t an idea I was going to test or live by. This wasn’t some video game, there weren’t any save points, and there were people that relied on me.

“Dad!” Touya came running into my bathroom and slammed into my leg with the force of a kid excited for their first real Christmas. The red-haired boy smiled up at me and pulled on my shirt and towards the way he came. “You’re on T.V.”

Fuck.

I smiled and rubbed his head. “Alright, lead the way.”

I followed Touya to the living room, Rei was sitting there, a bit of knitting resting on her lap while Fuyumi was currently face down on the floor which I just assumed was a toddler thing to do because Rei wasn’t paying it any mind.

“See! Watch!” Touya climbed over the couch and bounced down into a seat next to his mother.

I placed my hand on the back of the couch and watched. It was something that felt like it belonged in a funny youtube video, my body was sent flying, bouncing off of two cars before I landed on the street and stood up, the cameraman moved closer and got a good shot of my face.

Watching it from a different point of view made it look worse than it actually was. At the time I didn’t even feel the impact of the cars, but my new bruises certainly felt it.

I stood, a torrent of fire shot out from my nose and my body ignited for a moment. “I just want to fucking talk!”

Rei shot me a look, it wasn’t dirty, it was more, just a look reminding me to not swear in front of the kids.

“Sorry, I didn’t know that they wouldn’t censor it,” I muttered glancing back towards the T.V.

“Oh,” she said softly. “I suppose that’s fair,” she shifted in her seat to look me over better, “You’re not too hurt are you?”

Hehe, she was worried about me. I smiled and nodded. “A bit sore, but a bit of rest and I’ll be fine.”

The news earned our attention again, with the newscaster now appearing. “That was just another, in a string of incidents involving the pro-hero Endeavour who has quickly risen to the number two position, however previously, he had been known to be rather ruthless, it’s currently unknown what caused this recent change, but many believe that All Might may have had a hand in reforming the grumpiest hero.”

“But the question remains, will Endeavour maintain his top ranking as a hero that looks most like a villain?”

“I hope not,” I muttered, staring at the T.V. as I rolled my shoulder. “That’s an image I’d rather not maintain.”

“Why?” Touya spun up and around, jumping onto the couch to get right into my face. “Don’t you like being a super-strong badass—”

“Touya!”

“—Sorry mom. But don’t you like being super strong dad? I thought you wanted to be stronger than All Might?” Touya’s blue eyes focused on me with an intense flame.

I shrugged and patted him on the head. “Being a hero is more than just beating people up Touya, it’s about saving people, and most of the time, villains need saving just as much as people do. They just need a different kind of saving.”

“Even the guy that punched you?”

Which one?

“Yeah, in a way, but I still had to beat him up.” Generally, people were rather terrified of being caught on fire, which made actually fighting people—that weren’t All Might—kinda easy! I still didn’t like it. Hated it even.

“Woah, dad!” Touya jumped and grabbed onto my arm like a monkey, hanging from his arms and legs and staring at his mom. “Isn’t that great mom? Dad wants to save everyone! Does that include All Might?”

“Haha! Sure thing. I’ll even save All Might, Touya.” I chuckled holding my arm up high and Touya slid off of it onto the couch in a huff. It was a good thing children bounced. “I think we’ll end up taking turns though, after I save him he’s going to have to save me ya’know.”

“Really?” Touya jumped onto the couch again. “Does that mean when I become a hero I can save you?”

“Sure!” I laughed and hugged Touya with one arm. I glanced towards Fuyumi who had made her way up to the couch and was looking up at me with big eyes. “What about you Fuyumi, do you want to be a hero?”

Fuyumi shook her head, her hair flopping back and forth as she stared at me. “No.”

“Then what do you want to be?”

She stared and then looked towards her mother and then back to me, a wide smile on her face that lit up the whole room. “A wizard?”

“Ooh?” I asked, trying not to laugh at the randomness of that confession, I walked around the sofa and moved to pick Fuyumi up, who continued to stare at me unflinchingly. “You want to be a wizard?”

She nodded twice, placing both hands on my shoulders to do so. “Yeah!”

“Well, how about tonight, I read you a story about a wizard? How does that sound?”

Fuyumi’s mouth dropped, her arms were pushing against my shoulder like she was trying to escape from the surprise and joy in her eyes. “Really?”

“Sure!” I laughed and looked to Rei, “We do have a Wizard book right?”

Rei snapped her mouth shut and blinked. “I don’t think so.”

“We don’t.” Touya crossed his arms and sat next to his mother.

“Hmm,” Well, I was taking the day off anyway, and it’s not like I can just stay in my room and play video games all day. I mean, I could, in theory. But, I did have this family now. I should try to spend it with them. “Why don’t we all go out for the day? A shopping trip? What do you say?”

Rei blinked and put down her knitting to stare at me, her pale silver eyes locked onto me. “We do need some new clothes for both of them, but you don’t have to come Enji.”

Was she asking me to stay?

“What? No!” Touya jumped up and stepped onto the ground to grab his mother’s legs. “Mom! Dad has to come!”

That one really took Rei by surprise. She gave a small kind smile and then nodded. “Alright, go get dressed and we’ll head out.”

XXXX

A children’s toy store was not exactly where I thought It’d end up as Endeavour of all people, but here I was, holding a small hand cart while looking through children’s books, with Rei, Touya, and Fuyumi all there with me. There were even a few books about All Might, dude really was just in every part of people’s lives here, but most of them were just the kind of books designed to teach small lessons, like respect, and helping others out.

But Wizards weren’t exactly a popular topic. Well besides the poop wizard. But I wasn’t going to touch that one. Besides. Fuyumi to my knowledge was potty trained. Which was probably good for a three and a half-year-old.

I glanced out of the store and saw a bookstore just on the other side of the mall. I’d be able to find something there right? There was even a movie shop right next to it. I swished my lips and smiled.

I snuck badly—on purpose—over to Rei and handed her the basket. Both Touya and Fuyumi were looking at me in the confused way children did. “Rei, keep them busy, I’m going to the super-secret wizard area.”

“Super secret.” Fuyumi’s eyes went wide as she stared at me.

Rei snorted and tossed her hair back laughing. She really did have a great laugh. Her chuckle lasted for a few seconds before she nodded and winked at me. “Good luck.”

Well, that was all the motivation I needed.

Somehow, the smell of a bookstore was exactly the same as it had always been. It was the kind of nostalgic smell that reminded me of buying packs of magic growing up. I had never been super into reading, which, given how I wanted, and still kind of want to be a writer was probably a bit ass-backward. But I wasn’t here for me.

I was here for Fuyumi.

There had to be something here that she would want. Something that would bridge the gap between a toddler, child, and preteen. It was a tall order, but there had to be something universal like that. Like Pokemon. Was I trying to get my daughter involved in a fandom this early? Maybe.

I kind of wanted to find something we could both geek out over. And Wizards I could do. Hmm. Maybe I should write down all the stories I know? Like, Little Witch Academia. Was it wrong to copy-write in another universe? Why did that sound like a light novel?

After talking to one of the store clerks I discovered that plan wouldn’t be fruitful as much of the media I knew was present in this world. With things like RWBY, and Little Witch Academia being rather popular. Which was fine, I’d probably end up screwing up if I tried to write them. I left the store with several light novels to read with Fuyumi.

Next stop I headed for the movie store and grabbed just a simple movie to watch with them all tonight.

Somehow I didn’t even get stopped for an autograph on my way back to the kid store. I couldn’t see them through the window so I snuck in. I wanted to make Rei laugh again. I saw my chance with a pair of sunglasses that were in the shape of All Might’s hair, they were oversized, and just completely ridiculous. Was I allowed to just wear them?

I’d buy them afterward just in case.

I was totally going to wear them the next time I met with All Might as well.

“I’m back,” I found them close to where I left them and took the handbasket from Rei, there were a few more books in there and even a toy or two. “Did you guys find anything good?”

“You could say—” Rei turned to look at me, her mouth hanging open for a moment. She snorted and covered her mouth. A light giggle coming from her as I did my best to keep a straight face.

“Papa!” Fuyumi pointed at my face. “Why are you wearing that?”

“Huh? Oh, these are my new sunglasses? Pretty cool right?” I wiggled the frames at them smiling like All Might would. “Or should I say Plus Ultra?”

Rei snorted again and flailed her arm, her giggling growing more and more intense. She grabbed my sleeve, one hand on her stomach as she lightly stomped her foot. Apparently, I had just hit her weak spot. That or she was finally able to relax after being stressed out for so long.

“Dad!” Touya pulled on my shirt. “That’s not what Plus Ultra means!”

I know. But, better buckle up kid, because your new dad is going to understand all of your lingo and use it in all the wrong ways just to confuse you. Just because.

XXXX

We ate out that night, at a comfortable restaurant that served lots of Soba.

We all relaxed with a movie, all of us on the same couch, with Touya sitting between me and Rei, though both kids used their mom as a cushion. It was a cute scene that deserved to be framed and cherished. But. Soon enough, was my time to shine.

One of my favorite things in the world was storytelling, it’s why I fell in love with writing. And Fuyumi was going to get the best damn storytelling experience this side of canon.

“Alright Fuyumi,” I picked her up and smiled at her. “Are you ready for storytime before bed?”

Her eyes went wide and she nodded vigorously. “Can you and mom read it to me?”

I looked to Rei, she paused for a moment and then nodded.

“I want to listen too!” Touya jumped, how did little kids have that much energy? Did he even nap today? “Both of you reading is going to be awesome!”

“Fine,” Rei let out a sigh but smiled as she did. “But brushing teeth first.”

After the nightly dose of dental hygiene, we were all set for some extreme storytelling. It was strange, I felt like I was as excited about this as the children were. Maybe even more so. And I had been practicing the perfect move to wow them all.

I stood on my knees, glancing down at Fuyumi who was completely tucked in and staring at me with her blue eyes eagerly waiting for me and Rei to start reading. Rei was sitting in the chair next to me, the book positioned so we could both read from it, the closeness forcing us to touch just the slightest amount. I was careful, I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. Besides, I already had the first bit in my head.

Touya sat cross-legged at the edge of Fuyumi’s bed, doing all he could to not bounce off of it with how excited he was. Any second now he was going to crash. “When are you going to start?”

“In a second.” I laughed. “Everyone ready?” Touya nodded, Fuyumi nodded, Rei nodded.

“Alright.” I held out my hand, conjuring an avatar of flame. It took the form of a little girl, a little witch girl. “This is the story about Akko,” More avatar’s joined in the flame on my hand. “About her friends.” A larger avatar, followed by a quick shrinking as they all formed into a flaming building. “About her teachers, and about her school. This story is called Little Wizard Academia.”

“Uhh, Enji it’s—” Rei began.

“Fuyumi wanted Wizards right?” I looked at Fuyumi and she nodded eagerly.

Rei blinked, a faint blush on her cheeks as she smiled. “Of course. Little Wizard Academia.”

We read the story, at the start, I was the only one doing voices for the characters, but as the pages turned Rei got more and more into it and started to voice the characters as well. As it progressed, I made sure to dim the light in the room, slowly lowering it as both Fuyumi and Touya wandered off to sleep.

By the end of the first chapter both of them had clocked out.

I scooped Touya up in my arms and placed him on my shoulder, intent on carrying him all the way to his bed.

“Enji.” Rei’s soft voice was punctuated by Fuyumi’s door clicking shut. “A moment?”

“Sure Rei,” I said just as soft, one hand still one Touya’s back. “What is it?”

She took a breath with her whole body, shoulders rolling arms extending and contracting as she steeled herself for whatever it was she wanted to ask me. She kept her eyes closed, then she stepped forward and met my eyes intently. “You’re not Enji, are you?”

“I am,” I answered honestly. “Well, it’s who I am now. But. I’m not really Endeavour. If that makes any sense. I don’t want to mislead you or anything, but, that’s the best way I have to put it.”

“No, it’s fine.” She blinked and looked down. She grabbed my free hand and flipped it over. Her hands felt so tiny on mine. “To be honest, I think I’ve known since then that you were changed. And I think I know what you mean by not being Endeavour. So. Thank you. I think.”

“I, haven’t really done any—”

“No,” Rei shook her head. “You’re kind. And. I’m not afraid of you. It’s. That’s not something I thought I’d be able to say.”

“Oh,” Now it was my turn to be flustered. I could feel my cheeks burning. “Well, if you’d like to know more I’d be happy to tell you later, and—”

“Enji.”

“Hmm?”

“Your hair’s on fire.”

“Yeah, it does that.”

She snorted and let out another giggle that made it worse. Holy shit, did I have a crush on Rei? Did I have a crush on my wife?

“Good night Enji.” she leaned up and I felt a bit of cold on my head as the fire vanished with a sizzle. She walked behind me and gave Touya a kiss on the cheek. “Good night Touya.”

“Night, Mommy,” Touya mumbled.

“Good night Rei.”

Chapter Text

“We could have been there already.”

“I can jump there.”

“Why are you going so slow? You’re not using the whole speedometer.”

Road rage was something that I knew full well, but normally it came from other drivers on the road. Not from my own passengers. But I supposed it made sense. All Might could jump there, Gran Torino could fucking bounce there I guess. And Nezu. Well, Nezu could become roadkill.

I let out a long sigh, or tried to but it turned into a growl. I glanced back through the mirror towards All Might, who was dressed in a suit and even wearing a hat like he was trying to act like he wasn’t All Might stuffed in a suit. Sorahiriko sat in the front passenger seat, and the overgrown rodent had escaped from Touya’s booster seat and was currently rummaging through my center console.

Why was he even here?

“You’re the ones that wanted to show up as inconspicuous as possible.” I sneered, really tempted to just slam on the break and see how durable Nezu actually was. “And for some reason I’m the only one that can drive.”

“I can drive!” Nezu jumped up standing between the two seats and looked at me expectedly. “I watched you enough that I figured it out, and I think I can even apply that towards using the whole speedometer.”

“There is a speed limit you know?” I asked, trying to keep my eyes on the road as I navigated the highway around Tokyo.

“I’m aware, but heroes are exempt from speeding tickets so long as they—”

“You can’t even see over the wheel.”

“That’s what the boot seat is for!”

“How would you hit the pedals?”

“I can fashion some extenders and—”

“Nezu, I respect your intelligence, but I will never get in the car with you driving.”

“Honestly,” Nezu placed a paw on my arm. “I respect that. But drive faster.”

I smacked my lips and gave a long sigh as I took the exit ramp, we were almost there. But I still didn’t understand why Nezu insisted on coming. Maybe he just wanted to get outside of U.A. for a bit, either way, he didn’t need to be here for this.

Both All Might and Sorahiriko gave a gruff laugh at my frustration with Nezu, and Nezu himself even laughed as well. By the end of it I was laughing too.

That laughter came to an abrupt end.

“We’re here.” I announced pulling up in front of the Shimura’s house. Truthfully Nezu had known about the location for quite some time, and had proceeded to observe the location, getting the newly wed couples schedule and even making sure that they would all be there. They didn’t know we were coming.

“So this is it.” Sorahiriko gave a long drawn out sigh as he opened the door. “Well Toshi, let’s go see if all this talk about being heroes is worth a damn or if it’s just lip service.”

All Might nodded and stepped out the door.

The pair walked towards the door looking like a father and son heading in for a family dinner after a funeral. There every movement was choked by sadness. It wasn’t until they reached those final steps did that aura change. They were smiling. The silent energy that had passed between them was now positive. They were going to give this their all.

From the car, me and Nezu watched patiently, the events that were to come would no doubt alter pretty much everything. They were risking so much with this. There was so much on the line.

The door opened. A man stood in the door. Confusion on his face. Then anger. Finger pointing. He was telling them to leave. All Might took his hat off.

The anger stopped.

Words were winning.

Tears.

Hugging.

Inside.

I let out a breath and slouched down into my seat when I saw the door close behind All Might and Sorahiriko and not in front. That was good. It meant the family was likely going to talk to them. And that hug, it was promising. It was amazing what a few words would be able to do. Especially in a world like this.

“Well then,” Nezu flopped down into the seat and looked up at me expectedly. “While they connect, why don’t we go get some food? I read reviews that there’s a good burger place near here.”

“Shouldn’t we wait?” Even as I asked that, I started my car up again and was already checking my mirrors. I had been craving a burger for a while now and while I did grab one or two from a McDonalds while on patrol, I really couldn’t call that a real burger. “And you eat meat?”

Nezu clicked his heels and laughed. “I am an omnivore you know, besides, sitting there waiting for them would be boring, and they’re able to handle themselves.”

He had me at burger.

The burger place was pretty much what I would have expected for a place in Japan. Clean, flashy, expertly crafted, and small. I honestly felt like the square burger I got would be something I could eat in a single bite if I wanted to. But the smell made up for that ten fold. With a bag of burgers and fries, I dived back into my car to feed Nezu.

The burger tasted every bit as good as it smelled.

Nezu held his with both hands and seemed to enjoy his own first bite immensely, even going so far as to take a couple of french fries and place them inside the burger. Clearly, Nezu was a man of culture. “Thank you Enji, while the food at U.A. isn’t the worst, I must admit I had been craving something new for quite some time, and this was a perfect chance.”

“Oh, so that’s why you wanted to come. Figured you just wanted out of U.A. even if it was just in my car.” I muttered in between small flavor filled bites of my burger. It was so good. I needed to take my family here. Or maybe just Touya when he did something good? I remember those special meals of just me and my dad going out when I did good in school, but, I think going for the whole family would be best.

Nezu half nodded and hummed to himself. “That’s part of it. But I wanted to talk about your actions as a hero.”

“Huh?” I asked, before finishing a bite and I swallowed. Was this like when my boss was trying to give me a review or something during lunch? Wait, Nezu wasn’t my boss. My boss was basically the government and the citizens in general. Maybe the hero administration? “Did I fuck up?”

“Depends on who you ask.” Nezu wiped his paws and grabbed his cellphone, which was actually larger than my own. He tapped on it for a few moments and then turned it to me.

It was a video.

“Endeavour! A moment please?” The reporter came running up to me with a microphone in her hand, there was a bit of fire on me that I hadn’t been aware of at the time as I remembered that quirk-based robbery. I kind of felt bad for those kids at the time.

“Huh?” I watched myself turn to face the reporter with one hell of a stupid look on my face. Did I always look like I was contemplating what kind of condiment I wanted on my sandwich? I guess it was better than resting bitch face, but still. “Oh, uhh, sure,.”

Ahh yes, my great people skills.

Though to be honest I didn’t really remember this interview, well, I did, but I didn’t remember exactly what I said.

“Really?” The reporter asked as she straightened her outfit, the camera walking around to the side of me. “Alright, people have been wondering what’s with the softer, more peaceful Endeavour? You’ve been seen talking down several conflicts as opposed to your usually more violent approach and people have been wondering. What’s changed?”

I watched myself blink, and then shrug. I was about to talk without thinking. Again.

“Well, heroes are supposed to save people right? I think that includes villains too, and a lot of the time it’s just people losing control of their quirk for a second.” I paused in the video and remembered exactly what I was about to say. “I think that a lot of people are so terrified about using their quirks that they end up using it accidentally. It’s not their fault most of the time, and if I can avoid fighting them, I think I should.”

The video ended and I looked at the title “Endeavour — Meta Liberation Supporter?”

Oh right. That was a thing in this world huh?

“Well shit,” I muttered watching Nezu place his phone down and take a bite out of his burger again. “Please tell me that didn’t go viral.”

“It has.”

Shit.

“But, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.” Nezu took another bite of his food. “I read up on the original Meta Liberation Army, and even found a copy of Destro’s book. While their methods were too extreme, I did agree with their goals to a degree. And I think you’re hitting a nerve in Japan. People are now talking about the criminal justice system, they’re talking about quirks and their suppression. I’m quite eager to see where this goes aren’t you?”

I let out a sigh and took a bite of my burger. It didn’t taste as good.

I’m not much of a leader, certainly not of any movement, and not one of this size. “I suppose. But, I’m not someone that people should look to for guidance. I’m just a person.”

“You’re a hero that doesn’t want to be a hero, a leader that doesn’t want to lead, and a father that never wanted to be a father.” Nezu finished his burger with a happy sigh and smiled up at me, his dark black eyes glittering with a mixture of intelligence and mirth. “Personally, I think that makes you more worthy of the title of number one hero than All Might. But, I think having both, you and All Might at the top, him representing safety, peace, stability, and you representing change is absolutely wonderful and just what Japan needs.”

I swallowed the last of my burger and shrugged. “I’m not really trying to change the world, Nezu. I just said something.”

“And people listened. You’re the number two hero for a reason, people will look up to you, they will listen to you. And it’s too late for not wanting to change the world. You’re already doing just that.” Nezu stood in the seat and looked at me. “I think if you keep going forward, just as you are people will notice. Just avoid becoming directly involved.”

Great, I’m fairly certain that starting a political movement was one hell of a butterfly effect.

“Alright,” I nodded and checked the time, no missed calls from anyone and no texts either. Apparently they were still talking at the Shimura’s. “You mind if we take care of some errands before I take you back to U.A?”

“Ooh, exciting, where shall we go!” Nezu laughed sitting back down in the front seat and buckling in, though the upper part of the seatbelt was behind his back.

I shrugged. “I want to stop by the courthouse.”

All Might’s meeting with the Shimura was considered a success, while I didn’t know how much they were told I knew that they probably avoided All for One and Nana giving All Might his quirk. But, it sounded like All Might was going to be invited back. No mention of a son yet though, and the wife didn’t appear to be pregnant. Which was good.

Maybe.

Still the situation was hopeful.

More hopeful than my own situation at any rate.

XXXX

I knocked softly on her door and held my breath for a few seconds. “Rei, it’s umm, me, Enji, do you have a moment?”

The papers in my hands felt like they weighed a ton. But ultimately, they should be the right move. For both of us. Divorce was never a pretty thing. I wasn’t too familiar with how it was in Japan but I could easily imagine it being bad for both parties. Not to mention the children. I had seen divorces second hand through my friends, I had heard the arguments of their parents when I stayed over, and I remembered how their parents divorce could change them.

But.

I had to give Rei the choice. She deserved it.

“Oh, sure.” Rei’s voice was startled though I was fairly certain that she could hear me through the entire house as I walked to her room. “Come in.”

I opened the door and stepped into Rei’s room for the first time. It was cooler than just about any room in the house, with a fan blowing softly in the corner, as well as her own ceiling fan rotating softly. It was small, but homey, with her own T.V. and a night stand where where a tablet was being charged, there was a window right next to her bed that overlooked the courtyard.

She closed her book and looked at me, smiling softly. “What is it?”

“Well, with the kids in bed, I thought it would be a good idea for us to have that talk. About uhh, who I am.”

She blinked twisted on her bed so that her legs dangled off of. She tapped lightly on an empty spot next to her and nodded. “Have a seat, I’ve been looking forward to this. Just, try to keep your fire to a minimum.”

“Ahh. Sorry. I’m not exactly the best at controlling it still.” I chuckled and felt like an awkward oaf as I moved to sit next to Rei on the bed. I stared at the divorce papers in my hand and took a deep breath. “So, like I said, I’m not Endeavour. LIke not in the slightest, but I have all of his memories and all of my own memories, which includes some future events as well, and I knew that he treated you poorly and—”

I stumbled my way through explaining what I knew to Rei, avoiding topics like that whole One for All mess and the whole knowing about the future because it was a manga. I wasn’t exactly sure how much she believed but she was accepting of a lot of it.

“I see, and you really have no idea why you suddenly replaced Endeavour?” Rei asked, staring down at her floor.

I shook my head and sighed. “Not a clue. I just woke up in his body.”

“Would it be wrong if I say I’m grateful?” Rei’s voice was still so soft as she turned to look up to the ceiling. “At the start he was fine, he at least tried a bit. But after Touya’s quirk wasn’t what he wanted he grew more aggressive each day. So, when you say about him…” She paused, leaving the unsaid words to speak louder than anything spoken. “And me ending up in the hospital, as scary as it sounds I think that was going to happen, especially since he wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Was it normal to want to punch yourself? Wait, I always wanted to do that a lot. But, right now I wanted to reach through time and space and throttle Endeavour. “That won’t happen. I promise.”

“I believe you.” Rei nodded and looked at me, her smile was still small, still charming and was quickly becoming my weakness. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions about yourself? Your old self.”

I nodded. “Sure, but there’s really not much.”

“What’d you do?”

“I was a banker, teacher, and an inspiring writer.” I smiled. “Never really thought that I’d ever be a hero.”

Rei nodded and ran a hand through her hair. “Oh, well, that explains why you’re so good with Fuyumi and Touya. What were your hobbies?”

“I was a massive nerd.”

“Really?” Rei gave a fake gasp. “Like, video games and anime?”

“Like D&D, board games, and built my own computer, nerd. I also owned a lightsaber.” I blinked and thought about it for a second. Could I make my own lightsaber with my quirk? Probably. It also probably wouldn’t be useful. “But yes, also video games and anime, though I did mostly just enjoy writing.”

“And how old were you?” Rei asked, tilting her head to the side and tapping on her chin.

“Well, I was twenty-five. So, that’s pretty much the same.”

“I’m not so sure.” Rei hummed. “You have the memories of two twenty-five year olds, so wouldn’t that make you fifty?”

I made a frustrated snort and huffed. “No.”

Rei must have thought that was hilarious, because she started to giggle, and it made my own frustration just melt away. I glanced down at the divorce papers in my hand, my own signature already signed onto the document.

I took a deep breath and handed them to Rei.

“Here,” I said slowly. “These are—”

Rei tore the papers up and tossed them onto the floor. “Divorce papers right?”

I blinked and opened my mouth. Honestly, I didn’t expect that. A quiet refusal, a tearful acceptance, but, to see the hours I had spent waiting at the courthouse and talking to a lawyer get torn up in a matter of seconds. That wasn’t one.

Her hand fell onto my arm. It was cold. “I know why you think you have to do this, Enji. And I’m really flattered by the idea. But I stayed married to a man I feared for my children. I can stay married to someone I trust for them as well.”

Relief swelled inside of me as I choked out a smile. I honestly didn’t want a divorce. It just felt like it was the right thing to do. “I just thought you deserved your own chance at happiness.”

Her hand fell on my shoulder and she pushed lightly. Our eyes met, and I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. “And you don’t think that you can make me happy? Enji, you shouldn’t think so lightly of yourself. Also,” She stood on her bed and I felt her gold fingers press onto my head, a light sizzling followed. “Your hair was on fire.”

“Sorry about that.” I laughed, feeling a large laugh come boiling out from me. “And thank you Rei. I’ll try.”

“You’ll do fine, I do have rather low standards at this point.”

“Ouch.”

She laughed again and sat down next to me. A bit closer now. “Now, why don’t you tell me about D&D and these board games you played.”

Chapter Text

“Papa!” Fuyumi came running around the corner and slammed into my leg with the speed and force only a toddler could muster. She hugged my leg tight with her entire body, in what had become a nearly daily ritual with her.

Not to be outdone Touya flew from around the corner and tackled my leg as well. “You’re home!”

“Home? No, I’m dad.” I’d love to claim that being an actual father for these past few months had forced some kind of metaphysical evolution within my soul that made me spew out dad-jokes on a moment’s notice. But really, I’ve been saying dad jokes since I was Touya’s age.

Touya dug his chin into my leg and glared up at me.

Fuyumi just smiled. “Papa! Can you cast fireball?”

“Totally, now come on, let’s go see your mom.”

It always baffled me how easy it was to slip into a routine, how quickly things became normal. Even for a drastic change as this to my life, it had only taken four months before I stopped feeling like I was waking up in the wrong bed. Coming home was auto-pilot now, as I no longer had to double-check where I was on my way back. Things were comfortable.

Not just for me but for All Might as well. Things with the Shimuras were going well, though they still weren’t expecting a child yet. I’d never say it out loud but there was a good chance that All Might might have cock-blocked Tomura out of existence. Which, was, uh, odd? Then again, at this point, I might have done the exact same thing to Natsuo.

At this point, my relationship with Rei was that of roommates, friends, and parents. In theory, the romance was there. Or at least I thought it was. We were kind of flirting? I think. Maybe? It’s really hard to actively be romantic with two kids that aren’t even in school yet, especially with how long and generally exhausting being a hero was.

The old Endeavour was an insane mad man that worked upwards of 14+ hour days.

But I wanted to be home enough to make sure that my family—and it was my family now—was happy. And I really think I was doing a good job. As made evident by my kids grabbing onto my legs and refusing to let go even as I walked. I remembered doing something similar to my father when I was their age.

I took long wide steps, both Touya and Fuyumi giggling as I waddled through my house like I was treading water. With their guidance, I managed to find Rei. She was in the kitchen, her bright white hair was pulled into a ponytail and her light blue apron matched well with her black long-sleeved shirt.

Just seeing her made me smile.

She was easily my best friend in this world. Sure, I could call All Might, and Nezu my friends, but that was different. Probably because I spent so much time with Rei. And I still wanted to find more time with her.

“Mama!” Fuyumi called, tossing her head back while she continued to cling to me like a cute hyperactive sloth. “We found Papa!”

“Oh, you found me?” I asked holding my leg up.

Fuyumi laughed. “Yeah!”

“Oh, okay, Rei, they found me.” I shrugged, still holding my leg up and pulling Fuyumi off me. Why were kids so good at grabbing onto things?

Rei turned towards us, her smile made getting punched earlier today feel like it didn’t even happen. There was just something about smiles, the way that they just kind of happened, the way that they just made other people smile too. But Rei’s smile was special. It just made everything feel right.

“They did?” Rei kneeled down onto the ground and held out her hand. “Great job Fuyumi.”

Fuyumi dropped off my leg, landing on her feet and darted over towards her mother to give Rei a big hug.

Rei stood after a moment, her grey eyes locked onto mine. Somehow, I was more nervous talking to her than I was fighting villains or telling All Might off. “Welcome home,” Her smile grew wide, her eyes shut, and her head tilted just enough to the side. It was like she was smiling with her whole body. “Enji.”

I got a tingle in the back of my spine when she said my name. It wasn’t like she never called me that, but, there was something special about the way she said it. To everyone else, I was Endeavour, to my children I was Dad. But to Rei. I was just Enji. That made her special.

All Might didn’t count.

Same with Nezu.

“Thank you, Rei.” I stared at her, completely dumbfounded as I looked at her. I was fairly certain that my mouth was open. I shook my head a bit and gathered myself. “Do you need any help?”

She laughed and pointed a spoon at me. “Go wash up first, then you can help me in the kitchen.”

“Yeah, you stink dad,” Touya said, still holding onto my leg.

“Stinky!” Fuyumi echoed hiding behind her mother’s leg now. I honestly had no idea what my daughter thought of me. Sometimes she was a daddy’s girl, other times she was jumping in to team up against me. Maybe she was just laying both sides.

“Fine, I’ll go take a shower.” I lifted up my Touya covered leg and looked at my redheaded son poking him on the forehead. “Unless you want to get washed with my suit I suggest you let go.”

Touya stuck his tongue out at me.

“Oh, before that,” Rei muttered and took another step towards me, but stopped. “Are you going in this weekend?”

I blinked and paused, going through my memories as I tried to figure out if there was anything important happening this weekend. It wasn’t a birthday or anything like that. “I don’t think so, why?”

“Oh good, we can talk later then. But now, hurry, hurry, or I’ll finish cooking before you can help me.”

I gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

With a mock feared face that had Touya giggling, I darted out of the kitchen and took a quick shower, making certain to scrub as quick as I possibly could. With my quirk, drying was actually really quick and easy. But even with that, it was all for naught, by the time I arrived, Rei had already finished the meal and the kids were sitting at the table looking at me with annoyed hungry faces.

“Too slow~” Rei half-sung winking at me with playful mirth.

Dinner, dishes, training, bath, bedtime stories, had become so routine now that they didn’t even feel as chaotic as they once did. Once again, Touya seemed to like his training, he was fully devoted to becoming a hero and wanted to be just like me. Actually, he wanted to be just like All might, but technicalities. The highlight of my nights however were those twenty minutes spent reading with Fuyumi alongside Rei.

It was like dancing with words, and something we had both grown to love.

Once both kids were tucked in and the hour grew late Rei pulled me aside.

“Enji?” She asked softly, grabbing onto the sleeve of my shirt, her hair was still in that ponytail that was the physical embodiment of all my weaknesses. Her smile was small, sleepy, and drained, but filled with so much life that I couldn’t help but smile back.

I stared at her for a moment, the dull light of the hallway, amplified for a moment when my shoulder caught fire. I put it out with a light touch. I nodded. “Rei.”

“Umm,” She gave a soft lip-bite that was really just killer. “Could you come with me for a while?”

I nodded and followed her to the living room. A blanket was neatly folded onto the couch, and several pillows were catered about on top of it. On the table were light drinks and snacks as well. I was honestly more surprised that those had gone untouched with Touya and Fuyumi in the house.

“I’ve been trying to figure out a better way for us to spend time together.” Rei shrugged and made her way over to the couch. “Without the kids and I kind of took inspiration from what you told me.”

“What did I tell you?” Honestly, I told her a lot. I moved over and sat down on the couch next to her, an entire Touya of empty space was between us.

Rei nodded and pulled her legs up onto the couch, forcing her to scoot just a bit closer. “Well, you mentioned that you enjoyed staying up just a bit too late watching shows and other stuff, and I,” Rei paused, her head making a small bob as she tried to find the right words. “Read online, that watching shows is better with a friend, so I figured, why don’t we find a good series to watch and watch an episode or two a night? Just the two of us, after the kids, are asleep.”

I wanted to scream.

“That sounds like a great idea Rei.” My ability to play it cool was sabotaged by my inability to not randomly catch fire. I slapped my head and relished Rei’s small laugh. “Did you have a show in mind?”

Rei nodded. “Yep, I think it’s something that we’ll both enjoy.”

“I will trust your judgment.” I smiled and relaxed onto the couch. Should I try to make a move? I mean, she was my wife, right? And she did say she wanted to stay married, and I was pretty sure that Rei at least kind of liked me. Well, she did have low standards compared to her last husband. “Wait, what does this have to do with this weekend?”

“Oh,” Rei sat up and pulled her hair free from her ponytail. A glorious moment that in the dull light made it look like she had stars tangled up in her hair. “Well, I was talking to my parents.”

Was this going to be another meeting with them? The last one I went to both her mother and father had glared at me for the better part of dinner. It was uncomfortable.

“And, they agreed that they’d be willing to watch the kids for the day.” Rei shrugged. “Maybe even have them stay the night.”

I blinked. A day without kids? A night without kids?

Wait. No. That was the wrong way to look at it. A day with just Rei. The idea both excited and terrified me. I was instantly looking forward to it. The weekend was just one day away. Maybe we could drop them off tomorrow, and I could come home early and then I could have nearly a whole weekend with just Rei.

What would we even do?

What would I even do?

My best idea for a date was exactly this! Netflix and chill was pretty much the only thing in my playbook! Sure, sometimes there was dinner involved but when it came to actual dates I just didn’t know what to do because I never really had that much cash to—wait. I had money. I literally owned a home.

I coughed for no reason and scratched the back of my head. “That sounds great. I’m sure the kids would enjoy it.” Rei nodded. “But we should do something then.”

Her eyes sparkled and she nodded eagerly, her hair taking a life of its own for just a moment. “That’s the plan.”

“Did you have something in mind?” I asked as I started to wonder what exactly would do for a weekend kid-free getaway. Was this a date? I’m going to assume yes. That’s why there were no kids involved.

Rei nodded again. “I was hoping we could go to Asakusa.”

The old part of Tokyo?

“I,” Rei started again, wiggling slightly. “I want to wear Kimonos and walk around the down.”

“That sounds amazing.” I smiled at her. Thank god I didn’t have to come up with the date. “I’m looking forward to the weekend even more now.”

Rei nodded and scooted a bit closer. There was less than A Fuyumi between us, she stopped and looked at the T.V. “Oh right, the show. Uhh, let’s get comfortable alright? Enji, the blanket.”

The blanket was a tactical length, in order for both of us to be covered, we would practically have to be sitting cushion to cushion. Which was fine with me. I was a cuddler. The show hooked us both immediately. Rei’s eyes were locked onto the T.V. and I had to choose between watching her watch it and actually watching the show. Every so often she would catch me watching her, and smile.

It felt like each episode the distance between us shrunk, and shrunk, until, on the fourth—or was it fifth?—episode we were touching, arm to arm, leg to leg, Rei’s soft skin was wonderfully cold against mine.

The last thing I remembered was Rei’s head falling against my shoulder.

“Dad!”

I heard Touya yelling at me as I struggled to fully wake up. My back was stiff, and it felt like my neck had been screwed on completely wrong. I blinked and saw the blue screen of the T.V. in front of me. Touya standing in his pajamas. I wasn’t in my bedroom.

Did I fall asleep on the—much more important than that I felt a weight move off my side and I saw Rei give a long yawn and a stretch that had me blushing. There was nothing lewd about it, nothing that I should be blushing about, but, just seeing her so early in the morning, stretching so lightly as she had just woken up, was worth everything.

I wanted to savor that image.

Touya had other ideas.

“Dad!” He pushed on my arm, again. “There’s someone with a pointy nose here for you! He’s at the door?”

“Huh?” I blinked and shook my head. “Why did you answer the door?”

Touya shrugged. “He was knocking really loud.”

Right. I stood and gave Rei one last glance as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. She shrugged and fell down into the empty spot where I had been. If only I had my phone on me.

I stumbled and made my way over towards the front door, Touya, had left it open. And the man standing there didn’t seem familiar to me. Though Touya was right, he did have a large pointed nose.

The man had orange hair and was wearing a black pinstripe suit with a green dress shirt underneath it and a matching tie. He had a wide smile that was just the right kind of slimy for me to want to shut the door in his face. Besides, I was mildly annoyed that I had been woken up and couldn’t enjoy Rei sleeping on me.

“Ahh, there he is.” The man extended his arms wide. “The talk of the town, Endeavour.”

I yawned. “Sorry, I just woke up, who are you and what exactly do you want?”

“Me? I’m Rikiya Yotubashi, and I must say it’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Todoroki.” Rikiya gave a light bow. “I’m the President and Ceo of the Detnerat company, we’re dedicated to producing items that will help those with quirks live a normal life, I was hoping that we could have a chat.”

Ahh.

This was Re-destro.

At my front door.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

Never get in the car with a stranger.

That was a lesson that my mother told me, though in her oh-so-elegant words it was ‘don’t get butt jacked’.Chances are if she were to see me now, she’d be wondering why the hell I was a ginger and then slap me when she found out I had willingly gotten into the car of not just a complete and utter stranger, but someone that was technically ever so slightly a bad guy.

I just hoped Touya and Fuyumi would make better life choices than me.

“What’s wrong Endeavour? You seem on edge. Well, more on edge than you’ve seemed recently.” Rikiya Yotsubashi, better known as Re-Destro, reclined in the seat of his car, smiling as we were chauffeured to the current headquarters of the Detnerat Company.

I shrugged, trying not to let my irritation be known. I hadn’t gotten a chance to really say goodbye to Rei or the kids this morning, and had been rushed into my hero suit so fast I was fairly certain that at least something was on backwards. Not to mention the fact that a villain had just knocked on my door like a nosey neighbor. “Sorry, I dislike having other people drive for me.”

It wasn’t really a lie, I hated being driven places by people I didn’t trust.

Rikiya laughed, “Is that so? Well it shouldn’t be for too much longer, so bear with it will you?”

I grunted and nodded.

The silence that followed didn’t sit well with Rikiya, and he ran a hand through his full orange hair and gave a nervous chuckle. “I should perhaps apologize for showing up at your house unannounced. You see, when I became aware of your recent actions as a hero, I knew that I had to meet with you.”

“I’m not interested in a sponsorship, if that’s what you’re offering.” I crossed my arms and reclined back. On the one hand, I shouldn’t be too outwardly hostile towards him as I really didn’t want to fight him if I could avoid it. But at the same time, I wasn’t sure if I should be doing business with him.

Rikiya gave a dejected sigh. “I had expected as much, but I am interested in your views.”

Dammit.

“And I believe you are as well, that’s why you agreed to this didn’t you?”

I shook my head. “Anyone willing to show up to my front door is the type of person that would do so again until I heard them out. I’m here for my own benefit.”

“Haha, sorry! I did try calling your agency, but your voicemail was full.”

Intentionally! I didn’t like random people calling me. The only people that had my cellphone number were Rei, All Might, and Nezu. Well, those were the only ones whose phone calls I didn’t dread. It was one of the few things that Endeavour and I actually had in common. Though, he was a more shrewd businessman than me.

Rikiya clapped his hands. “I’m glad my apparent persistence has already paid off.”

“So, what exactly do you want?” I asked.

He gave a smarmy smile and pushed his hair back again. “I simply wish to judge your character, to get to know you better, and perhaps, put us on the road to becoming steadfast allies.”

Was I being recruited into the Meta Liberation Army?

Was the liberation army even re-founded yet?

Could I prevent its founding?

Maybe I could even repurpose it from an actual fighting force to a more peaceful organization. I needed more information and a long talk with Nezu after this.

“Fine, I’ll hear what you have to say” I grunted. Well, I already was in their car, on the way to their headquarters. “But, Rikiya, how old are you?”

“Oh me? I’m twenty-three, not too much younger than you are.”

Twenty-three and the CEO and president of a whole company? Then again, I was the number two pro hero with two kids and a wife at the age of 25. Still, if he was that young, there was a decent chance that he might be planning on forming the MLA soon, but he could also be pushed off of that path.

“You must be rather impressive if you were able to gain control of a company at such a young age.”

Rikiya gave a flattered laugh.

XXXX

The tour of the company felt like the first initial run down any place would give you once they decided you were worth hiring. Here’s the toilet, here’s our copy room, here’s the break room, here’s where the magic happens, here’s where we’d commit crimes, if we were doing any of that.

Rikiya showed off a lot of their products as well, a fireproof clothing line, transformation resistant clothing, and various other items designed to just improve the lifestyle of those that had quirks. They were a company filling in a niche that quirks had brought about. On the surface, there was nothing wrong with anything that I was shown or told.

But under the surface, I still wasn’t sure about their motives.

This was a man that in twenty years would kill his own employee for making fun of his bald head.

He wasn’t a villain, not yet, but unlike Shigaraki, he was still an adult.

Damn, this was too much responsibility for me all of a sudden.

“And this!” Rikiya stepped out of the elevator with a flourish, showing off what I assumed to be his office, a large table with a diorama sat in the middle of the room, which showed a small town in the mountains. “Are our plans for the future. You see, we’re doing rather well for how young our company is, which is a testament to how many people have quirks that make living a normal life difficult. We’re planning on relocating to Deika City; once we’re there we’re going to integrate ourselves with the city and attempt to promote growth and stability. A modern company town, if you will.”

“How ambitious,” I said, glancing down at the city. How on earth were they going to get a city that massive to turn into mostly supporters of the MLA? Then again, maybe things like that were more possible in heavily populated areas? “Wouldn’t that be a bit too taxing to make a real impact on a city this size?”

“Oh, that’s the expected growth after twenty or so years, the city is actually much smaller now, but I hope to see it swell with like minded individuals in the future.”

Ahh, so his power base wasn’t that great yet. Still, he finally slipped up and gave me something to target. All my years of talking politics on facebook and getting mad at my uncle were about to pay off. “What do you mean by like-minded individuals?”

Like a true businessman Rikiya didn’t even blink. “Exactly what I said, and I’d like to think you’re in that group Endeavour, given what you’ve said several times now.”

Well, shit.

I remained silent, doing my best to keep my face neutral as I considered everything. I hadn’t found him doing anything illegal yet, and even if I did, I was just supposed to fight those using their quirks. White collar stuff wasn’t something heroes were supposed to deal with. Even if I baited him with my knowledge to confess he’s trying to restart the Meta Liberation Army, there was nothing that I could do as a hero. Not until he used his quirk, at least. And quite frankly, I wasn’t entirely certain I wanted to fight his quirk. Not alone at any rate.

Rikiya walked over to a bookshelf and calmly pulled out a book with a red and black cover. “This is the Meta Liberation War, written by Chikara Yotsubashi, better known as Destro, leader of the Meta Liberation Army. Have you read it?”

“I have not,” I unfolded my arms and accepted the book when it was presented to me. “Though, I am familiar with our recent history.”

“We were children at the time, we could barely say that we lived through it.”

I grunted and looked at the book. It’s edges were worn, the corners were rounded, and there was wear on the pages. This was a book that had been read many times. “But the memories are still there.”

Rikiya nodded, turning to lean his back against the table. “True, but, what are your thoughts on their cause? Many people are claiming that you’re a supporter of the Meta Liberation Army.”

“The idea that people should be free to use their quirks is a good one.” I admitted turning the book over in my hand. I glanced at it for a second before keeping my eyes squarely on Rikiya. “The original quirk laws were designed to make people forget about quirks, to try and keep that pre-quirk society intact.”

“Yes, yes, that’s it, that’s it.” Rikiya nodded, a smile growing on his face.

“When they were designed the majority of people were still quirkless, nearly half I believe. But, as time went on and more and more people were born with quirks, many began to feel that those laws were strangling their ability to live happily. What was the point of flying if you could only use that quirk if you wanted to become a hero? Why couldn’t someone that could make flowers bloom become a florist? To those who wanted to use their quirk, it was become a hero, or become a villain.”

Rikiya continued to nod, his eyes closed. Clearly I was preaching to the choir.

“Now, it’s possible to work for the government and receive a quirk permit, but that’s still not comfortable for some people.” I let out a sigh and felt the weight of the book in my hand. I could all but feel the value that Rikiya put into this book. To him it was the only way he had to communicate with his father. “So yes, I do believe that the laws should be changed.”

I walked forward and handed him back his book. “But not through terrorism.”

Rikiya’s smile vanished, and a dark blob appeared on his face. “What? How could you say that he’s a terrorist! They were fighting for our rights! How—”

“Twenty One Years Ago!” My voice boomed, stopping Rikiya in his tracks. I let my anger get the best of me, and I could feel my flames roaring. I reached down into the depths of Endeavour’s mind and pulled out his earliest memory. “I was four. I was staying with my grandmother while I was waiting for my parents to get back from the hospital. I was going to have a new sister. Destro, in the name of quirk liberation, bombed a civilian train station.”

It was true for Endeavour. In most memories, I could tell what he was feeling, but this time was different, I found myself shaking despite the calmness in my voice.

Rikiya said nothing, just stared down as he began to shake, that black appearing and vanishing on his face over and over again.

“Acts of terror are the worst way to get change to come. They turn the hearts of the very people you’re trying to save against you, and they destroy sympathy.” I calmed myself down and ran my head over my hair, putting out the fire that had sprouted there.

Rikiya was shaking, and I wasn’t sure if it was anger at what I said, or the frustration that came with being unable to convince people into your way of thinking. Maybe both? He had called me here thinking I would be a future ally for him. He sniffed, and wiped his nose slightly. “Then, how do we make change?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t even know what I’m doing, I’m just being a hero, and trying to do what I think is right. For some reason, people are listening to that. I didn’t want to start changing things. But, like you said, people are talking about it.”

“It pains me to admit it.” Rikiya choked out, smiling as he looked at his father’s book. “But, I do think you’re right.”

Well that was easy.

Was talking to people really that easy?

Wait, this was an anime world, talk-no-jutsu was all powerful.

“But, I actually want to change the laws. I want people to be free to use their quirks. I don’t know of any way but this.”

I scratched the back of my head and shrugged. “I’m just a meathead with a big mouth and too many opinions, but, I think if you make your opinions known, and then wait for the time to be right, you might be able to make a decent run as a politician.”

“Ha!” Rikiya let out a shrill laugh, that turned into a real gut buster that had him clutching onto his stomach. After nearly a minute, he gathered himself. “I think I might try that Endeavour. Thank you.”

“No problem,” I extended a hand out towards him. “Just don’t ask me to speak on your behalf. I’ll vote for you if I like you, but I want to stay out of politics.”

“Completely understandable.” Rikiya shoved the book into my hand and shook it hard. “I doubt this will change your mind, but why not give it a read anyways? It may help you understand me a bit more.”

Great, now I was getting homework from a future villain I just turned into an aspiring politician. Soon the future was going to be drastically different from the one I knew about. But, that was what Nezu and All Might were trying to do, right?

I wonder how this would affect it.

I hope I’d still be able to enjoy time with my family.

We left on amicable terms, with me choosing to give Rikiya my phone number purely so he wouldn’t randomly show up at my doorstep.

Chapter Text

Wearing a yukata was a bit like wearing an overly complex bathrobe, only significantly less comfortable. But that could just be because my own skin was feeling uncomfortable right now. I was nervous, more nervous than I had ever been for a first date in my entire life. And it wasn’t like I was going out with some stranger, it was with Rei, the woman I had spent countless hours with since I had come to this world, and my best friend.

In theory I shouldn’t be nervous. She was, technically, my wife. Legally speaking at any rate. We never actually had a marriage, and back when she married Endeavour it was purely a loveless affair. He wanted her quirk, and she needed his money. Which might be why I was so nervous. It wasn’t as simple as just making things right, in some ways I’d already done that, and tried to. She was the one that ripped up the divorce papers.

No. The reason why I was so nervous was simple.

I wanted a romance with Rei.

Or, at least I wanted to try for one.

It was pure selfishness on my part, but I wanted to make her smile every time we made eye contact. Maybe I was just being desperate for that personal connection with her, but I really wanted this to work out, I wanted a family life that was filled with love and laughter. Maybe it was all those wants that was why I was so nervous, maybe it was because it was Rei, and I still felt guilty over things that weren’t ever going to happen, it could have been for any number of reasons, but in the end my nervousness stemmed from the feeling of powerlessness that came in the moments before the date really began.

Though, I doubt Rei would stand me up, because we lived in the same house, and even traveled here together.

I glanced at my dark blue kimono, and felt the soft fabric of my sleeve, once more I glanced at my reflection in the mirror, my dark red hair and blue eyes took some getting used to but these features were now comfortably familiar to me. Compared to how Endeavour wore his hair, I was in desperate need of a haircut, but I think the slightly longer look made me look more approachable.

Though, I did still have his resting bitch face, or did I bring that with me? It was probably a combination of the two.

“I had a feeling you’d look good in a kimono,” my attention was on Rei the moment she entered the room. The minutes I had spent waiting for her had been worth it a thousand fold, and I now fully understood the beauty of a kimono. Her kind grey eyes were locked onto me with a kind of warmth that made my quirk feel like nothing. Her Kimono shined with all of winter’s beauty, the upper parts were a pure snow white that matched Rei’s hair in a way that made my head spin, and as the the pattern descended downwards, blue fractures, crystals, and snowflakes began to form which made her outfit look like it was a blizzard turned to cloth. It hugged her slender figure perfectly, it’s flashiness only adding to her beauty.

But the part that fascinated me the most was her hair. I had never seen her hair actually up. Sure, I was a sucker for ponytails, and Rei had pulled those out with increasing frequency, but that wasn’t exactly up. No, this time her hair was pulled up into an elegant bun on the back of her head, held in place by a blue rindou—her favorite flower—flanked by two smaller white flowers. On each side of her face, a tuft of hair that was curled to perfection. There was even a hint of make-up that hadn’t been there before.

It almost felt like this wasn’t even the same day that I had driven here with Rei.

“I’m not a dentist Enji,” Rei placed a hand on my chest smiling at me, her purse dangling from her arm. “You can close your mouth.”

I snapped my mouth shut and looked at her again, it didn’t matter how dressed up Rei was, her smile was always the star of the show.

At least until her laugh showed up.

Rei gave a cute giggle that had my entire body bubbling with giddiness and completely smashed the nervous fit I had worked up to myself.

“I guess I should take that as a compliment though.” Rei gave a slight wink and then spun around, her sandals tapping against the floor. “Though, I wouldn’t mind hearing you—”

Her wrist fell into my hand when she made a full revolution, her eyes met mine and my mouth made noises before my brain could properly catch up. “You’re beautiful Rei. Here, now, always.”

Rei’s smile vanished, her eyes were wide, and her cheeks flushed, she stared at me for a peaceful moment, that was both ruined and enhanced by the squealing of the younger clerk.

“Ahh, I hope when I’m married my husband will treat me like that.”

Her mother—I guess—swatted her in the arm and rolled her eyes. “Keep up with your taste in men and you won’t.”

Damn, and I thought I was the one with the fire quirk, I doubted I could cause a burn quite that serve.

Still it made me feel much better that maybe I was doing something right with Rei.

“Right,” Rei laughed and straightened her kimono slightly, her hand falling out of mine. “Well, shall we?”

“Sure!” My voice was probably a bit too loud and I shrunk down slightly. “I mean, umm, sure,” I opened the door for her and we headed out into the historic area of Tokyo. “You really do look beautiful by the way.”

“Enji, if you keep that up, I’m going to start thinking that you’re trying to flirt with me.” Rei hummed, both hands crossed in front of her as we walked. I wanted to hold her hand. I wanted to hug her. I wanted to pick her up, spin her around and laugh. But that might be going too far.

I scratched the back of my head, battling the duality of being unable to look away from Rei, and not wanting to stare at her too much. Despite the butterflies in my stomach I could feel a smile creep up on my face. It was the kind of smile that appeared just from walking beside a pretty girl, amplified by the fact that I was on a date with said pretty girl. “Am I not supposed to?”

“Well,” Rei hummed leaning to the side just enough to bump me with her shoulder. “We are married aren’t we?”

Great! Now if only I knew how to flirt! Somehow despite fancying myself a romance writer, I had no idea how to actually flirt; my basic line was girl pretty. What was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to do? I mean, what were we even supposed to talk about on a date, what did we talk about in the car ride over here? I know we talked, but I couldn’t remember what! It was just talk!

“So,” I started just to get my mouth moving normally when it started making noise, more noises would just come out of it. “What made you want to come here?”

“Oh, well,” Rei gave a light laugh, holding her hand in front of her mouth slightly as we passed through a winding street filled with old japanese style houses. We were heading towards a park, and then through there towards a palace, after which we’d find some place to eat. “You’re going to think it’s silly.”

“If it’s why I’m here with you now, then it’s not silly.”

“Well, when I was little my grandma used to take me to a similar place in Kyoto. We would wear kimonos, walk around, and drink tea. She always said that I was made to wear a kimono, and I just thought that it would be a fun date. Besides, I wanted to see what you’d look like in kimono.”

I spread my arms wide and gave her my biggest smile. “Well, how do I look?”

“Like a giant adorable teddy bear.”

“Hmm, so I’m Totoro and you’re a Yuki-Onna,”

“Yes! But I doubt you’ll be turning into a bus, and I certainly hope I don’t end up turning to mist.”

“I’ll make sure you don’t.”

Rei gave a soft laugh and pulled on my arm. “Hey, Enji, let’s try some on.”

“Huh? Oh! Okay!” We all but sprinted towards the stand where a wide variety of masks were set out on the street, some were simple, just cute little face masks, others more ornate. There were tengu masks, cute rabbit masks, cunning fox masks, grinning cats, ferocious tiger masks, and— I grabbed the mask that really caught my attention and smiled at it. Was this really something I was about to do?

The weeb in me said yes.

“What do you think—” Rei turned to me with a white and blue fox mask on her face.

It was too late.

I had the frog mask on, my hands outstretched like a classical japanese play actor, as I hoped on one foot. “From the east to the west, north, and south! I am the man with no enemies! Jiraiya, the toad sage!”

Rei stared at me for a second, and then snorted, her bubbling giggle quickly turning into full blown laughter. “What?”

I stood straight, and shrugged. “Nothing, I like your mask.”

She kept laughing from behind her mask, up until we decided to purchase both masks and even beyond as we made our way towards the first of a dozen or so snack booths.

All things considered, this date was going pretty good! I got Rei to laugh a bunch, and we’d only just began. We meandered through the park, crossing over at least a hundred bridges as the path jumped from island to island, the soft sounds of nature felt so away from the city just on the horizon, it was enough to make me feel alone.

But not the dreadful loneliness that came from staying up too late and not going out, no, this the good kind of alone, the kind that was shared with someone.

“So,” Rei started, using the same tactic I did earlier. “How do you like being a hero?”

I let out a long sigh, that had my entire body deflating. “Honestly?”

“Honestly,” Rei nodded, her hand falling on top of my arm for a second. “You can trust me, I know you’re not really fond of it.”

“In a way, it’s nice feeling like I’m making a difference,” The fact that I had a meeting with a future extremist and set him on the road of being a politician might have gone to my head a bit. “But, I could go without getting punched so often. And I’d love to have more time off.”

“Well, if you ever get punched hard enough I wouldn’t mind taking care of you.” Rei said. She then stopped and tilted her head to the side. “That came out wrong, please don’t get hurt.”

I let out a deep belly laugh that was loud enough to scare a bird out of the nearby tree. “Ha! I was about to say that’d be motivation to get hurt.”

“If you end up in the hospital I’ll be mad at you.”

“I’ll do my best to avoid that.”

“The hospital?”

“No, you, getting mad at me.”

Her smile returned and she bounced against my side once more.

“But what about you?” I asked as we started crossing yet another bridge, the wood clacking against our sandals. “How do you like being a housewife?”

Rei sighed. Maybe bringing up the kids wasn’t such a good idea. “Fuyumi’s pretty easy to manage, but Touya is so energetic I can barely keep up. I can’t wait for him to start school in a few months. Though, it’s been a lot better since you showed up. Maybe once Fuyumi starts school too we’d have more time to do things like this as well.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, letting my hand drop as I glanced at Rei’s. Would it be too much to grab it? She had such soft hands and she always felt like the cool side of the pillow in the middle of summer. “Well, I mean, there’s nothing stopping us from going out more, is there?”

Rei gave a light pout, and pushed one of her curled strands of hair back. “I can only leave the kids with my parents every so often, and Touya wears them out too, so maybe once a month at best?”

“Hmm, why don’t we get a babysitter?” I blinked and smiled. “Actually, I think I know the perfect one.”

“Oh, that smile is evil.” Rei grabbed my arm and held onto it tight. “Tell me more.”

“All Might owes me, I’m willing to cash in those favors for a few more dates with you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Date?” She asked, her smugness reaching peak levels. “I don’t think I ever called this a date.”

My blood went cold. Did I misread the situation? Did I misread playful banter as flirting?

“But, I like the sound of that Enji, and I’d love to go on more dates with you.” She reached down and grabbed my hand before leaning up and kissing my cheek softly. Her lips were cold. “Just stop treating me like I’m going to run away. You’re so afraid that you’re going to treat me like Endeavour did, it feels like you’re—”

“Actually, I’m not, I’m actually naturally this timid.” I laughed holding her hand tightly. “Sorry, but really, treating you like Endeavour did not even cross my mind.”

Probably. I think a lot of random stuff and forget most of it.

She blushed. “Oh, well, I clearly misread things then, but don’t be afraid to ask me for things.”

“When we get home and watch our show can we cuddle?”

Rei nodded. “I’d like that.”

Woo! Cuddling!

Chapter Text

I was a master of breakfast.

But, when it came to making dinner, I was fairly certain the only thing I could truly make was rice or anything that was limited to, boil water, put a thing in the boiled water. Which was largely limited to various kinds of pasta and vegetables. That wasn’t to say I never made myself dinner, or that I just ate breakfast for dinner.

I could operate a microwave just fine.

Fortunately, Rei covered my weakness and then some.

She was a wiz in the kitchen, effortlessly chopping vegetables, adding spices, grilling, and just general cooking things. What’s more was that she made it look so effortless. She had a smile on her face and her white hair pulled into a ponytail that she had to know was a weakness of mine, which was only amplified by the fact that she was wearing shirts with a wider collar, exposing more of her neck while keeping her shoulders covered.

Her grey eyes flashed to me and her smile grew again.

“You’re staring at me again Enji~” She all but sung that sentence and wiggled her hips a bit before bumping me in the thigh.

I was stubborn and stared at her harder, smiling even bigger for a moment before I turned and looked at the pot I had been told to stir slowly. “With how adorable you look in an apron how could I not?”

“I’m adorable in my apron?” Rei laughed and pushed on my shoulder to gesture towards the pink frilly apron I had purchased for myself, alongside a pair of fluffy pink slippers that Fuyumi absolutely loved.

“Hey, I never said I wasn’t adorable too.” I smiled, placing the spoon on the napkin to the side of the pot, and moved towards Rei, placing both hands around her waist for a moment before grabbing onto her hand. With one hand firmly on her back, I put my two dance classes—and countless hours dancing in the mirror before showering—to use. Even if the song playing on the speakers wasn’t exactly romantic.

“Haha, you dork,” Rei laughed following my awkward dance steps as we slow danced around the kitchen, our hips moving at awkward times from each other as we became an uncoordinated mess of laughter, spins and twirls. I held Rei close to my chest for a moment before spinning sharply, pulling her off the ground and making her shriek in excitement, I ended the spin by holding her hand, and giving her the mother of all dips.

Rei placed a hand on her cheek and let out a flustered set of giggles.

“How does it feel getting swept off your feet by a dork?” I asked, grinning ear to ear, still holding her so close. Even though tonight wasn’t a date night, that didn’t mean I couldn’t attempt to romance Rei.

Rei laughed again, kicking one leg than the other as her grey eyes sparked at me and her smile grew even more. “Fantastic.” She shook her head, laughing and smiling all the more. “Completely and absolutely fantastic.”

“Good, because I want to keep on sweeping you off your feet, each and every single day.”

“Every day?” She gave a sly raise of the eyebrows as she grabbed onto the back of my neck, a sensitive spot that had my entire body shiver in delight.

“Every single day. Seeing you smile is one of the most important things to me.” It felt like we were growing closer, not just emotionally, but physically. Was I pulling her closer? Was she pulling herself close? Did it matter? Not really. But the why mattered a lot.

“Then,” Rei’s voice was more sultry than before, her eyes half open and a smile pulled on her lips as she tilted her head to the side just the slightest amount, “How do you plan to sweep me off my feet next?”

Uhhhhhhhhh.

Thankfully my mouth didn’t say that part.

“I don’t know,” Her fingers ran through my hair. “I’ll just do what comes naturally.”

“Naturally huh?” Rei hummed, eyes closing, lips pursing.

Our first kiss.

I swallowed and leaned in, letting my hand on the back of Rei’s back guide me forward while her fingers played with my hair. With my eyes closed, I could feel her more intensely. She smelled like spring and freshly cut vegetables.

“What are you guys doing?”

We both opened our eyes and turned our head to the side to see Touya, covered head to toe in mud, and an even muddier Fuyumi hiding behind him. Ahh, so this was why people said that kids killed the romance.

“Flirting,” I responded, helping Rei up, her cheeks flushed red. I leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll take care of the kids.”

“My hero,” she gave a mock swoon and returned that kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be waiting for you to sweep me off my feet.”

“Washing muddy children doesn’t count?”

“Nope!”

I smiled and tossed my apron back onto its hook, no way I was letting those two gremlins get that thing all muddied! They’d ruin the frills.

“Alright munchkins, mind explaining why you’re covered in mud?”

“We wanted to build a snowman!” Fuyumi flung her arms out wide sending a splatter of mud onto the ground. “Oops.”

I leaned down and picked Fuyumi up ignoring the fact that she was basically half mud at this point. I’d clean my shirt later.

“But we didn’t have any snow!” Touya said. “But Fuyumi used her quirk! She’s just like mom and can make snow!”

“Oh really?” I looked at Fuyumi who nodded her head eagerly. “Well then, you’ll have to show me that later, but for now, we need to get both of you clean before your mom finishes cooking right?”

“Oh! Sorry Mom!” Touya shouted, sticking his head back into the kitchen, leaving a muddied hand print on the side of the wall. I grabbed him by the collar and yoinked him up onto my shoulder. That was enough of a mess.

I headed towards the bathroom and quickly stripped both kids of their clothes, and basically nuked the water buckets into being warm enough for both of them. Touya just dumped his over his head like an animal, already scrubbing away the dirt. Fuyumi I was a bit more careful with, placing her on the seat and pouring just a bit of water down her back. She yelped. Right, didn’t she prefer the cold? Or was it that she didn’t deal with heat too well?

“You okay Fuyumi?” I asked, rubbing some of the dirt off her cheek.

She nodded. “It’s hot.”

“It’s great!” Touya stood up on his stool and dumped more water onto his head. “Dad always makes it just the right temperature.”

“Hey, easy Touya, don’t play with the water.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to get wet.”

Fuyumi splashed me.

A cheerful mud-covered grin on her face.

I rubbed her white hair with red tips and gave a low growl. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Fuyumi just giggled, until I dumped more water on her and then started scrubbing her hair.

After their bodies were mostly clean of dirt, I dunked them both into the tub for a quick soak. The Japanese way of bathing was actually kind of nice, even if I more often than not simply preferred to blast myself in the shower. There was just something so nice about soaking in a bath of hot water after already being clean. It was refreshing, delightful, and just oh so peaceful.

“So,” I asked looking at my two kids. “Why’d you want to make a snowman?”

“It’s a movie Mommy’s been watching!” Fuyumi bounced in the water. She took a deep breath and stuck her head completely under. Probably because she was a kid and kids were weird. She emerged gasping for air a second later. “There’s a snowman called Olaf in it!”

Ahh they were watching Frozen.

Without me. I loved that movie!

“Yeah! It’s awesome! The queen lady uhh, Elsa! She’s just like Mom!” Touya pointed a finger at me and poked my nose. “And there’s a moose just like you.”

“How am I a moose?”

Touya laughed, falling back into the tub and splashing water everywhere. I wasn’t going to find an answer to my question, was I?

“Do you know the movie dad?” Fuyumi asked, grabbing onto my arm and looking up at me with her large pale turquoise eyes.

I nodded. “Of course, it’s one of my favorites.”

Fuyumi blinked and tilted her head to the side. “Then do you think Mommy is prettier than Elsa?”

“Your mother is the most beautiful woman in the world to me, Fuyumi.”

She smiled up at me and sat back down in the tub and was quiet for the rest of the wash.

I half expected Rei to be there listening in when Fuyumi asked that, but she must still be cooking.

The rest of the night could be summed up by;

Kids: Cleaned.

Family: Fed.

Kids: Entertained.

Kids: Tucked In.

In a chaotic mess of parenting that had my head spinning.

Once everything was said and done I fell into my nightly ritual of walking towards the T.V. room to watch the nightly episode or two with Rei. Sure, I enjoyed the show we were watching, but the real draw of the event was just being able to cuddle with Rei and the freedom that came with that act. She liked the random kisses I gave to the top of her head whenever there was a lull in the action, or just whenever I felt like, and each one of those was rewarded with her snuggling closer, or a light smile.

So far our relationship was comfortably domestic.

I found Rei already sitting on the couch, still dressed in her day clothes, a pleasant smile on her face as she stood to greet me. She took a few steps closer, eyes locked on mine. She grabbed my shirt and straightened it out ever so slightly. “Thanks for washing the kids today. It was a big help.”

“No problem,” I laughed, wondering how exactly I could bring up what we were doing before that interruption. I still really wanted to kiss Rei. “Hopefully they won’t try to make Olaf out of mud again.”

Rei snorted a light laugh followed afterwards that just made her look all the more beautiful. “Is that what they were doing? I knew Fuyumi was obsessed with him but I didn’t think it would be that bad.”

“Yep, and Touya said I was Sven.”

“I can see that.”

I pouted for a second and then smiled, my hand going to Rei’s shoulder as I found the mood getting to where it had been hours ago. “And Fuyumi said that you were like Elsa.”

“I can see why she said that,” Rei laughed, pulling her hair free from her ponytail, “Let it go, let it go, I don’t give a fuck anymore~” Rei half sung before she broke out into laughter. “Sorry, I found that version on Youtube, it’s been stuck in my head for a week.”

“Is that what you’ve been humming? I thought it sounded familiar.” I laughed, her hands now on my shoulders, my own now on her hips as we took several small steps in a circle. A dance of mice so as to not wake the children. Or at the very least to not make enough noise for them to come wandering out of bed.

“I found it fitting,” Rei tilted her head to the side causing some of her long white hair to flow over her shoulder like a mithril stream. “So, what do you think, Enji, am I like Elsa?”

“Not at all.” I pulled her close, grabbing her hand once again as we continued to spin softly in the living room. “You’re far more beautiful. And smarter.”

“You’re certainly good at flattery,” Rei hummed despite the tinge of pink I could see growing on her ears. Her voice was low, barely a whisper, barely audible to anyone but me. “But I doubt it’ll be that easy to sweep me off my feet.”

“What happened to having low standards?”

“You raised the bar.”

“Honestly I’m flattered.”

I leaned down again, Rei standing on her tiptoes to meet me halfway.

Our first real kiss was chaste, short, sweet, and everything I ever wanted from a kiss. It might sound cheesy, and it might have just confirmed what I wanted, but I think that I was completely in love with Rei. And it had only taken about five months to reach this point.

Rei pushed away slowly, her eyes still closed, her hand on my chest as though to keep me back. I stood there watching her with a mixture of concern and delight on my face. She was being so cute about this, but, at the same time it was slightly off. She nodded to herself and smiled at me. “You really do kiss a lot differently than he did.”

“Ahh,” I blinked. “In a good way or a bad way?”

“Good.” Rei leaned in placing her head against my chest. “Very, very, good. Even though his name was the Flame hero his kiss always felt cold, like there was no passion behind it. But, yours. Well… I guess, they’re just as sweet as you are.”

“I’m going to treasure that compliment for the rest of my life.”

“You better,” Rei playfully pushed away from me, smiling. “Hey Enji, did you drain the bath after you washed the kids?”

“Uhh,” That was random. “Yeah, they were real dirty.”

“Theeeeeen,” Rei placed both hands behind her back and took two awkward steps forward before looking back at me with a single eye that shined like silver in the moonlight. “Would you like to bathe with me?”

Culture shock hit me hard with that statement. In America, the idea of bathing together completely and utterly naked was something that generally involved sex, either before, after, or even during. But in Japan, while the gesture between couples was indeed intimate, it wasn’t as closely related to sex as in America. Washing each other was just a way of being open with each other with the added bonus of relaxing with each other as well.

Still, I could feel my cheeks burn and the room even grew brighter as my hair caught fire again. “Are you comfortable with me seeing you naked?”

“Of course.” Rei nodded, “More comfort than I’ve ever been.”

XXXX

Intimate.

That’s exactly what this act was.

A mundane everyday chore that was turned into something much more enjoyable by the addition of someone special. Somehow the bath had turned from a simple washroom to a date. A date with an objective that was the same as any other date, to grow closer to each other, and to spend time with each other as well. Just with one big difference.

Naked.

Sure, I had a towel that was draped across my lap but that wasn’t real clothing.

“You’re so stiff Enji,” Rei snickered from behind me, the warm wash cloth in her hand moving up and down my back making me feel both vulnerable and safe and cared for all at once. It was nice. Really really nice.

I groaned, and glanced at the mirror so I could see Rei, her hair was wrapped up with a smaller washcloth while her body was covered by a large towel wrapped so tight it might as well be a dress. “Please don’t say it like that.”

Rei gave a light giggle. She was much less nervous about all this than I thought she’d be. “Sorry, you’re just so fun to tease.” She leaned forward and placed one hand on my shoulder, her eyes meeting mine in the mirror. “It’s not the first time I’ve done this, so please, let me show my appreciation.”

“You don’t really have to.”

“I know, maybe, appreciation is the wrong word?” she leaned back and started scrubbing my back again. “How about affection? Besides, I want to. You’re not the only one that wants to sweep the other of their feet you know?”

“Consider my feet thoroughly swept.”

“And your back thoroughly cleaned.”

I turned and glanced back towards Rei. “Would you like me to do yours?”

Her cheeks went slightly red and her mouth opened and then closed. Apparently her offensive ability to tease my socks off did not come with strong defenses. “Yes.”

She sat down on the stool next to mine and we shifted around, careful not to expose ourselves to each other, for some odd reason. Or at least I was, Rei was less reluctant. When her towel fell to the side, exposing her slender back, I saw it.

Her scars.

Scars from the surgeries, Endeavour knew they were there, but had never bothered to learn what each one was for. One was from her first surgery, the one that had forced her into being so desperate as to marry him. The second and third had happened after the wedding. Two were along her ribcage, one along her abdomen.

“Sorry, they’re ugly.” Rei muttered.

“What are?”

“The scars?”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I’m not going to lie and say they’re beautiful, but they’re not ugly. Besides, they’re proof that you survived right?”

Rei snorted and placed her face into both of her hands. “You’re so cheesy.”

“And proud of it, now I’m going to start washing alright?”

She nodded again. I was gentle, perhaps more so than I had been with Fuyumi and Touya, but kids were kids, they’d whine at a harsh bath but also learn that mud was a poor substitute for snow. Rei wiggled a bit and let out a long sigh. “That feels so good.”

“Remind me to rub your shoulders sometime.”

“Sold.”

I stared at her scars again. “Do you have any other surgeries?”

“None-planned.” Rei commented, a smile pulling on her cheeks, our eyes met in the mirror again. “I’ve been clean since before we had Fuyumi but they still want to monitor me just in case.”

“Well, I hope you’re done with it for a while.”

Rei nodded, humming in delight at my light touch as I rubbed her shoulders and back with the cloth. “It’s been nice.”

Once Rei’s back and arms were cleaned, we both stood. I stared at the large bath in the corner. It had fit both Fuyumi and Touya in it earlier, but now, it felt rather small. Then again, I was a rather large dude. But Rei was rather small. The steaming water looked wonderful though and whatever minerals Rei had put into caused it to be just opaque enough that I couldn’t see the bottom.

“You get in first, I’ll find room.” Rei pushed me on the arm, her own face as red as mine felt.

I nodded and lumbered towards the bath, tossing my towel to the side and submerging myself in the water, the bathwater flowing over and going into the drain in the center of the floor. I eased myself in and let out a long sigh that let my body melt into the water. I closed my eyes and smiled. “This was a great idea.”

I heard Rei enter the water, and I kept my eyes shut as long as I could, and I only opened them when I felt her head rest against my chest.

“You’re right,” Rei hummed, rolling her head to the side just a bit. Her hand went to her shoulder and she gave it a light rub. “Maybe we should go to a proper spa sometime.”

I reached for her shoulders and started to rub small circles with my thumbs. Rei practically melted. Thank you one semester of electives! “Your birthday’s next month right? I can set you up with a day spa pass, and I’ll watch the kids.”

“That sounds nice.” Rei half moaned, head lulling to the side again. “But, wanna know sounds even better?”

“What?”

“Getting All Might to baby-sit again, while we go on a spa date.”

“Spending time with you and tormenting All Might? That’s like two of my favorite things!”

“You can thank me later.”

After our soak was over, we had just enough time to get dressed in our comfiest pajamas and watch a single episode of our show. We watched three and fell asleep on the couch again.

Chapter Text

“Make sure you come back alright?” Rei grabbed my collar with both hands pulling herself up while pulling me down so that she could plant a tender kiss on my cheek that I knew I was going to be thinking about all day. She leaned back down a smile gracing her lips, “Preferably in one piece.”

I smiled, reaching for her cheek and then kissing her on her forehead in what had become a very important part of my mornings. I could skip breakfast, I could even forget my hero costume, but there was no way I was missing my morning goodbye kiss from Rei. “I will.”

“Papa!” Fuyumi jumped her arms outstretched and her hair was all kinds of crazy.

And Fuyumi made sure I never got to leave without giving her one too. I picked her up and rubbed my nose against hers, causing her to giggle and laugh at my touch before I sat her back down.

“And remember, we’re meeting with Touya’s school tomorrow, so no surprise week-long trips with All Might again.” Rei patted Fuyumi on her head and raised a single white eyebrow at me.

I rolled my own eyes and smiled, one hand on my hip for optimal sass. “Don’t worry, I’d rather be here with you,” I looked down at Fuyumi, “and the kids, than go off on another adventure with All Might.”

Though, there was a chance I might have to. I much preferred my domestic life than my hero life. Perhaps if I moved forward enough, and did my part in making Japan safer, and more peaceful, then I could spend more time with my family.

“That’s a good thing,” Rei said, placing a finger on my chest and smiling. “Besides, I have something I want to talk to you about later. Now go.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll see you later, bye Fuyumi!”

“Bye Papa!”

I made my way towards U.A. for the first time in a while. Chilled December air bit at my face and I wondered what I should do for Christmas. Rei’s birthday had been a success with both of us thoroughly enjoying a trip to the spa. My entire body had never felt so clean, refreshed, and stretched. It was so nice it felt like I’d never have to step into a bath again. But I still willingly followed Rei in there from time to time.

I felt a bit of stiffness in my neck that had developed from the last time we had fallen asleep on the couch and wondered if Rei would be okay with another spa date as her christmas present, or if I should get something else. Fuyumi and Touya were easy and already set, Rei was a bit tricky. Maybe I should get something for the whole family?

Even though I was running out of time before christmas I needed to put this on the back burner for today. Besides I should just ask Rei what she wanted. But damn it. I loved surprising her. Gah. Being married was hard.

In theory, it was cheaper and faster to take the train, but the american in me demanded that I drive everywhere. Besides, it was better than being stared at or having people gossip that Endeavour was riding the train. Not that it was bad gossip or anything, it was just strange feeling everyone’s eyes on me.

Besides, part of me wanted to keep my visits to U.A. at least somewhat discreet. I was going to go meet with the number one pro hero and some animal that had gotten a quirk, to start scheming about the future and how we can make things better.

Halfway through my drive a thought rang through my head that made a pit grow in my stomach. It was something that Rei said. Something that she had been saying, and the way she said it. Telling me to come back, specifically me, the way she said that you, really had me thinking. Was she afraid of Endeavour coming back?

The roar of my car reminded me that I had a habit of speeding when I was distressed.

I had no idea how, or why, I had ended up in this situation, but I shared Rei’s fears. I didn’t want to just suddenly leave her, especially not like that.

Feeling powerless over my own life was something familiar to me, though, of late, I hadn’t been feeling it.

Shaking my head I cleared myself of that thought, though the feeling remained for a bit. I wanted to hug Rei. She could probably make that feeling go away.

Still, nothing to do for it now. Just another reason to want to return home besides my inner homebody not wanting to go out and deal with people. Even if they were technically my friends. But as always, Nezu had kept both myself and All Might in the dark about what they were going to be talking about today. Hopefully it was something light, and not the inevitable encounter with All for One.

I drove through the U.A. check point, my car already registered with the gate, and I was able to proceed into the faculty parking lot.

In the privacy of my own car I sat and tried to gather my thoughts. What were we going to do about All for One? What was I going to do? It was All Might’s intent, his goal, his dream, to fight and defeat All for One once and for all. The list of crimes that man had committed was long and varied, there was no doubt that he was a true villain. One I couldn’t talk out of becoming a villain like I maybe did with Rikiya.

“What can I do against him?” I kind of liked my quirk, and risking All for One stealing such a simple and powerful quirk wasn’t ideal. Fire Support? I might hurt All Might. Maybe some gear that could handle extreme heats could allow me to be more accurate? Worth a consideration. But really, All Might might have to do most of the heavy lifting.

Maybe Gran Torino had some tips on how to fight One for All? I’m not sure how much he actually fought when Nana died, but he was able to fight during that United States of Smash scene. What was it called again? Kamino? Like the star wars place? Bleh, it’s been like half a year and I was already starting to forget things about the Manga. It was a good thing I told Nezu everything I could.

As I made my way towards the main building a rather large student came running towards me nearly at full sprint, with his wide frame and four arms it was quite intimidating, and the shaved bald head made him look a bit like a punk. Or a bit like Inasa, please don’t tell me this was like his father or something.

“Endeavour, Sir!” The large student came to a sliding stop, nearly losing his balance thanks to a small puddle from the recent rain storms. His four arms flailed and I caught him stopping him from falling, and just watched as he attempted to right himself. “Thank you sir! I uhh.” He blinked, then jumped back and bowed at the waist. “Endeavour Sir! I’m Fuso Kaido! I was hoping that you’d allow me to intern with you this spring! I feel like there’s a lot I can learn from you and—”

“Uhh, why me?” I blinked pointing a finger at myself.

“Because, not only are you the number two pro hero, but you’re also handling things in a kind way.” He continued to bow, all four hands on his hips. “And I’d be honored to have you mentor me for my final year at U.A.”

Ahh. Hmm. “Sure, submit an application and I’ll approve it.”

He looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “Oh thank you sir! I promise you won’t regret this! I’ll become the most chivalrous hero you’ve ever seen.”

“Right, right, I’ll help you with that. But, Fuso, what’s your hero name?” I asked, placing a hand on the kid’s shoulder. Never had an intern before, sure I had a T.A. but, they were older than me at the time. Besides, I could use some help.

“I go by Fourth Kind sir!” He bowed again. “Thank you for this chance! I’ll go talk to Kendo-sensei right away!”

Before I could say another word he was off running and I was left wondering if I made the right choice. Honestly, given how often I had been to U.A. I would have thought I’d been asked for this sooner. With a shrug, I continued on my way towards the meeting.

I found Nezu, All Might, and someone else waiting for me in the room. It was easy to recognize him thanks to his extra tall nature, green and yellow hair, and a dower look that made my own resting bitch face look like a smile. Mirai, something or other, Sir Nighteye, All Might’s future sidekick.

“Uhh, yo.” I raised my hand and gave a light wave of the wrist and looked towards All Might and Nezu.

Mirai walked towards, the four inches he had on me felt more like a foot. He looked me up and down and adjusted his classes. “How are you able to change things so easily?”

“Huh?” I tilted my head to the side and glanced towards Nezu, who just shrugged. That was helpful. Shrugging was my thing, his thing was not shrugging and being smart. “Did you force yourself in here because of a vision or something?”

“Hmph,” He smiled and extended a hand towards me. “Hardly, I also came here to off my services to All Might and become his sidekick. He agreed.”

I glanced towards All Might.

“You said he was going to be my sidekick anyways, and he is graduating U.A. this spring, so I accepted.” Toshinori gave a large shrug. Why was everyone but me shrugging? This felt unfair. “Besides, his quirk is impressive for a lot of things.”

“And yet you break it.” Miria continued to glare at me. “How.”

It was less a question and more a demand.

I rolled my eyes and sat down on the small single chair that flanked the couches that Nezu and All Might were occupying. “Mirai, look, If I’m honest, I trust you. In part because All Might trusts you, but, also because I know the man you turn into and I can respect his character.”

Mirai’s eyes went wide and he scrambled to sit opposite of me, the seat was a bit too low for his long legs so he looked like an awkward crab. “I knew it. You’re from the future! That’s how you’re able to change things isn’t that’s~”

“Not quite,” Nezu raised up his hand and silenced Mirai for the moment. “While it would be humorous to listen to Enji stumble his way through explaining things yet again, allow me to summarize. He wasn’t originally Endeavour, but has taken over his body with information on the future. I trust that you will keep this information a secret yes?”

Mirai glanced towards All Might, “How much does he know.”

All Might gave a great big laugh. “Haha! At first, he knew more than even I did. But don’t worry my boy! I can assure you that Enji’s heart is in the right place.”

“Right, right,” I waved my hand before All Might could praise me more, if I wanted red cheeks I’d be spending time with Rei. Actually I just wanted to do that. “Welcome to the Future Squad, leave your sizes with Nezu and he’ll get your jacket ordered.”

“Jacket?” He asked.

“Joke.”

He smiled leaning back in his seat and folding one leg over his knee. “Ahh, I see.”

I’ll take that in that he thought I was funny.

“So, Nezu, what’d you call us here for?” I finally asked. “You mentioned wanting to talk about something.”

“Of course!” Nezu clapped his hands and reached down to take a sip of his tea, it used to be kind of cute watching him use both paws to hold the cup. “Ahh, excellent tea Mirai! Now then, I believe it’s a good idea to have a check in more frequently so we can understand where we’re. I understand our goals are years if not decades in the making, but progress reports would still be helpful.”

“On my end, I’ve made some progress with tracking the Doctor you mentioned, as well as some progress in searching for All for One. We know that he’s still in Japan, which is good, however he’s been less active of late,” Nezu continued. “I’ll be relying on Mirai here to assist with those efforts. But, first and foremost, there is an upcoming event that you two need to get a good grasp on.”

“Event?” I couldn’t think of a damn thing that happened around this time.

“Ahh, you mean the Top Hero Billboard Rankings right?” Toshirnori leaned forward and glanced towards me. “You and I are going to be at the top, we’ll be asked to give our thoughts on the rankings and maybe a bit of a speech while we accept a reward, it’s quite nice.”

“Do I have to go?” I half whined slinking into my chair.

“Yes.” Nezu took another sip of tea.

“Damn.”

That event sounded way too peopley for my tastes.

“It’s a great opportunity for you to spread your message,” Nezu gave a light stretch and hopped up onto the couch, waddling over towards me and looking right at me with his beady black eyes. “You see, I’m certain that you’ll be asked about your recent Quirk Rights mentality and I know that you tend to speak before thinking.”

I was being lectured by a rodent.

“So, we’re going to take the time to make certain that when you deliver your speech, that it strikes a chord, that it is something that will resonate.” Nezu turned towards All Might. “And you’ll be backing him up as the Number One Pro Hero.”

Great, so I was going to be giving a persuasive speech in front of millions of people, likely on live television. Great. Just. Great.

Well, hopefully I’ll be able to put my writing skills to use.

XXXX

I gave a light yawn as I stumbled into the living room to find Rei already waiting for me, the cleansing waters of the shower were a far cry from the much more pleasant act of bathing with Rei, but doing that every night might ruin the magic of the event. Though, part of me doubted that. Still, there was something about catching her in a long shirt that went well past her hips and a pair of pajama bottoms, it was the kind of sight that was equal parts cute and beautiful.

She caught me staring and smiled at me, grabbing the large fleece blanket and preparing it for maximum cuddles. Which was just what I needed after today.

“Sorry for coming home so late.” I stumbled over and sat down in my usual spot, where Rei sprung, wrapping the blanket around both of us in an expert move and already pulling me into a light hug that would rest for the rest of the night. Her head was on my chest, her hand on the back of my neck.

And suddenly everything became worth it all over again.

“Don’t worry so much, At least you came home.” She leaned up and gave me another one of those light soft kisses that I’d be thinking about all night. “I kind of figured that the boys might keep you longer, that’s why I just ordered sushi.”

She gave a light wink. “What’d you have?”

“All Might—” really it was Nezu “—wanted another burger so we ate at the usual spot again.”

I missed burritos.

“Honestly, I’m slightly jealous,” Rei gave a light wink and started our show before she settled down, her head barely peeking out of the blanket, my hand on her hip, pinky finger all but groping her butt. When it came to the weather Rei couldn’t stand the heat, in the winter she’d barely flinch at walking out into the freezing cold, but when it came to sleeping, and cuddling, she preferred to be warm. Which was great, because she was like the cool side of the pillow that never got too hot.

“I can take you sometime, with or without the kids,” I shifted slightly entering a position for maximum comfort, our show coming on, and I had to force myself to really pay attention to it and not spending the whole night looking at Rei. Again.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

I smiled and then blinked as a thought entered my mind. “Oh, hey, what do you want for Christmas?”

She tilted her head and looked up at me. “Christmas?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.” She tapped on her chin, making her look extra cute for a few seconds. “A bed.”

The simplicity of her answer made me snort. Even if a bed was expensive it was a bit on the mundane side. “You know you can ask for something else if you want a new bed we can just get you a new one.”

“Hmm, then, how about we go bed shopping together, and your Christmas present is letting me pick out whatever bed I want.”

My inner frugal was cringing at the thought.

“Sure, sounds fine,” It was such a strange request. Was her bed that bad? Was she having problems sleeping?

“What about you?” Rei asked leaning up again to look me in the eyes. “What do you want for christmas.”

A virgin killer sweater she had to wear.

Or hell I’d wear one for the fuck of it and scar my children. Wait. I should save that for when they’re older. Maximum embarrassment. Like when Touya brings their first girlfriend over. Just show up cooking butt ass naked in a VKS.

“I hadn’t really thought of it.” I answered half honestly as I tried to shove my weird thought into the dark depths of my mind.

“Good!” Rei perked up and kissed me on the cheek. “Then let me surprise you, alright?”

“Should I be scared?”

“Yep!”

“Great, looking forward to it.”

Chapter Text

For some reason, mattress stores always seemed to make me just the slightest bit drowsy. Probably because i was looking at beds the whole time, or maybe it was because it was always just so quiet in the warehouse like stores. But, I did have something else to focus on. Rei, my Wife-friend/girl-wife/cuddle-buddy/baby-moma, she had far too many titles in my head to actually list off, so she was just simply Rei.

And Rei, was simply adorable.

“You’re really excited about this,” I said watching Rei closely, I could still feel the good morning kiss on my cheek.

Dressed in her later autumn, early winter garb complete with a red scarf—I had on a matching white one… we looked like a candy cane—and some comfy looking boots she could easily be a model for the fall line of some big clothing store. What’s more was just how animated and excited she was about this.

During the cozy would through the city towards the mattress shop—it was a pseudo date of sorts—she kept flopping her arms, bouncing on her heels and just in general having a good time. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought she was drunk. But Rei didn’t drink. At least not that I’ve ever seen.

Maybe she was a social drinker?

“How could I not be?” She spun on her heel, walking a few steps backwards as she flapped her arms a bit, her heavier over jacket moving and showing off the knitted beige sweater she had on underneath. I wanted to cuddle her in that sweater. Sweaters just did things for me. They were so comfy. And right now Rei was looking peak comfy. “We’re on a shopping date, and we’re going to be getting a new bed.”

“You’re adorable.” I smiled at her as we came to the smaller sized beds. I knew the names of the sizes but I probably wouldn’t be able to say what each size was on its own. There was Single, which I guess was small, Twin which was slightly bigger than a single, Queen, which was pretty big, and then, King that was even bigger. There was also like a California King or something that was supposed to be just absolutely massive. Wasn’t there an Alaskan too? Did Japan have the same bed sizes?

Honestly Endeavour didn’t know either, which was fair considering how the guy slept the traditional japanese way and not in an actual bed. It was comfy once I got used to it. Maybe I should get my own bed while we’re at it.

Still, I couldn’t blame Rei for being excited about something like a bed. A new pair of socks and I was giddy for a week.

We passed the smaller beds, and then the less small beds, and then came to a fairly large size bed.

“How about this one?” The clerk offered, pressing his hand into the bed. “Memory foam just like you asked, with a box frame underneath.”

Rei pounced placing both hands into the show-case material and nodded to herself. “Oh, that feels soft, Enji,” she grabbed my hand and brought it to the bed. “Here, feel, what do you think?”

I could feel my hand sinking into the comforting material and I wanted to fall asleep right then and there. Naturally I’d be tackling Rei down onto the bed with me and holding her tight for a bit. But not in public. “Oh wow, that’s comfy.”

The mat on the floor was fine, but a bed of this stuff? That just sounded like heaven! I should get my own later!

“I’m glad you agree.” Rei hopped up onto her heels and looked me up and down and then at the bed again, she tilted her head to the side for a moment and then looked to the clerk once more. “Do you have a bigger one? And can we lay on them?”

“Of course! We clean the mattresses regularly, though you’ll have to take off your shoes and coat.”

We followed the clerk to a collection of even larger mattresses, what did Rei need such a large mattress for? The last one was big enough that she could lay across it sideways. And this one was even larger.

Rei tossed off her jacket and slid off her boots and climbed up onto the massive bed, where she flopped out like a starfish. She patted around and let out a long sigh before she looked at me. “Well? Enji, what are you waiting for, get over here!”

It wasn’t until I was laying on the bed and Rei came over and rested her head on my chest did it hit me.

She didn’t want to get a new bed just for her.

She wanted one big enough for both of us.

“Hey Rei?” I asked, staring up at the fluorescent light for a bit too long.

She hummed, hand on my chest, the clerk likely looking elsewhere.

“Is this your way of saying you want to share a bed.”

A light peck on the cheek.

“Man, I’m dense huh?”

Rei hummed again, her wry teasing smile remained throughout the rest of the day.

Though we were a bit disappointed that it would take three days for the delivery, which just so happened to be during the Top Hero Billboard event that I was all but required to spend the whole day at. This made me grumpy, though seeing how happy Rei was about it made up for it.

Still. Three days before I started sleeping in a real bed, a real bed with a woman I found myself falling in love with over and over again.

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you can handle it on your own?” I asked, my voice light. I had managed to find a dark backstage room away from everyone else, and I had elected to spend the few peaceful moments that I had talking to Rei over the phone.

And she was being mean to me.

“Oh please, quit being such a baby.” Rei’s voice was full of life and joy. “I can handle some furniture without you, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure we all watch you come in second place.”

“Are you sure I’m the one with the fire quirk cause you’re really good at burning me.”

“Someone has to keep you on your toes.”

I smiled and let out a long breath. I wished that Rei could have been here for this, even if I didn’t feel like I earned my ranking, in part because I had just picked up where Endeavour left off. The statistics didn’t lie; despite the fact that I had been here for most of the year, the few months that Endeavour had before my arrival made up half of the total cases resolved. On the plus side, my public relations had grown. Which was surprising because I’m fairly certain I’m an asshole. “I really wish I was home right now.”

“Home,” I could hear Rei’s smile, “or with me?”

“Both.” Chances are I had the biggest, goofiest grin on my face. Already, I could feel my nervousness fading as I heard the stage crew buzz around, getting everything set up for the top ten hero billboard thingy. “Being home with you would probably be the best, but having you here would probably help me a whole lot.”

“I know, I know, and in the future I will be, but we needed someone here for the movers. Look at it this way, when you get back I get to surprise you with our new room! I almost have everything ready!”

“I am so excited for this.”

“Oooh my,” if my phone could blush it would, “I had no idea you were so excited to sleep with me Enji, if that’s the case I might need to mentally prepare myself.”

I put the fire out that I had caused before the alarms could even be set off and stared at the vague direction of home, desperately trying to see if I could somehow see Rei from all the way over there. “I, umm, well, I’m. I’m always excited to see you, so, I really want to know what it’s like to see you first thing in the morning. When we’re not on the couch.”

“Seriously!” Rei snorted, I heard her dropped her phone and then scramble to pick it up again. There was a pause and the sound of tapping and my phone buzzed again. It was a request for a video call. Right! Smart phones could do that now! I accepted in a heartbeat and spun my phone to face me. I saw Rei, her long white hair spread about her as she laid on what I could only guess was our new bed. The black ribbed sweater she had on highlighted all her features, from her fair skin to her silver eyes, and especially the blush on her face. “Alright, I dare you to say that to my face.”

“Say what?” I asked, the conversation between us had all but yeeted itself out of my mind.

“What you just said!” Rei bit her lip. “About, wanting to wake up with me.”

“Oh.” I felt my cheeks burn. “Well, I just really like the idea of being able to wake up with you, and watching you sleep for a few moments in the morning if I wake up first.”

“Stalker,” Rei hummed wiggling on our bed. “Alright, then how would you wake me up?”

“On accident.” Like with a fart or something. “But, if I did it on purpose, I’d probably end up waking you up when I push your hair out of your face, and if that didn’t work, I’d try for a kiss.”

Rei hummed closing her eyes and smiling. “If that’s the case I might just pretend to be asleep.”

“Doesn’t that ruin some of the magic?”

She only shrugged. “Just because I’m awake doesn’t mean I don’t want a good morning kiss, and I think the magic part is knowing that’s how you’ll wake me up in the morning. Besides,” she placed her fingers in her lips and gave a small kiss before tapping the camera of her phone, “I’ll do the same if I wake up first, mostly so I know you’re dreaming about me.”

“Why would I dream about you?” My mouth said before my mind could process what it was actually saying. “Nothing could beat the real deal.”

“God you’re cheesy.” Rei laughed, smiling, blushing and giggling as she brought the phone closer to her face. “You better be prepared for tonight.”

“I am,” I said with a smile. I saw a stage hand waving over to me. “Ahh, looks like I need to go. Thanks for the pep talk Rei.” I paused for a second. Sighed. Then smiled. “I love you.”

I saw her wide eyes and wider smile before I hung up.

“What is it?” I asked walking up to the stage hand, I had long since stopped trying to put the right amount of asshole in the way I spoke to people, now I just talk how I normally did. Short, blunt, and with zero ability to carry a conversation with anyone that wasn’t Rei, Nezu, or All Might.

“We’re just waiting on you sir!” The stage hand gave an awkward salute and stood even straighter. “We’re going live in about five minutes sir!”

“You say sir too much.”

“Sorry Sir.”

I rolled my eyes and gestured for him to lead the way.

There were a lot of people here. A whole lot of people.

Enough people for me to get a mild dosage of stage fright the moment we stepped out to greet them.

“You got this.” All Might slapped my back and gave me a sly wink. “Remember that I’m here to support you.”

I nodded, though the butterflies in my stomach didn’t diminish in the slightest. I glanced down the row of the other top ten heroes, some of them I had met personally since I had taken over as Endeavour, with only one that I’d recognized from the manga; The Equipped Hero: Yoroi Musha. He looked nearly exactly how he did when he made his debut in the show, however his beard was salt and peppered rather than pure white.

But it wasn’t the heroes I was afraid of. The crowd stretched out before me, a dozen cameras all pointed towards us, flashing lights, helicopters buzzing about, and just in general a lot of visual and audio noise. I bit my lip and took a deep breath.

Rei was watching. Touya was watching. Fuyumi was watching.

Even though Nezu wanted me to give some kind of a message to the people, to make a statement in front of millions of people, I chose to talk to Fuyumi, Touya, and Rei directly. Largely because the idea of over a million people watching me was actually a bit terrifying. Then again, the auto-tune meme song that someone had made out of my voice clips somehow had a hundred million views on youtube.

The internet is a strange and confusing place.

Wait.

When did I become a Boomer?

The rankings didn’t come as a surprise to me, not really at any rate, but what bothered me was how isolated I felt with All Might. No one else was close to us. The distance between myself and All Might was less than the distance between myself and the number three pro hero. And in twenty years, only three of us would still be standing on this stage.

Maybe. Hopefully?

I’m not sure I even wanted this spot if I was honest. And I wasn’t even the one shouldering the whole of society. That was on All Might. When he showed up, a disaster turned into a spectacle. It wasn’t his fault though, he was actually trying to bring peace. It was like no one was asking what would happen if All Might wasn’t here.

Or, maybe, they were just afraid to even think about that.

Being afraid of a thought.

Now that was a mood.

“Alright! Thank you Sakumoto~! Our number three hero! Truly someone that’s far too cool for their own good!” The hostess walked in front of me. “Now, before we get onto the number one pro for the tenth year in a row, it’s time we talk to the man that has been hot on his heels for four years straight! The number two hero, and the talk of the town, the flame hero Endeavour!”

Deer in headlights.

My body froze and my mind went blank.

“So Endeavour, people have noticed the drastic change in the way you’ve been handling cases, where before you had some of the most violent cases, now you have more non-violent cases than even All Might does! When you couple that with your recent statements, people have been wanting to know what brought about this change? Is this a new tactic to over take All Might?”

There was a snickering in the crowd, the heroes, the city, the world.

Becoming number one felt like such a far away goal that I almost understood how it could blind Endeavour.

I stared at the microphone that had been shoved into my face.

“I…” The carefully laid speech that I had spent hours working on, that I had poured my heart and soul into making certain that every single word meant something came crumbling down. The speech I had built now meant nothing, but the words and ideas behind it, those were still there.

I grabbed the mic.

Fuck the script.

“I’m not All Might.”

The snickering stopped. All eyes were on me.

I looked at the camera, it felt like I was looking right at Rei, right at Touya and Fuyumi.

“I will never be All Might. I don’t want to be All Might. Nobody can replace him.” I pointed towards the seven foot tall man and then gestured towards the crowd. “Right now, this man is holding this society up all on his own, when people say that he is a pillar of peace and justice, that is beyond true. And he is our sole pillar. So. What happens when he’s gone? He might be All Might but he’s still just human.”

“Enji,” I heard All Might give a harsh whisper to me. Naturally I did the thing where I kept talking even when I should have just shut the fuck up.

“That’s what I realized. I realized that I couldn’t take All Might’s place, that I couldn’t become the next pillar of peace and justice. So I thought.” I slammed my fist down against the air, over and over again like I was slamming down on some kind of an anvil. “No, I realized that in order to make the most out of All Might, to truly thank him for giving all of us this brief glimmer of peace, we need to work towards making a society where he can retire in peace. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m not just trying to stop the villains as they come, I’m trying to stop new villains from ever becoming villains.”

I felt All Might’s hand on my shoulder and looked back to see him smiling at me.

Right.

Keep going.

Follow the momentum.

Deliver the call to action.

“The status quo only works because of All Might. We need to look at what causes civillains to become villains.” I paused, taking a deep breath. “So that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m no leader, no politician, I can only do what I think is best and hope that’s enough.”

I handed the microphone back and walked off the stage.

I needed a hug.

A hug from Rei specifically.

And one from Fuyumi and Touya. Actually, just let me hug my whole damn family.

On my way out I got a few texts.

Nezu: I’m not sure if you’re an idiot or a genius.

Same.

Rikiya: That was an amazing speech! I’ve been developing my campaign strategy for a while! Tomorrow I will announce my intent to run for office! Because of you I feel like… 1/26

That was a lot of texts I wasn’t going to read. Though I probably should.

Rei: That was kind of hot.

And that made everything worth it.

Chapter Text

“Papa!” I was greeted as the door opened and a Fuyumi dressed in her pajamas came flying out of nowhere and hugged my leg with all her strength, even going so far as to make those adorably hugging noises. “I’m going to recharge you!”

I glanced up and saw Rei with her hair down laughing from the entranceway, ahh, the brains behind the operation. Fuyumi stuck to me like velcro and was nearly as hard to pull off my leg only to reattach herself to my torso as I picked her up, still making that adorably cute sound. “And what makes you think I need to be recharged? It’s almost bedtime you know.”

“I know!” Fuyumi pulled back just a bit to look at me, she flung her arm wide and pointed towards Rei. “But Mama said that you’re an uhh, intro- into- Mama said that being with people makes you grumpy so she told me that if I hugged you I could recharge your batteries.”

“Consider my batteries fully charged then, Fuyumi.”

She hugged me again before I let her down. “Double check!”

“I won’t ever say no to one of your hugs, Fuyumi.”

“Good!” she cheered and then tackled Rei in the hip, giving her mother a great big hug and making more of those hugging noises again. “Mama should be fully charged too!”

It was good that Fuyumi was becoming more talkative, she was well on her way to becoming a real chatterbox. But she was at that age where the concept of things that she shouldn’t really say hadn’t quite formed.

Which meant it was a great way to get dirt on Rei.

“And why would Mommy need to be fully charged too?” I smiled at Rei and gave her a one armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. Her cheeks were instantly red. “Well, besides the fact that she had to move a lot of furniture on her own.”

“I had help,” Rei placed her hand against my chest, a light smile appearing on her face.

“Mommy had her special juice!”

I looked down at Fuyumi who was smiling like that was the answer to all of life’s questions. “Special juice?”

“I was nervous alright,” She pushed a bit of hair out of her eyes. “So I had a glass of wine while we watched you give your speech.”

“That explains the text.”

All the blood rushing to my wife’s head mixed with the one glass of wine and turned her into a tsundere. Her blush all but doubled in intensity and she flopped her arms while letting out a huff. “Whatever, I was just being honest.”

I laughed and hugged her more, kissing the top of her head even as she squirmed. “Thanks Rei, you really helped me out earlier. I couldn’t have done that without you.”

She pushed away, holding onto the spot that I just kissed and rubbing it softly. The smile on her face went wonderfully with her blush. “Well, you can show me your gratitude later.”

“Or right now,” I offered, reaching down to grab Fuyumi. “What needs to be done for the kids?”

“All taken care of.” Rei beamed and stole Fuyumi from me. “Isn’t that right Fuyumi?”

Fuyumi nodded, her white and red hair bouncing as she did. “Story time!”

Rei rolled her eyes and smiled. “I’ll take care of story time.” She pushed a finger to my chest once again. “You, go get ready for bed too.”

Fuyumi gasped. “Mama putting Papa to bed?”

I laughed. “Alright alright, I’ll grab a bite to eat and scrub myself clean.”

“You better,” Rei muttered through her blush.

Cold soba.

Warm bath.

Bedtime kiss for my kids.

Then.

Bed with my wife.

“Okay,” Rei said softly, both of her hands wrapped around one of mine as she pulled me through the house towards our new room. I knew where our new bedroom was and had even done my part to move some of our dressers and other furniture in there ever since we committed towards the idea of sharing a room, but Rei had done most of the organizing. It left me feeling a bit guilty. “Close your eyes.”

“Seriously?” I raised an eyebrow but closed my eyes all the same.

“Yep!” I all but heard Rei skip. She let go of my hand and I heard a door open up. “Now wait here.”

“Do I have to keep my eyes closed?”

“Yep!”

I crossed my arms and smiled, listening to the sound of Rei move in our new bedroom. The sounds coupled with my own imagination were nearly too much. It sounded like Rei was stripping. Which made sense, given how she wasn’t wearing her sleeping wear yet, and it wasn’t like she was uncomfortable around me naked, we took baths together at least once a week. Was she going to wear something special? Oh god. I just had on pajama pants and a T-shirt! Was there such a thing as male Lingerie?

What should I do? What was she wearing? What was I wearing? Uhh. Fuck! Oh! Wait! I know! I pulled my shirt off and balled it into my hand and stood shirtless, waiting for Rei to tell me to let me in. My leg started shaking. Somehow the speech I had given in front of countless people seemed less frightening now.

I snorted, next time I just need to think about sleeping with my wife if I get nervous. That sounded great. But, I scratched the back of my head and sighed. Sure, she was my wife, and we were in a romantic relationship, but I didn’t marry her. Maybe I should fix that. That would be romantic right? Like loving someone so much you marry them a second time?

Or would that be cheesy?

Wait.

I was cheesy.

And Rei liked it.

Or tolerated it.

“Alright Enji you can—” Rei’s voice beckoned me towards her and I turned and opened my eyes to see her standing in our new bedroom. “Why are you shirtless?”

Yep. I was going to ask my wife to marry me.

I had lived my entire life with the idea the casual was sexy. A loose T-shirt, a pair of pajama pants, hair down, that was my ideal level of sexiness that up until recently I thought couldn’t be beat. But Rei, with her long white hair down, silver eyes staring at my chest, wearing a shiny white nightie that looked like it was made of silk, had completely shattered that belief I once held.

“You’re so beautiful,” I reached out and cupped her cheek, watching as she blushed at me.

“And you’re shirtless!” She all but screamed then smacked a hand over her mouth. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I prefer to sleep shirtless.” It was technically the truth, but also a power play! Win win!

“Oh. I umm, I can umm.” Rei reached out and touched my chest. “I can get used to that I suppose.”

Being buff had a lot of perks.

“Well,” Rei grabbed my hand once more and gestured towards our room. “What do you think?”

It could have been a pizza box on the ground and I would have loved it because I’d be sharing it with Rei. But the room I saw was more than suitable. The large bed that Rei had picked out for us dominated the room, with modern black and grey sheets that, while a bit boring, really made it pop and just look so much more comfortable. We each had our own nightstand, the fancy kind that came with USB ports for phone charging.

It was a cozy, comfortable place, perfect for cuddling with Rei.

There was even a new T.V. that was mounted to the wall, waiting for us to start watching our shows.

“I think my back is grateful I won’t have to sleep on the couch just to hold you while we sleep.”

Rei laughed, “Oh good, I’m glad I’m not the only one that was doing that.”

I chuckled and picked her up, earning a light screech from Rei. “I think we should really be more direct about what we want from each other.”

“Oh,” Rei muttered, wrapping her arms around my neck as I carried her to the bed.

I placed her down gently, moving the covers and laying down next to her.

There was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep tonight.

“And, umm, what is it that you want?” Rei asked, her face all but beet red as she kept looking me in the eyes. Her hand was on my chest again.

“To make you happy.”

“Jerk!” A pillow was shoved in my face. “Don’t say something so vague like that.”

I smiled and kissed her on the cheek, still holding her tight in my arms. “I’m not being vague. That’s what I want Rei. I want to make you happy.”

“Then pick something else to want.” She muttered, burying her face into my chest. Her breath was cool. “Because I don’t think I can take being much happier than I am right now.”

For a long time we just stared at each other, the overhead light nearly ruining the mood. I just enjoyed holding onto Rei, hugging her, cuddling her, being close to her. Being able to just kiss her whenever I want, and feeling her want all those things as well. Out of everything that had happened to me since I became Enji, she was by far the best.

“Hey Enji,” Rei hummed, touching my cheek softly. “If we’re going to be direct, then, I want you to say it again.”

“Say what?” I asked, trying to remember what I actually said today. Did she want my speech because I couldn’t say that again even if I wanted to. Or did I accidentally do something romantic again.

She shrugged. “What you said to me on the phone. When you hung up.”

“Oh.” Right. We never actually said that to each other. We had been reluctant to actually say that, which felt so silly now. I swallowed and gathered myself. “Rei, I love you.”

She let out a groan and buried her head into the blankets. Her body twitched. “Again.”

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“You first.”

“One more time!”

“I love you, Rei.”

She poked her head up and leaned up on me, crawling up to hold her face a few inches away from mine and then kissing me softly. “And I love you. So much more than I ever thought I could love anyone. Thank you for coming into my life.”

What could I say to that? What could I say that hadn’t already been said? So I repeated myself. “I love you, Rei.”

She kissed me again, her body pressed up against mine as we cuddled and made out in our new bed. “Enji. Tonight, I...I want you...I want you to show me how much you love me.”

Oh.

Oh!

OH!

I nodded and rolled both of us over, pushing Rei against the bed as I kissed her, my hand touching her—

“Mama, Papa?”

We both froze.

As one, we looked to the side of the bed where the voice had come from and we saw Fuyumi there, holding one of her stuffed animals in her hand, looking more than a bit sleepy.

“Fuyumi?” I asked, “Why aren’t you in bed?.”

“I had a bad dream.”

Liar.

“Can I sleep in your new bed with you tonight?”

I looked to Rei, who looked at me. We both blinked, shrugged, and let out a sigh. Really should have known something like this was going to end up happening with two kids in the house.

“Come on up Fuyumi, you can sleep with us for tonight, but just for tonight okay?” Rei said softly and pushed away from me slightly, correcting her nightie ever so slightly.

Naturally, Fuyumi flopped down right between us and passed out in a matter of minutes once the light was turned off.

What felt like thirty minutes later Touya appeared in the doorway, holding his own blanket.

“You wanna sleep with us too?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Climb on up.”

I just got cock blocked by my own kids. It was almost like they didn’t want a new brother or sister.

Chapter Text

The soft sound of our alarm clock was enough to wake us both up.

The dream of being one to wake Rei up was reserved pretty much for Sundays at this point in our life, largely because Touya had started school so having his early schedule to keep in mind forced both myself and Rei to adapt. It wasn’t much of a change as we were both early risers whenever we didn’t end up spending all night acting like we were both teenagers.

“Enji~” Rei groaned snuggling deeper into my chest as we both fought against the dreadful curse known as being awake, though, with Rei around it was hardly a curse. If anything this was the real dream. She glanced up at me, a silver eye gleaming with malice. “Alarm.”

No matter how often I saw it, seeing Rei in the morning was something amazing to me, and the fact that her cuteness levels were set to extra high before she actually woke up was just a big fat bonus. With great effort I partially rolled over, slapping my hand to turn off the alarm, at first I hit the game controller—the fact that Rei kicked my ass at Mario Kart nearly nightly was a secret I would take to my grave, I blamed my giant meaty hands—then after a few more missed swings, I tapped onto the alarm silencing it for now.

Before I could roll over and smother Rei in affection she did so to me. She pushed me further onto my back, her hand on my arm as she pinned me against the mattress and kissed me with more vigor than she could normally muster this early in the morning. To say the kiss was simple was to say that the sunrise was simple, it was an event that happened every single day, but that didn’t make it any more magical.

“Happy anniversary,” Rei muttered as she pulled back, the covers falling free of her body. She sat on my stomach, stretching and showing off just how cute she looked in her sleeping shirt. Ever since I let it slip that I really liked it whenever she wore one of my shirts to bed she had made certain to do just that. And I loved her for it.

Which was why when she said anniversary I panicked just a bit. Or maybe a lot because Rei started laughing.

“Don’t you remember?” Rei smiled at me leaning forward and tracing her arms along my arms to hold both of my hands. Another kiss. This one shorter. “Today marks a year since I first caught you in the kitchen cooking pancakes.”

“Ooooh.” I blinked. Has it really been a year? “I guess it has been, huh? I’m surprised you remember it.”

“Really?” Rei asked, squeezing my hand tighter. “Why would I not remember the day that my life started to get so much better? You know, I remember feeling hopeful for the first time that day, and slowly, I started to smile thinking about you, and then, we ended up here. Happy. A whole family.”

“Oh, then, should we celebrate?”

Rei just shrugged. “That’s up to you, I’ll be down for anything tonight, but for now I think we need to deal with our kids.”

“Right, well, I don’t think it’d be good to celebrate this with them, for uhh,” I looked Rei in the eye and swished my lips. “Various reasons.”

“That’s probably smart.” Rei hugged me and then rolled off. “It’s a good thing they’re young enough, still, I’ll do…” She flipped her hair back and gave me a smirk and a half. “Something special for you tonight.”

“Great, now I’m going to be even more excited to come home than I normally am.”

“That’s the point.”

A kiss to my cheek signaled the start of our morning.

Getting dress, cooking breakfast, making sure that Touya was dressed, and getting ready for school, making sure that Fuyumi was up, and just the general hectic forty-five minutes before my day as Endeavour actually started.

It still blew my mind that an entire year had passed. Was this technically my birthday now? When was my birthday anyway? Was it Endeavour’s birthday or my birthday? Well, whatever, I’m sure that Rei would give me an extra sweet kiss on both days if I ever asked for it. Which meant I was totally going to mention it.

“Dad,” Touya grumbled, a bright All Might backpack fastened to his back. “Do you have to follow me to school today?”

Technically speaking I wasn’t. It was common practice for heroes to patrol along common children paths to school. Some customs such as children walking to and from schools were so ingrained into Japanese culture that no matter what they would find a way to make it happen, despite the relatively high crime rate. To accommodate this many heroes adjusted their morning patrols to overlap most school routes, especially the younger ones.

“If I walk in front of you you’ll be following me,” I rubbed Touya’s head and was rewarded by a lunch box to the back of the knee. “Hey!”

“Sorry!”

“Look, Touya, it’s part of my job as a hero to go on patrol and make sure that people, especially children are safe.” I messed his hair up a lot and leaned down to whisper a valuable life lesson on my son. “Besides, it makes your mother happy.”

“Mom’s always happy now!” Touya grumbled.

“You’re welcome.”

The pouting continued until he met up with his usual group of friends.

One of which I recognized. It was hard not to. The girl bounced around a lot and had snow-white hair and matching bunny ears. Naturally, Rumi, the girl that would one day become the pro hero known as Miruko was feisty as all hell and put Touya in his place more often than not, the rest of his group of friends I really couldn’t tell who they were at the safe distance I kept on my patrol path, but, it was nice to see Touya making friends so quickly.

“Hey, Touya!” Rumi ran up and punched my son in the arm hard. My years of reading and writing romance told me that was peak childhood friends trope in action. But there was no way in hell I was going to make that assumption about my own kid! Especially not with Rumi! “Your dad walk you here again?”

Touya rubbed his arm and pointed in my direction.

Should I wave? I felt like I should wave. I waved.

Rumi waved back, and so did Touya’s other friends. Touya did not.

Was I embarrassing my son? Good! Just wait until he was older and I could start using the years of dad jokes I had been building up. Though, maybe I should be more considerate of how Touya feels? Was it okay to intentionally embarrass kids in front of their friends? That sounded like a great question to ask Mr. Google later. In the meantime, early morning patrol.

Once Touya was safe within school grounds I turned and headed towards my Agency, a relatively small office building that I had been renting for cheap, there were talks about building a larger building for me, but, I didn’t exactly feel comfortable with the idea of having so many heroes under me that I needed an office building. Besides, I’m pretty sure the reason why Endeavour built his original tower was to match All Might’s tower.

It made much more sense to me to just keep a small office space with a gym, locker room, shower, and a couple of offices and rest rooms for a few trusted sidekicks. But no giant umbral hero organization. I couldn’t even fathom not knowing who I was working with. Besides, I was rather happy with my current sidekicks and would only replace them once it was time for them to grow up and open their own agencies.

XXXX

“Endeavour Sir!” Fourth Kind, my sidekick that insisted on wearing a suit—the tie had flames on it—came running up to me and wrung his quad set of knuckles nervously. The nineteen-year-old boy had become a staple of my daily life since I took him on and he was more or less my second or third in command, it was a toss-up between him and Maki. “We have a request for patrol today sir!”

I raised an eyebrow and looked towards the sidekick that made the most sense. She had been with me since I took over. A black-haired woman with an athletic build that stood just an inch or two taller than Rei and easily had 50 pounds of pure muscle on my wife, she had purple eyes and lacked the ability for anything feminine, she sought me out because much like myself she had a fire-based quirk, those her manifested in two-spirit like motes of fire that she could command.

Maki Oze; hero name: Fire Witch, with the quirk Fire Sprits. Though, I was of the opinion that she had a second quirk that allowed her to bench far more than a girl her size could. Seriously, with four arms I would have thought that Fuso could beat her in a spar, but nope.

“It’s from your fanboy,” Maki deadpanned and showed me the tablet that she used to cover much of the day to day stuff in our department. “He’s holding a rally in a square and wants you to be there. He says for protection of course, but he probably wants to have his image associated with you, especially because he’s basically running off of what you said that night.”

I groaned, letting my shoulders slump. Great. A hard choice.

Associate myself with politics, or risk letting Redestro happen.

It was an election year so naturally, it was time for him to start campaigning and making progress towards becoming an elected official. It was a long hard fought battle and he’d need allies. And he was fighting for stuff that I believed in.

But I really, really, really, didn’t want to get involved in politics. It just rubbed me wrong, having the influence of a hero and trying to push a political agenda. Just picturing All Might becoming the prime minister because he’s All Might wasn’t an image I wanted in my head. And I feel like that exact thing has happened at least once in the United States.

More questions for google.

“You also got an invitation.” Maki switched to the next Email. “apparently, I-Island wants to invite you to their Expo this summer.”

“Hmm, well that’s good news.” I rolled my shoulder and took the tablet. I-Island was close enough to my birthday, actually given how it was the first week of July it was happening on my birthday, my original one, not the one I got from being Endeavour. “Would it be wrong to treat that as a honeymoon with my wife?”

Maki shrugged. “I have no idea how romantic an artificial island filled with scientists is.”

Fuso scratched the back of his head. “Uhh, isn’t that for like a week, what will we do without you for a week.”

I shrugged and handed back the tablet. “It’s not for a few months, besides, Maki more or less runs this place.”

“You’re welcome, sir.”

Such sass, much wow.

“Anyways, let me call Rikiya and see what exactly he wants.” I pulled out my phone and dialed one of the three people that texted me more than my wife. It was honestly a tie between All Might and Rikiya that wanted my attention the most, Nezu was third, but he was kind of fun to talk to, and he was great at Scrabble.

The phone rang once and was answered instantly before I even brought it up to my ear.

“Endeavour! Baby! How—”

“Don’t call me baby, it’s weird.”

“Right, right, sorry about that, I’m uh, just a little nervous today is all.” Rikiya gave a nervous laugh. “I feel like I’m about to puke, and like I’m about to faint, how on earth did you even give that speech? I’m only talking in front of a small group today! You did that in front of millions! Is this normal?”

I rolled my eyes and turned away from my sidekicks to gain some semblance of privacy. “Don’t you normally give speeches to board members? Aren’t they scarier?

“What? No, they’re idiots.”

I snorted. “Then just picture the crowd as a bunch of board members.”

“How would that help?”

“Well, look at it this way. Right now you’re trying to convince everyone that you deserve a position of power right?”

“I’m aware.”

“Well, that means that this is just a really big board of executives that you have to talk into electing you as the president of a district right? Compared to running a whole company that should be easy right.”

There was a pause.

“Brilliant! I don’t feel better yet but I do not doubt that I will! Now then, about you being there—”

“Rikiya, look, I said it before didn’t I. I don’t think that as a hero I should use my influence politically. I’ll support you from behind the scenes because I trust you, but, I—”

“No, no, I respect your decision. If you stay out of politics then that means that others might as well. Besides, I think I know a way for your abstinence to benefit me in the long run. Yes, yes, oh my dear Endeavour, you just carry on and I’ll take care of everything.”

The phone call ended with an evil laugh.

I’m sure everything would be fine.

“Alright, well that’s taken care of.” I pocketed my phone and looked towards my sidekicks. “So patrol?”

Chapter Text

Mirai: I want to talk.

I glanced at my phone and sighed. Ever since Mirai had wiggled his way into our little circle, he had been ever so slightly very passive aggressive with me. It was like everything I did set him off in some strange way, and honestly I think I understood why. I stood in defiance of his quirk. Every single action I took was different from the action that Endeavour would have taken, and with the rigid structure of his quirk, and his own perception of it, I could see why he’d be frustrated at my very existence.

What I was changing, the countless numbers of butterflies that I had unleashed upon the world, was something that kept me up at night. The future I had been familiar with, the future that was canon and had Izuku as its protagonist was quickly becoming unrecognizable. There was no Shigaraki to worry about, even Re-Destro was… well, Rikiya was someone that I could ask if he wanted to go to the movies and he would buy a theater to have a private showing.

I can say that because he did.

So long as his campaign went well and he was able to fight for what he thought was best then I didn’t have much doubt that he would remain my friend for a long time.

The League of Villains didn’t have its leader, and the Meta Liberation Army wouldn’t even be formed. Sure, those two organizations might spring up in some shape or form, but without those two at their respective heads, they might not gain anywhere near as much traction. So what else was there? Random Villains?

I blinked as I made my way towards the park that Mirai had marked on the map.

Oh.

Right.

Eri. She wasn’t born for years. Even a minor change now to give her a better life could make her not even be born. Still, Chisaki was in many ways more dangerous than either Shigaraki or Re-Destro. Largely because the dude was already in the criminal world having grown up in a Yakuza family. Maybe we could talk to the boss? Did he even have a name? He seemed reasonable at least.

Hopefully he didn’t end up stumbling onto my doorstep like Rikiya did.

That’d just be too convenient.

I glanced around the park and found that the spot where Mirai had wanted to meet was near a playground filled with children. I glanced over them, wondering if I’d end up knowing any of them. Such a weird concept, looking at kids and trying to pick out which one of them was going to be a pro hero, or what they might look like as an adult. Kids had huge heads, and it threw shit off all the time.

A couple of kids spotted me, and a few jumped and pointed, alerting the others. A kid with dirty blonde hair and sharp eyes came running up to me.

“Are you really Endeavour?”

Nope. I’m Enjimbra!

“Sure am.” I kneeled down to get down to the kid’s level; well, almost. He was a shorty. “And who are you?”

The kids' faces lit up with pure delight. “I’m Keigo! I saw you on T.V! And you saved my momma! I think you’re better than All Might!” He pulled on his mostly white shirt and tugged on it. “Can I have your autograph?”

Carrying around an autograph pen was not something I’d ever thought I’d have to do. But here I was, taking out a black pen and signing some kids' T-shirts. I have my awkward signature that seemed to change every time I signed anything, the only thing that remained the same was the smiling flame I put at the end.

“There you go! Maybe one day you’ll return the favor when you’re a strong hero too.”

“Awesome!” Keigo looked at his shirt and shouted. “Mom! Look! Endeavour signed my shirt!”

The red haired woman that was his mother made my mouth fall open. In part because she was a natural beauty—my long standing weakness for red hair did not help me—but also because of what the woman had on her back. A pair of beautiful crimson wings that made her look like a fallen angel. Though, despite all that she looked tired, really tired, the kind of tired that comes from being overworked and oversingle. Part of me wished that I could help them, but I couldn’t help everyone. But more importantly.

Holy shit I just signed Hawks’ T-shirt.

What the fuck?

Stupid coincidences.

“Once again you act without thinking.” I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard Mirai’s dour voice come from behind me. He was in his hero costume, which for him was a suit, which really just made the fact that the guy was tall as all hell ever so slightly creepy. Dude looked like the slenderman version of an anime protagonist. “And now you’re thinking weird things again aren’t you?”

“Uhh,” I droned a bit and blinked. “What?”

Mirai gave a haughty huff and gestured towards Keigo and his mother. The happy Keigo was being scolded by his mother, it was the kind of scene that didn’t sit well with me. But, I couldn’t do anything about it, even as I watched her drag him out of the park.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have signed his shirt.” I scratched the back of my head and sighed. It was amazing what set off someone that was stressed out of their mind. Hopefully things would work out for the best.

“Well,” I turned towards Mirai and flapped my arms. “I’m here, what did you want to talk about? In public.”

“Nothing sensitive I assure you.” Mirai adjusted his glasses like he had just done a pro gamer move and pointed down a path. “I merely wanted to talk about you.”

“About me?” I asked, walking side by side with him as we headed towards the interior of the park. We passed through some torii gates and towards a small bridge that went over a stream. “Am I being graded or something?”

“Not at all.” Mirai let out a long sigh that was followed by an even longer silence. We passed by a larger river, and then down a dirt path, towards a small shrine hidden in the middle of the park. Then at long last, Mirai spoke, staring at the statue of some god I knew nothing about., I couldn’t even tell if it was Shinto or Buddhist. “I want to know how you can change the future so easily.”

“Ah,” I frowned, crossing my arms and shifting my feet. “My trick is that I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“You said that in the future I saw too.” Mirai pushed his glasses up, still not looking at me. “Honestly it’s comforting that sometimes my quirk is accurate when regarding you. But, there’s so much that you’ve changed. There has to be more than just an accident.”

I signed and squatted down to look at the shire, there was no smiling fat man, so I guess this wasn’t Buddhist? “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t make the future the same as what it was in canon.”

“Canon?”

“Err, just the term I use to describe the future I know of.”

Mirai made a light confirmation noise that was the human equivalent of a windows update sound.

I continued. “There’s just so many actions that would have to be taken at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way, that would lead towards more people making specific choices that I didn’t even try. From the very first day I woke up here I had effectively given up on the future I knew and instead worked towards making one that was better. I’d like to think we’ve succeeded a little bit, but I have like two decades before I can actually compare.”

Mirai remained silent still, clearly content on me doing all the talking.

“At this point I should have had my third child.” I glanced up towards him and smiled. “A boy with white hair, named Natsuo. One that would grow up to hate his own father and attend college with no dreams of becoming a hero, and that loved his older sister and mother very much.”

I stood and wrung my hands, allowing my thumbs to pop as I embraced the cool breeze that flew through the park. “No such boy exists. Even if I were to go to Rei now, and force another child on her, that boy still wouldn’t exist. I would have a third child, yes, but, the odds of another Natsuo coming out are beyond minute. I could end up with twins, or a daughter, or a girl version of Touya, or he could end up with some completely different quirk.”

“So, in short, the future to you isn’t set in stone.”

I glanced up towards the top of the shrine and tilted my head. There was a yin and yang there. What was that for again? “Honestly, that might be a big part of it. Your conviction that the future can’t be changed, that your quirk is absolute, could be a big part of why you can’t change what you see.”

“I don’t!” Mirai shouted, finally looking towards me. He was angry. “There are so many times where I want to try and avoid the futures, to change them the slightest amount. I try and I try, I try everyday to prove my quirk wrong, to expand it so that I can do more than say what the future is. I want to change the future too.”

“So do.” I shrugged, trying not to fan the flames of his anger.

“How?” His fist was shaking. “How do you make it sound so easy?”

“I said it before didn’t I? Keeping the future the same is much harder than trying to change it.” I resisted the urge to scratch the back of my head and let out a long sigh; man I did that way too much when I didn’t know what to say. “But, if you want my real advice, or rather a criticism of how you do things, it’s that you go against their characters.”

Mirai continued to stare at me, unflinching, just a cold desolate stare like I had struck some kind of a nerve. “Their character?”

“Yeah,” I waved my hand dismissively. “I mean, when it comes to All Might, what’s something that he’s always going to do?”

“Save people.” Mirai didn’t even hesitate.

“Exactly. If there’s a choice to stand aside and a choice to act, All Might is going to act. So if you see a vision that All Might is going to die saving people, how are you going to stop that from happening?”

“I…” Mirai let out a shiver at the thought. “I’d beg him not to.”

“So you’d go against his character. Look, maybe it’s just the writer in me that’s talking, but characters are king. When it comes down to it, trying to tell All Might not to save people is the exact opposite of what you should do. So, when you want to make a change, when you want to save someone from their own death, don’t try to change the person, change the situation.”

I scratched the back of my head and gave a long sigh. “Did that help any?”

Mirai’s intense glare lessened a bit and he pushed up his glasses, still looking as tall and as proud as ever. “I.. I have no idea.”

Welcome to the club.

“Well, was that everything? Even if it was kind of lame.”

“For the most part, yes. Thank you for coming. You’ve actually given me a lot to think about.” Mirai let his hand drop and stared up at the sky.

Well this was awkward. Mirai had the aura about him of someone that took everything too seriously, even if he did stress out about making people laugh despite having humor drier than a sponge in the desert. “Hey, can you do me a favor?”

He looked at me, and nodded.

I held out my hand to him. “Use your quirk on me, I uhh, I just want to know if I ever change.”

“Change?” he asked, eyes locked onto my hand like it was mildly offensive.

“Yeah, as in do I ever stop being me and start being who I was before.” This shit was confusing.

“I see.” He took my hand and made eye contact. There was no fancy effect like in the anime, he simply stared at me, his eyes glazing over, then after a moment he smiled. “Rest assured, you will remain you.”

Thank fuck.

“Well, thanks Mirai, and if you ever need to talk, just let me know. I’m still not super good at this whole being social thing—” Despite having to basically do it for over a year now. “—but I’m here.”

“Understood. And Enji, good luck.”

“With what?”

“Life.”

Coming from someone that had literally just saw parts of my future, that was ominous as fuck.

Well, at least I can reassure Rei that I wouldn’t ever become Endeavour again.

Maybe it was time to look into that ring.

Chapter Text

Discovering Rei’s ring size was a complicated quest that involved making a mold of one of her rings while she was in the bath and then going to the ring store and finding out that they were basically going to resize it later after I already gave Rei the ring, especially because it was a wedding ring, but I still wanted her to have something to wear.

Especially because she didn’t actually have a wedding ring.

And, if there was something that Rei deserved, it was a goddamn wedding ring.

I checked the box one last time, wondering where exactly I could smuggle it so that Rei wouldn't suspect anything. I wanted to surprise her with this, which was normally a terrible idea for asking someone to marry you, but I think I was allowed to ask my own wife to marry me. Was that allowed? I mean, legally it wouldn’t make any sense to marry someone twice, but like what about just like romantically or something like that?

I’d call it super marriage.

Except not.

But really, this was to make things official between me and Rei. Because technically I wasn’t the one that married her.

The ring inside the box wasn’t the most ornate thing in the world, instead it was rather simple: a gold and white band that held a shining diamond. It was simple and beautiful, just like Rei.

“Alright, well, Fuyumi’s all packed and Touya is currently running around in his underwear for—”

Box closed, in pocket, secret safe.

I turned quickly and tried not to act completely suspicious. Which naturally meant that Rei was looking at me like I was smuggling a turkey in my shirt. Crap! What was I going to do if she found out now? Uhh, lie? A lot.

I could lie and say it was from All Might. But who was All Might going to marry? Did he have any female friends? Wait, she’d probably tease me about All Might being my lover. Again. I’d like to avoid that if at all possible.

“You know you’re terrible at not acting suspicious, right?” Rei smirked as she walked around our bed and towards the dresser that contained most of my clothes. The suitcases for our trip to I-Island were in the process of being packed with a few clothes folded on the bed. She stepped in front of me, hands on her hips and a lovely smile on her face as she raised a single eyebrow up at me. “Well, what do you have there.”

“Uhh, candy.” I muttered, trying to make it sound like I had some in my mouth.

Rei gave a light laugh and opened another drawer of mine and pulled out the pack of gummy worms I kept next to my socks. “I know where you keep your stash, Enji, so what’s going on? Not something I have to worry about, right?”

Well.

So much for wanting to surprise her. Still considering how I had been planning this for a few months now I’m surprised I made it this far.

Do I just show her the box? Do I just ask her to wait? Do I say it’s a surprise?

I stared at her for a few seconds and then smiled. I pulled the box out from behind my back.

Rei gasped, both hands going over her mouth as she looked at the box for a few seconds. Her smile was so wide she could barely contain it. Tears welled in her eyes as her ears turned red. She looked so cute, so adorable; my heart was pounding in my chest as I slowly began to kneel down in front of her. A proposal in our bedroom, in our house, where our two children could come running in at any time wasn’t ideal, but, then again, it felt somewhat fitting.

“Rei,” I said slowly as I grabbed the box with both hands. “Will—”

“Wait,” she blurted out, hands still covering her mouth as she spun in place, her feet tapping against the ground like an excited puppy eager to play. She stopped, still facing away from me, and shook her hands to ease her nerves. She took a deep breath and straightened her back. “You know we’re already married right?”

“Yeah,” I looked at the ring box. “But I wasn’t the one to propose, not really, and besides, we didn’t even have a ceremony, so, I figured we could renew our vows. For the first time, or, something.”

Rei laughed and shook her head. “I’m going to say yes you know.”

“I was hoping so.”

“And, did you have some kind of a plan?”

I nodded again, even though her back was towards me. “Yeah, I had a good idea of—”

She folded her hands behind her back. “Then I’ll wait. I want to see what you have planned.”

“Okay.” I put the box back into my pocket and stood to hug Rei from behind. “I love you, Rei.”

She kissed my knuckle and let me embrace her for a moment. “I love you too Enji. With all my heart.” We continued this small happy moment for what felt like an hour before Rei tapped on my arm to release her. “Alright big guy, we need to finish packing so we can get the kids to my parents.”

“Right.” I kissed her on the top of her head one last time before letting her go. “I’m even more excited about this now.”

“A whole week without kids?” Rei smiled as she headed out of the room, her silver eyes twinkling at me. “Of course you’d look forward to it, Mr. Handsy.”

“Like you’re one to talk.”

She stuck her tongue out and headed out into the wilderness of our home again.

XXXX

Kids deposited at the bank of Grandpa and Grandma.

Nap.

Rush to the airport ever so slightly late because we took a bit more time than we should have in the shower. Sharing a shower saved neither water nor time.

Meeting up with All Might.

Boarding our private charter plane.

Take off.

Being in a plane was normally quite stressful. At least, it was for me back in my old life, and that was mostly because of the amount of people I would be sitting so close to. However, my current fear came from the announcement that the cabin was pressurized. I knew enough science to know that pressure plus man known to set self on fire equals bad.

But I was fine. I was totally fine. I just needed to not set myself on fire.

But what if I did?

Dammit! Bad brain. Think about wholesome things.

Think about the fact that after the end of this trip Rei would officially be married to me. Well, we’d be engaged while married, which was probably the opposite of how things were supposed to go down. Wait, that was going to make me nervous. Dammit. She already said she’d say yes and—

I felt Rei’s hand tap my shoulder followed by a light fizzle from our quirks interacting.

She looked up from her Switch and smiled at me. I might have gotten Rei ever so slightly very addicted to Animal Crossing. “Try not to make us explode, even if it is cute that you’re afraid of flying.”

“I’m not afraid of flying.” I pouted, crossing my arms and glancing down at her. “I’m just nervous about being in a pressurized tube.”

“Same thing.” Rei shrugged and patted on my arm some more. Her smile seemed even brighter than normal. “Though, maybe you should be less nervous and more excited. I know I am.”

Her wink could kill a man.

All Might’s laughter reminded me that our private flight wasn’t all that private. “You two are adorable.”

“Oh?” Rei looked up from her switch once again, hand going on her cheek and I could all but hear the Ara Ara~ in her voice. “And when’s it your turn to be adorable, All Might? I’ve seen how you act around children.”

And just like that All Might went from number one hero to a blushing schoolboy being cowed by a woman a decade younger than him. All Might brought up his hand and tried to wave the notion away. “This and that are entirely different.”

Rei just chuckled again. “Sure are Toshi, sure are.”

I pointed towards her while looking at All Might. “I’m on her side. I get that you want to devote your life to being All Might, but, the times I see you smile the most are when you’re not All Might.”

All Might, number one hero, pouted like a child being told he had to eat his veggies. “I’ll…” He paused and sighed. “I’m not looking for anyone right now.”

That was shorthand for him being afraid to fall in love and have All for One use that love against him. In many ways I understood that, in others I couldn’t. I guess if I wanted to make sure that All Might had a happy life, we’d need to take care of AfO. But finding the boogeyman required looking under a lot of beds.

Still, there was nothing to do for now.

I leaned back into my seat and glanced out the window. The sky over the pacific ocean was dotted with fluffy white clouds that looked like islands in the infinite blue that surrounded us.

Another hour or two and we’d be on I-Island.

When I saw the Island for the first time, I felt my mouth drop. For the most part, Japan was in line with the world I was used to. Sure, some gadgets were extra fancy and my phone was pretty advanced, but nothing could prepare me for the sight of an artificial island the size and scale of I-Island.

It was huge, grandiose, and made me question my depth perception. I had so many questions. How much did it cost to make? Why was it so large? How did they power it? Why not build something in space? For something that size it’d probably be easier to build a moon base than a floating island. But then they wouldn’t be able to have the expo event and shipping goods might be more expensive. But, it was so big! Why? Why not just take an existing island and convert that into I-Island?

The amazement didn’t even subside once Rei and I exited the plane and could see the full size of the massive walls that surrounded the island. The elevator to the city proper had both of us left in shock as we just kind of flailed our arms a bit at every sight.

But that wasn’t all. Once we were past security and firmly inside the city, Rei and I just stared in awe at the spectacle of it all. The city was massive, clean, elegant, and just felt so futuristic and impressive that I felt like I was in Star Wars or some other high-tech game. It just felt like for the first time I was in the future.

“Yeah, that’s most people’s first reaction.” A voice called over to our group and I saw a strangely familiar man, but it was the woman to his left that I recognized. Glasses, long blonde hair, pretty blue eyes. It was Melissa Shield, or rather, her mother. “Toshi! It’s been far too long!”

“David!” All Might dropped his luggage and pulled the scrawny man into a great big power hug. “I’ve missed you my friend!” The hug was over in an instant and All Might looked towards the woman. “And I take it this woman must be Sarah! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!”

All Might went for a hug but the woman held up her hand. “Normally, I’d be all for a hug from All Might, but,” she gestured towards the large lump on her stomach and smiled.

All Might paused.

So this was Melissa’s mother? Sarah Shield. She had a kind aura about her. I wonder what happened to her? My usual explanation of the author being lazy wouldn’t really apply here, but I hoped she would end up being okay. And hopefully David won’t ever need to make his quirk enhancing device. What would happen if I used that? Could I set the atmosphere on fire?

Not that I’d want to.

“David!” All Might let out another cry and hug tackled his friend, swirling David around with enough force that his glasses went flying. My years as a glasses-wearing teen blended with my current heroic reflexes and I dove to catch them. “Why didn’t you tell me you were expecting! Oh my congratulations my friend!”

I laughed and watched as Rei stepped towards Sarah. “Hello, I’m Rei Todoroki, Endeavour’s wife.”

“Oh, hello,” Sarah gasped and then shook Rei’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, and welcome to I-Island.” Sarah’s smile vanished and she let out an exasperated sigh. “You have no idea how happy I am you’re here, especially since you’re a mother as well. Right?”

“That’s right, me and Enji have two kids back home, Touya and Fuyumi.”

“Oh my what lovely names!”

“Thank you, how far along are you?”

“Getting close to seven months! My due date is September 29th!”

I watched as my wife had girl talk with Sarah, and All Might had bro talk with David. And then I looked at the glasses in my hands.

Yeah, this felt right.

Chapter Text

The first night on I-Island had been a hectic one filled with David and Sarah showing us around the island, and even showing us a small preview of the expo itself, though it would still be a day before the actual exhibits opened up. But, if I was honest, that wasn’t exactly what I was excited about.

Don’t get me wrong, there was amazing stuff here at I-Island, stuff that made me scratch my head and made me feel like I was in the middle of a Star Wars movie. And that wasn’t even an exaggeration, I’m pretty sure there was at least one laser sword being developed here. I’d be more interested in something like incredibly comfortable shoes… that were fireproof.

But what I was infinitely more excited for, the real reason why I had agreed to come to this floating hunk of steel in the middle of the pacific ocean was, almost an entire week of—nearly—uninterrupted alone time with Rei. That, and I didn’t have to do a bunch of hero stuff. I was just a normal guy wandering around a futuristic city with his girlfriend/wife.

Right now, David was currently with All Might in his lab, likely talking about something private, or something, it wasn’t much of my business. Sarah was currently doing her job as a teacher. In the middle of summer.

I-Island kids didn’t really get vacations.

Which meant me and Rei had nearly all day to ourselves.

“Come on!” Rei spun, her fashionable outfit swirling slightly at the sudden motion as she reached out to grab my hand. “Sarah said it should be just around here.”

“Where are you taking me?” I laughed, following after Rei as I couldn’t get over just how happy she looked. Everytime we went on a date it felt like we were teenagers, just a couple of laughing goofballs that were so into each other. And honestly I felt negative amounts of shame over how I acted with Rei in public, mostly because she didn’t give a fuck either.

“Well, you know how David and Sarah are from America?” Rei asked, pulling me down a busy street that just smelled fantastic. Each of I-Island’s cities had food from all around the world and it all smelled wonderful. The infrastructure that had been put in place to support the researchers was amazing.

I gave a half shrug, side-eyeing some restaurant I had never even seen before, but my nose and eyes said it was delicious. “Yeah, I recall them mentioning that.”

“Well, it turns out they’re both from where you said you were from.” Rei gave a light wink and turned to look down the streets as we came to a corner, then she quickly tugged me down a side road. “So, I asked them where the best place for food is on I-Island. And after a long talk, they told me about this place.”

She stopped, bounced, and pointed with both hands towards a place that made my heart sing. And my stomach sang louder. Nostalgia hit me like a truck and my stomach grumbled in eager anticipation while my mouth began to salivate.

“Well, quit staring.” Rei pulled my arm again and pulled me inside. “The food isn’t going to order itself.”

Rei pulled me inside and stuck us in line. I ordered for both myself and Rei, then we sat at a booth while we waited for our food.

Before I could properly thank Rei, a robotic servant placed the food at our table.

“Wow,” Rei muttered, looking at her plate. “I’m fairly certain that Fuyumi weighed less than this when she was born.”

Infant-sized burritos were the food of my people.

Was it rude that I only responded by taking the first bite of my first burrito in over a year now? Either way, that was what I did. That first initial bite, the contents of the burrito shifting inside, followed by the tearing of the tortilla, as I took in a mouthful of fried potatoes smothered in cheese, mixed with shredded beef, chicken, beans, rice, and just a bit of greens that had my entire body demanding more.

I groaned, eyes rolling back as I let out a groan of satisfaction.

That was the stuff.

Rei let out a laugh as I saw her take a knife and fork to her own burrito. “I’m not sure if I should be excited or insulted.”

“Why?” I muttered after swallowing the first bite that truly made me feel full in months.

“Well,” Rei’s smile was dangerous as she leaned forward just a bit; there was a light in her eyes that just screamed pure and utter mirth. “It’s just that’s the face you make when I’m on top.”

I stared at Rei in a mixture of disbelief and shock as it took a moment for me to remember that despite everything, Rei was well on her way towards becoming a dirty old woman that could make a sex joke without even blinking. It was kind of hot. Okay, it was really hot.

Rei gave a light squeal, placing her hand on her cheek as she took her first bite of her own burrito. Hers was more classical; chicken, rice, cheese, and beans, all mixed with some kind of sauce that I could only guess about. “Though I can hardly blame you, this is about that good.”

I narrowed my eyes at her and took an aggressive bite of my burrito. “I’m pretty sure you’re trying to goad me into something.”

“Who, me?” Rei placed a hand on her chest, eyes fluttering as she acted surprised. “I would never. I mean, it’s not like we’re going to be staying at a hotel room for the next week alone with no kids to worry about walking in on us, what ever could I be goading you into.”

I glanced at my burrito, then at her burrito, then a small glance towards her chest, though it was hidden by her clothing, then I settled on her eyes. “Fine, I’ll make sure that after tonight, you say I’m better than any burrito.”

“Good, and I’ll make sure you make even more cute faces just for me.” Rei smiled and then took another bite. “This is really good though.”

“I know right?”

Chapter Text

“Oi, you’re that Endeavour bloke, I ‘eard so much about right? I have a wee bit of a proposition for a man of your talents, seein’ as how you can control flames an’ all. How ‘bout some seasonal work? Aussie’s Fire Force could always use some more backburners when the whole country turns into a barbie again, just say the word and we can get ya to Sydney before ya can even say g’day.”

I stared at what looked like a cross between Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Irwin, and Crocodile Dundee, complete with a shark tooth cowboy hat and an open vest that showed off some abs that I could cook bacon on with how much oil he had on them. Of all the people I expected to see at the I-Island banquet dinner, this guy wasn’t exactly on the top of the list. I stared at the man for a few more moments as I slowly processed what exactly he had just said in an accent I vaguely understood as english.

“Uhh.” I blinked, probably one eye at a time, and then shrugged. “I’d have to ask my wife.”

I glanced over my shoulder, still expecting to see Rei come through the doors. We had parted at about noon today; she had mentioned something about wanting to get a dress with Sarah, while I had hero duties with All Might to do. About half the heroes were in their costumes, while the other half were in suits.

I wore a suit.

The logic was simple: Rei saw me in my hero suit a lot, hell sometimes she ended up washing it for me, but she never saw me wearing a suit that fit this good. Seriously, I felt more powerful in this thing than I ever did wearing my spandex pajamas in public. And I couldn’t wait to see how Rei looked in her dress.

“I getcha’ I getcha’, I couldn’t even come here without bringing my own Sheila. Happy wife, happy life am I right? Well don’tcha worry there Bluey, if ya ever feel the need to come to the outback, just holler for ol’ Boomerang Jack.”

I blinked again, and then shrugged. “Sure, I’ll keep that in mind.”

That had to be the most stereotypically Australian hero name I had ever heard. And I might have absolutely loved everything about it.

I moved past Boomerang Jack and talked to a few more heroes, including a woman from Germany that I could barely understand who was apparently a phoenix, and was dating a pink-haired goth woman. I also spoke to a white and blue haired woman that looked like a little girl and apparently had a shark based quirk that really just liked to say ‘a’. There were inventors and investors as well, but for the most part I kept my eyes on that door, waiting for Rei to come up and join the party.

Finally after my elbows felt like they had been rubbed raw from the amount of elbow rubbing I was forced to do, I saw Rei appear.

And she was worth the wait.

How many times could I fall in love with the same person? How many times could I fall in love with someone in a single glance? In less than a breath, she had made the entire world vanish around me so that she was all I could focus on. That ring felt like a burning star in my pocket, demanding that I put it on her finger now. The timid look on her face made her look even more beautiful.

Then.

Our eyes met.

And her smile made even my brightest flames look like a candle in the fog.

Her hair was straight, pulled back behind her shoulders and allowing her pure white locks to contrast with the sheer blackness of her dress. With open shoulders, exposed arms, and a plunging neckline that was just the right mix between modest and sexy, Rei’s dress hugged her body tight, paying tribute to her curves while magnifying her petite frame. A slit in the dress gave a tantalizing peek at Rei’s right leg from the knee down and showed off the black heels she was wearing.

Maybe history had a point about ankles.

The sight of Rei fast walking towards me, all but skipping, made my heart feel really funny. Suddenly I felt like a child wearing an ill-fitted suit demanding a sippy cup of the fizzy juice mom was drinking.

“Enji,” Rei walked up to me, hands going for my collar as she made a slight adjustment purely because she could, “you’d look a lot more handsome if you picked your jaw up off the floor.”

I snapped my mouth shut and smiled. I could feel my cheeks burning so much that I wondered if I had accidentally sat myself on fire again. Luckly, nothing was actually on fire, so I just looked at Rei, my heart pounding in my chest as she smiled up at me looking just so completely and utterly beautiful that I couldn’t even speak.

But I had to.

I swallowed and forced myself to smile. “You look amazing, Rei.”

Her smile brightened and she hugged me, pulling me down to pull herself up and whisper in my ear. “I wanted to make sure I looked good on your birthday. I’m glad you liked it.”

I hugged her back lightly, before being reminded that we were in a public place as the flash of a camera drew my attention towards a reporter. Hopefully that didn’t go viral or anything. Then again, apparently I was memeable as hell in Japan, so who knew?

But Rei didn’t pay anyone else any mind. I might have been here because I was invited, but Rei was here purely for me.

And considering how we were both introverts, that was saying a lot.

“So, anything happen while I was gone?” Rei asked, grabbing onto one of the champagne flutes as a server passed by. This party felt rich as hell.

I shrugged and gestured at some of the heroes. “I got invited to fight fires in Australia, and had several confusing conversations with people I could barely understand, and also finally talked a guy into making me some new shoes. So overall it’s been productive.”

Rei hummed, “Are you sure you don’t want to see about getting your hero costume updated?”

I shrugged. “Not especially, besides I don’t really have an idea for a new design.”

“Oh!” She took a drink, and slapped my chest a few times in excitement, “What if I design your costume, at least the concept stage of it? Would that work?”

“That’d be amazing, just don’t make it too edgy.”

“So pink with bunnies on it. Oh, and fuzzy slippers.”

“That’s how I roll.”

The fact that we were at a party came up every few moments, brief reminders that we weren’t alone as people came to talk to us, mostly Sarah, who was wearing a red dress that went with her blonde hair that had David staring at her the same way that I was staring at Rei. And a few times All Might, who was in his hero costume.

“Alright, my friend, I have a speech to give!” All Might clapped a hand on my shoulder and marched towards the stage with the kind of dignity that could only be had by someone unaware that they were wearing high tech pajamas.

“Good luck!”

All Might gave us a thumbs up without looking back.

“You know, I’ve been wondering,” Rei leaned against me ever so slightly, finger on her lip, eyes half closed. “Has All Might ever dated anyone?”

I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe when he was younger, but I think he’s afraid.”

“Afraid?” Rei asked.

“Yeah,” David nodded coming up to join us. “A relationship is the one thing that really scares All Might. He’s worried that people might try to get him through her, he’s also worried about his image if he’s seen as anything other than All Might. He’s dedicated his whole life towards bringing peace.”

“Well that’s stupid.” Rei snorted, glaring at All Might.

How many of those champagne glasses had she had at this point?

“I mean, not the whole peace thing, that’s great, but, he deserves his own happiness.” Rei took another drink of champagne and gave a sour glare towards All Might then looked up at me with large pleading eyes. “Help me set him up.”

“I…” I paused. I understood why All Might was afraid, right now All for One was out there, and the man would seek to destroy everything All Might loved. Once he was dealt with though, then maybe we could work on All Might opening up a bit. “Maybe in a few years, let some of the weight get lifted off his shoulders.”

“I guess, but he’s already a christmas cake.”

“He’s All Might.”

“And to anyone that matters that won’t matter.”

“Damn, you’re just laying down the wisdom huh?”

“Don’t I always?”

David groaned. “Oh my, I think you two need to get a room.”

I blinked, and looked towards the elevator. “That’s actually not too bad of an idea. Rei, you done here?”

She downed her glass and placed it down before nodding. “I’ve been looking forward to this all night.”

“What.”

“Leaving.”

I loved my wife.

“Huh?” David asked, his glasses nearly falling off his face. “Aren’t you going to stick around for All Might’s speech?”

“I wrote the speech.”

Besides, All Might knew I was there for him in spirit.

Probably.

Regardless, I had something important I needed to do right now.

I had scouted this place out earlier, a hidden nook in the botanical gardens that took up the 80th floor of the central tower. Nestled at the very edge near some large glass windows was a row of floors that ranged from every kind of color in the world, and it was beyond private. The light here was low, with much of it coming from the city lights below and the moon above.

It might not be the most perfect place to propose, but it really did beat our bedroom.

A lump formed in my throat as I walked with Rei through the gardens, I could feel my nervousness spiking from time to time as I kept sneaking glances at her in that dress. “So, did you buy that dress or rent it?”

“Hmm,” Rei hummed looking down at herself. “Are you asking that because you want me to wear it around the house?”

“Hey, it’s not like we never go out, and if I get to see you wear that more often I’d probably try to go out more.” I grabbed her by the waist and kissed her cheek. “Besides, we could even just have a fancy dinner at home.

Rei laughed, “You know all my buttons don’t you, but yes, Sarah convinced me to buy it, I’m sure I’ll find some excuse to wear it more often though.”

“That’s good.” I paused, still holding onto her as I glanced out at the city through a field of multicolored flowers that despite their beauty were all used for some kind of an experiment. I took a breath. Grabbed the box that had been in my pocket all day and turned to look Rei right in the eyes.

She knew what was coming. She was smiling, blushing and trying so hard not to just start laughing about what was about to happen. I wouldn’t even be mad if she did. Rei glanced from side to side, not finding another person on the entire floor with everyone lining up to hear All Might talk.

Which was perfect.

Time to ask my wife to marry me.

“Rei,” I said slowly, pulling out the box and hearing her gasp the moment I opened the lid, hands flying to her mouth. She stomped her feet and let out a light squeal, her hands barely able to contain her smile. “I know this is a bit strange considering how we’re already married, but, I want to be the one to ask you.”

“Will you marry me?”

Rei nodded eagerly, letting out a few cute and excited noises as she extended a hand down towards me. “Yes. God yes. Enji, I just… Yes.”

Seeing her be so happy over this was worth more than anything else in that moment. That smile, those tears, that blush, every look on her face was seared into my mind and etched into my very soul. I placed the ring on her finger and looked at it for a moment. It was official.

Rei was my wife.

“You have no idea how much I want to go tell everyone about this.” Rei laughed and pushed a tear out of her eye. “I want to go brag to Sarah about this ring, I want to call my mom and scream, that I’m now happily married. Though she might already know.”

“I was actually thinking about that.” I smiled at her, still holding her hand as I stood up. “But, it’d be easy to just say that I asked to renew our vows, or, you know, actually say our vows, or umm, something, I really didn’t think this through beyond just wanting to marry you super bad.”

“Super bad, huh?” Rei pulled on my collar and dragged me into a kiss that had my toes curling. Rei pulled back all smiles and giggles. “Well, there’s something I want from you super bad. So, why don’t we head back to the hotel room?”

“The only reason I’m not picking you up and jetting us there right now is I don’t want to ruin the dress. Or your hair.”

“How romantic.” She placed a hand on my chest and smiled. “But you’re right, we should leave quietly.”

XXXX

I sat on the edge of our hotel bed, the jacket of my suit resting on a chair while the tie had been pulled free and tossed somewhere on the floor. My shoes were scattered on the ground next to Rei’s heels as I felt the still wet kisses she had placed on my cheeks. I stared at the washroom door that Rei had entered moments ago to freshen up. I still had no idea what that actually meant, but I was excited.

After a moment she appeared, looking just as gorgeous as she had when I first saw her tonight, though her hair was now a bit more wild and loose. She walked over to me with her hips swaying side to side, and ran a hand through her hair one last time. She placed a knee on the bed, and a hand on my cheek, luring me into another brief kiss.

“So, what did you want from me?” I asked, smiling at her feeling equal parts happy and dopey.

“Well,” Rei let that word drip off her tongue like it was honey, “You know how I’ve been spending time with Sarah? And how she’s rather pregnant?”

“Yeah-oh!”

Rei stood up, backing away from me and reaching behind her back to pull the straps of her dress over her head. The dress hit the floor, and Rei was in some very fancy underwear I don’t remember her owning. They were black. She looked good in black. “I want another child.”

That was when I discovered that going for a child meant sex. A lot of sex.

Chapter Text

Pregnant wife.

Pregnant wife.

Pregnant wife.

Pregnant wife.

“Endeavour! Do you have any thoughts on the upcoming election? Any candidates that you support?”

“Pregnant wife.”

“Uhh.”

I blinked and found myself going cross eyed at the microphone that had been shoved in my face and the camera that was behind the woman. The man holding the microphone was tall, skinny, and had short spiky hair. I felt like I had seen him on the internet at some point. I stared at him for a few seconds before I responded with a very profound, “Uhh.”

Maki came between us, pushing me back and talking directly into the microphone while flipping her hair. “Sorry about that, all Endeavour has been thinking about recently is his pregnant wife.”

“Oh!” The man took the microphone back and spoke into it. “Well that’s much more exciting than politics, how far along is she.”

“Four months.” I muttered, still trying to remember what exactly four months meant. How many weeks was that? Why did my brain not remember weeks! Dates were easier, dividing things by seven in addition to trying to remember how many days were in each month was confusing.

How many days were even in August? Was Halloween on the thirtieth or the thirty-first? Or was it on the thirteenth. Wait, that last one was a meme.

“Well, if that isn’t the response of an excited father I don’t know what is. But, tell us Endeavour, isn’t this your third child?” The reporter shoved the microphone back into my face.

I stared at it again, once again going crossed eyed. “Uhh. Touya, Fuyumi, yes! Three.”

Three!

Pregnant wife!

Wait! Three needed a name? Was I supposed to name it Natsuo? What about Shoto? It was too young for Natsuo, too old for Shoto. What if he didn’t come out a boy, but instead came out as a she, then she would need a new name! Could I just call her Shoko? Was that a real name or was that something that was just made up because it kind of sounded like a real name but also kinda like Shoto. Would Rei slap me if I suggested that name? What did she want to call it?

I should stop thinking of my child as an it.

I wanted to scream.

When was Rei able to go and find out what was in her belly? What if it was twins? Then I could call them both Natsuo and Shoto. Wait, what if they were both girls! And identical? Shoko and uhh, what was the female version of Natsuo? Uhh, uh, oh! Nami! That was a cute name! Nami, Nami.

I should run that one by Rei.

I reached out, grabbing the collar of a teenager that was too into their phone to notice the truck that was about to Isekai his ass. I looked at the spiky-haired blond kid and he looked at me. Those sunglasses looked familiar.

“Is Nami a good name for a girl?”

He blinked, his legs still acting like he was walking. “Yeah man! That sounds radical!”

“Kay,” I put him down and watched him pay attention for a split second. “Watch where you’re going.”

“Sure thing man!”

He felt familiar.

“Wow!” The reporter said loudly, reminding me that I was technically being interviewed. This happened a lot. “You heard it here first folks! Endeavour is gauging names for a girl! Hopefully we’ll have another hero on the rise in the near future!”

“Wait!” Maki flailed her arms. “He’s just rambling, we don’t know what the gender is yet!”

“Oh.” The reporter frowned. “Well you heard it here folks, Endeavour has no idea what’s going on, and neither do we! Still the future is looking bright, wouldn’t you say big guy?”

Microphone in face again.

I knew exactly what to say.

“Pregnant wife.”

“Insightful! That was Endeavour, everyone!”

We watched as the reporter and the camera left after thanking us for our time.

And then Maki hit me.

“Seriously!” She huffed, both hands on her hips. “Are you sure you should be working in the state you’re in?”

I opened my mouth and held up my finger. “Babies need money.”

“You’re basically loaded dude.”

“Rei kicked me out of the house and told me I had to do hero stuff before I drove her insane.”

“That I believe.”

Maki let out another sigh, shaking her head in annoyance. “Really, though, try to keep your head in the game.”

I pointed towards the punk I saved. “I stopped him from getting runded over.”

“Runded? That’s not a word. Seriously. As cute as watching you being so dopey about your kids is, you need to get your head in the game, and start acting like the number two pro you are.”

“You’re right!” I stood tall and rolled my shoulder for a few seconds. Time to get my head in the game, and to focus on this patrol, and— “Okay, how do I do that?”

Maki sighed and pinched her nose. “I can’t believe you’re my boss.”

I just smiled and resumed our patrol through the city, once again praying for an easy day, only for it to be overrun by at least a dozen rescues, one mild crisis, and a much-needed ice cream trip in the middle of November for some crying kid that destroyed a bus when his quirk activated. So yeah, ever so slightly mildly average day.

Apparently Rei had been watching the news and saw that I was having ice cream with some kid and decided to text me.

Rei: I want ice cream. Something with brownie.
Rei: and cookies.
Rei: and caramel.

I had two thoughts at that text. The first was, when did pregnancy cravings start? And the second, wouldn’t that be what Rei lactated?

I kept both those thoughts to myself and listened to my wife. As I brought home dinner, I went out and got chocolate ice cream that had everything in it.

XXXX

“Papa!”

Fuyumi used Leg Tackle!

It wasn’t very effective!

“Hey Fuyuyu, did you take care of Mama today?” I asked, holding my leg up so I could look my daughter in the eye for a few moments before she fell to the ground. The duality of Touya crying if he got a small cut on his arm and Fuyumi’s ability to bounce off a wall going full speed didn’t escape me. I briefly wondered if not feeling pain was just some side effect of her quirk.

As long as she was a happy kid, who were we to complain?

Fuyumi just smiled at me with a tooth filled grin and nodded. “Yep! I even made her tea! Mama says I make it super good!”

“I’ll have to try some then! Now come on, let’s go eat alright?” I placed the groceries down and picked Fuyumi up so she could ride on my shoulder like the monkey she was. Seriously, her climbing ability was greater than Touya’s by a wide mile, mostly because she had no fear when it came to climbing. In about two years, it’d be time for her to start going to school as well.

Which meant that, depending on where our next child landed, it could be six or seven years until Rei can have a kid-free couple of hours each day.

Assuming she didn’t pull a Thor and shout another while throwing the condoms in the trash.

“What’d you get us?”

“Sushi.”

“Hmmm, yummy!”

On our way to the dining room I passed by the kitchen and saw Rei leaning against the counter, her shirt rolled up casually to show off the still-forming taut bump in her otherwise slender stomach. It was oddly beautiful in a way, especially with how happily she was smiling while enjoying her tea. And she was talking to someone, a friend?

Opposite of her, sipping on her own tea, was a woman with long, straight, red hair that went all the way to her knees. She had a kind face and purple eyes. Deja Vu was something I had felt many times since I joined this world, and this woman was no exception.

I glanced up towards Fuyumi, “You didn’t tell me someone else was here.”

“Oops?” Fuyumi shrugged on my shoulder.

“Oh, Enji.” Rei’s face lit up as she looked at me. “Did you bring the ice cream?”

I felt so loved.

“Yep, Sushi too.”

“Sushi and ice cream?” the red haired woman asked. “You two really know how to party. I’d prefer ramen myself, but hey, to each their own.”

I looked at Rei confused.

Rei smiled and waved me over. “Enji, this is Kushina, she’s a friend of mine that just came back into town.”

My writer senses were telling me that I couldn’t trust Kushina at all, given how Rei just became pregnant and this would totally make some kind of elaborate plot hook that would get the reader invested as the betrayal took form. But the trusting dad of two and a half took over and I smiled at her. “Nice to meet you Kushina.”

“Oh, so this is the man I’ve been hearing so much about.” Kushina laughed and bounced over to me, getting really up close and personal as she did so. “Hmm, I like his hair color, and he looks like he’s a bit on the slow side, still, nice to meet you boss!”

“Boss?” I asked.

“Oh, uhh, remember when I had Fuyumi and I needed you to hire a nanny for a few months?” Rei asked, wincing slightly.

I nodded, digging into Endeavour’s memories. At the time Rei had been rather frail and sickly and could barely function let alone watch a three year old at the same time. God, Endeavour was such a dick. “So you decided to offer the position to Kushina?”

“Yep!” Kushina jumped back a few feet and struck a dynamic pose. How old was this woman? “Don’t worry, I’ll be the best super nanny in the world!”

I blinked and looked towards Rei. “Is she qualified?”

“She has a degree in child development and she’s aiming to become a kindergarten teacher, so yeah, she’s qualified.” Rei gave a light laugh smiling at her friend.

There was no way I was going to say no to this. Less stress for Rei, and her being able to spend time with a friend was a win in my book.

“Alright, Kushina, welcome to the family.”

XXXX

After going over her duties—which really just meant Rei telling me what they had already discussed—and the fact that Kushina would be taking over Rei’s old room—she needed a place to stay—the night was on its way to coming to a close. Kushina started immediately, taking care of giving the kids a bath, while I performed my duty as a doting husband and began to massage my wife’s feet while we relaxed in the living room.

It was then that I got a call for All Might.

Without thinking about it, I answered it.

“Enji.” His voice sounded heavy. Stressed. Desperate. “We found him.”

My stomach dropped.

Chapter Text

Shit.

That was all I could think of.

I didn’t bother to ask how they found him. I wasn’t a part of the investigation team. All I wanted to know was why. Why now? Why did it have to be now? When Rei was pregnant, and we were expecting a child? Why did it have to be so close to her birthday? Why did it have to be when everything was going so well?

I wanted to scream. I wanted to throw a tantrum. I wanted to tell All Might to do it himself and leave me out of it.

But.

I couldn’t.

I might be a petty person, but I wasn’t selfish enough to put my own self-interest so far above the needs of others. This was why I hated being in a position of power. This was why I didn’t want to be a hero. I wanted nothing more than to just stay home and spend time with my family.

And after this, that was all I was going to do.

How many years of early retirement would “Fighting the most deadly villain in the history of Japan” get me if we won?

Probably not a lot.

“Are you ready for this, my friend?” Despite the sweetness of All Might’s words, his tone was anything but sweet. In a word, he was frightening. It felt like there was a storm gathering around him, ready to strike at anything that so much as looked at him.

“Are you?” I asked before my brain could tell my mouth that I needed to be careful with my words.

All Might blinked, the storm clouds vanishing as he smiled before he let out a laugh that nearly shook the whole car. The laugh ebbed and flowed, moving from a chuckle to a whole belly laugh as I somehow managed to find just the right button to relieve all of All might’s stress. “No, no, I don’t suppose I was Enji. Thank you.”

That didn’t mean we were turning back.

The drive to Kyoto wasn’t a long one. The train would have been shorter, but we needed to be there away from the public eye, which was why we were taking a car. And there was a chance that by the time we got there, All for One might be gone. Or far too protected for us to deal with.

Was it wrong I was hoping he’d be gone already?

“But, this is because of you,” All Might leaned further into the large seat we were currently sharing in the back of the car. Mirai glanced back at us with a curious look every so often from the driver seat.

“You know, I’m really starting to hate experiencing the consequences of my own damn actions all the time.” I groaned, placing one hand onto my face and trying to imagine that right now, instead of driving to Kyoto at the ass-crack of dawn, I was still in bed with my wife and feeling her cool hands on my face.

All Might laughed again. “I’m sure it’s better than life happening regardless of what you do.”

I’d rather life just leave me the fuck alone.

“But really, are you sure about this All Might?” I glanced towards him, trying to keep the tone light. “I don’t know anything about what he can do at this point.”

“From what you said about when we have our rematch in the future, that was him after specifically going for quirks that would allow him to beat me; close to a hundred or so, right? Even if he has had time to prepare, it wouldn’t be that much. You should know that the sooner we deal with him, the easier it will be.”

I hated that it made sense.

“I know that I know that, but are you sure we’re doing this because we’re being pragmatic, or because you want revenge for him killing Nana?” Again I spoke without thinking, even if it was a truth that needed to be stated. All Might’s frown worried me. “We’re going to do this, All Might—” was I telling him that or me? “—but carrying that baggage into the fight won’t help us. We are doing this to stop him from hurting more people.”

All Might let out a long steady breath and then looked out the window. He held that gaze even as we passed through a tunnel. “I’m not going to lie to you. Part of the reason why I’m so eager for this fight is to avenge my master and all the other users of One for All that came before her. But don’t worry, I won’t let my emotions get the better of me. And I’ll make sure that you get out of this in one piece.”

“Well, that totally makes me feel like I’m going to lose a limb or something in this whole ordeal.”

All Might roared in laughter at my deadly seriousness.

“Haha, don’t worry so much, if you lose an arm we’ll talk David into making you a new one.” All Might nudged me with an elbow. “We can even ask Rei for a list of features she’d like.”

“Did you just make a sex joke?”

“Yep.”

“Holy shit I’ve corrupted All Might.”

All Might let out another roaring laughter and slapped his knee. “I thought I was supposed to be the mentor here! I almost have a decade on you, you know.”

“Something I frequently forget.” I rolled my eyes and took what might be the first breath that didn’t come with a feeling of dread all day. “But, what’s the plan? I mean, I can provide fire support.” The pun was only sometimes intended. “But, I’d be too worried about hitting you, and if I get too close, there’s a chance he might try taking my quirk.”

All Might sighed and nodded. “I understand your concern, but, I do know how he steals quirks.” He reached out and grabbed my head with one hand, his palm resting against my forehead. “To steal a quirk, he needs to touch your head with his left hand, and to give a quirk he needs to touch you with his right hand. I’m fairly certain that when things get heated, you’re too hot to touch.”

“Is this entire car ride going to be nothing but fire puns?” I asked, swatting away All Might’s hand. It felt good to know that I could at least fight back against my quirk being stolen. Even if it wasn’t the most well behaved quirk in the world, I’d kind of grown to like it just a bit, and it was better than All for One having it. “Because that might be more punishing than the actual fight.”

Mirai, seeing his fate, groaned from the front seat. There was a good chance he was debating on driving us off the road for the greater good.

“Haha! Perhaps!” All Might’s laughter lasted for a moment before the laughter stopped, the tunnel ending and giving way to the natural beauty of Japan. The calm before the storm washed over us, and for a moment we said nothing.

Then All Might looked towards me, a smile on his face that I would never forget.

“Enji, I have a plan.”

Chapter Text

All Might and I had one major flaw in how we went about our day to day hero work.

We had to hold back. Not just a little, but a massive amount. The slightest slip-up from either of us could damage the whole city when our quirks were unleashed. In All Might’s case, it was like he was in a city of cardboard. He had to be careful not only to prevent the death of any villain that he fought but also to keep the damage to the city at a minimum; a single punch of his could do more damage than a hurricane, and he could punch a lot.

For me, I was a lit cigarette at a gas station.

The slightest lack of control, the slightest bit of spite, and I could end up burning someone, leaving them with a permanent reminder of their fight with me, or my flames could break away from me, burning the very livelihood of those I was sworn to protect as fire did what it was made to do: consume. If I let my anger get the better of me, it would be so easy for me to just kill someone.

And that terrified me.

From the moment I had entered the hidden base beneath the warehouse, I knew that everyone in here was either my enemy or my victim, with my sole ally being All Might.

A two-man dungeon.

I watched as All Might slammed a villain with several quirks into the ground without even breaking a sweat. The villain didn’t even try to get up, simply letting out a low whine as his world adjusted to its currently rocked state. Well, I wasn’t going to let All Might carry me through this.

I looked at my own foe, another person that had a few random quirks stapled onto them. This one had a water-based quirk and a quirk that allowed them to change the shape of their bones at will. His slicked back, light blue hair pissed me off for some reason. The difference in our ability was demonstrated right off the bat, when instead of trying to fight me at a range, he charged forward, the bones on his back shooting out from his shirt and turning into water-powered jets that pushed him forward.

“You idiot!” I used my own flames to dodge, giving me just the extra bit of lift that I needed to stray to the side, and pushed myself forward. The speed by which he could grow his bones was great, great enough that I needed to be actively conscious of it. But, breaking bones was easy. I dodged his attack, keeping the spear-like bones out of the way before I grabbed onto his head and pushed my arm around with a burst of flame that roared like a jet.

The bones coming out of his back shattered like glass against the wall, sending bloody water everywhere and making me think that I had killed him. I almost started to shake right then and there, but I steeled my resolve. This was someone that had earned All for One’s trust, who had received his blessing. This was someone that had committed their lives to All for One.

“Your boss.” He attempted to flail an arm towards me, but I forced it against the wall, the raw bone-shattering again without any muscle to strengthen it. I ignited the back of my hand, providing just enough heat to make it very apparent that the idea of testing the boiling point of a brain was hot on my mind. “Where is he?”

He screamed, legs kicking as he pointed towards the elevator at the end of the large underground room that looked like it was supposed to be some kind of a kill room built for defense. At least it had been before All Might clapped his hands.

“Thank you.” I pulled out one of the few tech items I had gotten from I-Island; a gel shell that, once broken, would let out a goo that would inflate with heat. It was a nice little gimmick that allowed me to bind people quickly. Binding his hands behind his back and to his sides, so he looked like a dumbass doing a chicken dance, I pushed him to the floor. “You’ll be arrested later.”

The cops were on their way already. But All Might didn’t want to give All for One the chance to escape.

All Might had decided to take the gravity express down the elevator by just ripping it out of the wall like he was opening his mail. I glanced down the other hallways that connected this room and heavily debated going off to see what else I could find through there.

Probably more criminals. Drugs would be a problem since I had to be careful around anything that was often highly volatile. Could there be Nomu here? Destroying them now would be for the best.

“Endeavour!” All Might bellowed from the elevator shaft. “Get down here!”

I rushed forward and descended the elevator shaft as quickly as I could, using my flames to reduce my falling speed while I gripped the lone cable that had remained in place despite All Might’s destruction.

More fights, more horrors, people kept in cages, some chained to operating tables, and more than a few cadavers littered the way towards our goal. I knew I was going to have nightmares about this place.

But, I was wrong about what those nightmares would be about.

XXXX

We pushed through a set of ornate doors and found ourselves in a large ornate room, an entire criminal organization brought to its knees over the course of a single day. All that remained was the head of the snake. And he wanted to make a show of it.

The room was a lavish mixture of a traditional Japanese theater mixed with modern tech to make everything in this room feel out of place, and perhaps the most out of place was the man standing at the edge of the stage, a casual grin on his face.

“Well, to what do I owe the honor of having the number one and number two pro heroes here today?” The man waved his hand. Some device clutched in his fingers as though he was showing it off to me. Specifically to me. “Oh, I know, you’re here to—”

Why the hell were we letting him monologue?

I let out a blast of flame that was hot enough to kill a man, and it collided with him dead on. Part of me was afraid I just killed him. Another part was hopeful that I actually had.

“How rude!” The man laughed before my flames had even died down. “That suit was expensive you know, but honestly, Enji~ I’m insulted that you didn’t think that I wouldn’t be prepared for your flames. It’s so easy to find a fire-resistant quirk after all.”

I growled, balling my hands into fists. “Sorry.”

All Might grunted in acknowledgement. “This is where your reign of terror—”

“Do you know how many heroes have told me that before?” All for One waved his remote towards us. “At least two dozen,” he walked off the burning lumber of the stage and continued to wave the remote around, “your master among them. She thought that she would be the one to stop me after all, but here I am, and here you are. But I’m so excited for this confrontation.”

He gave a large smile that threatened to split his face. “It’s going to be so much more different.”

“You’re right!” All Might bellowed, “Because this time—”

“You’re going to fight each other.” The simple tone caught both of us off guard for a second. Some kind of quirk?

He clicked on the remote.

“Hey there Touya, how was school?” The audio played before the lights dimmed, and the projector showed a scene that made my heart drop.

My son. It was my son.

“Fine,” Touya mumbled, looking nervous at the woman that was speaking. “Where’s dad?”

“Work,” the camera shifted towards Rei, who was folding laundry next to the camera, and Fuyumi was trying to help. “He might be gone for a little while, though. He left before you woke up.”

“Hmmph,” Touya grunted and tossed his bag on a seat. “I know, he didn’t walk me to school today.”

“Aww,” another womanly voice said, and the camera turned to look at the laundry. “It’s so sweet that Enji does that, Rei,”

It was Kushina. Kushina was the camera.

Son of a fucking bitch!

“He’s such a worrywart.” Rei laughed, and the camera looked towards her again, catching a smile that made my heart melt. “But, I like that about him.”

All for One tapped the remote again, and the audio cut out. “Families certainly are lovely, aren’t they? So heartwarming; they can be your greatest strength or your greatest weakness.”

“Don’t you dare hurt them.” I was seeing red. I was losing control. My flames were burning hotter and hotter as I glared at him. This had gone from pragmatic to personal. Very personal.

“Oh, but that’s not up to me.” He laughed, showing off the remote again. “You see, Kushina came to me because she couldn’t control her quirk, it scared her. I was so happy to help her, but I did leave some signatures inside of her. The camera you already saw, but, the bomb, well, I do hope you don’t ever see that. It’s simple, really. You kill All Might, and your family lives.”

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck!

My entire body was shaking. Fire was spurting from random places as I tried to think about what to do.

“You monster.” All Might sounded just as furious as I felt.

I turned towards my friend. “Toshi, I’m.”

I paused, biting my lip. What was my choice? What were my options? What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t live with either choice. It wasn’t possible.

I let my family die, and I’d have nothing. I kill All Might and I couldn’t face them.

I felt sick.

“Three.” All for one began his countdown.

“Two—”

All Might charged towards him. He moved faster than his scream—the pure power of One for All on full display. A massive fist burst from the ground, grabbing All Might before he could reach One for All and slamming him down onto the ground as Gigantomachia made himself known.

“Ohh, too bad Enji.” All for One gave me a fake frown and dropped the remote while looking right at me. “He made the choice for you.”

The remote hit the ground. The audio came back for half a second.

“Run.”

Followed by screams.

And then red.

Dead?

They were dead?

My family.

Touya?

Rei?

Fuyumi?

Our unborn child?

All dead?

My Flames roared.

I pushed everything to move forward, charging towards the man that had just killed my family with reckless abandon. I launched a dozen blasts of fire, my anger making each one stronger and stronger as I continued to burn. I was going to use up everything.

It didn’t matter what happened to me.

So long as he died.

And I would make certain that he did.

That was the only reason why I was alive now.

That was the reason I drew breath.

Revenge.

“Oh, your flames tickle Endeavour!” All for One taunted, standing on thin air as he took blow after blow. “Such a pleasant warmth. I can see why your wife was so fond of you!”

“Bastard!” I roared, turning up the heat, moving in closer and bringing my fist to his face.

He caught it with ease.

A shot to my stomach brought me to my knees. A strength quirk.

Bastard.

“Now, now, that’s not nice.” All for One mocked me, bending my wrist back. “I know, as recommence, I’ll take that quirk of yours. So simple, and so powerful, it’s perfect for me.”

I turned up the heat.

“Oh my, what part about heat resistance did you not understand?” All for One frowned as I continued to push my quirk to its limits. The ground beneath me melted, and my suit was burning away. “Accept defeat.”

Fuck that.

I felt his hand on my forehead.

“I have a plan.”

“Eat this.”

“Huh?” All for One looked shocked as he pulled his hand back. “Why can’t I take your quirk? Why—”

One for All.

If that transfer worked. If All Might’s plan meant anything.

Then please.

I grabbed All for One by his arms, holding him to me as I worked my way to my feet. I could feel it. I could feel that raw power finally waking up inside of me after hours of being dormant. Stupid heroic bullshit. I channeled all my anger.

One for All. Please.

Please give me.

EVERYTHING!

“You fool! What part about heat resistance do you not understand!” I felt him lash out against me; his kicks stung, but I kept my grip. “You’re only going to burn yourself out!”

There was no logic in what I was doing. It wasn’t some brilliant tactic. I wasn’t that smart. This was pure brute force. I was going to test everything.

I stopped screaming, letting my flames roar for me as One for All channeled itself into my quirk, causing my body to creak, burst, and spasm as the power rushed outwards.

He might be fire resistant.

But did that apply to the air in his lungs? The air in his eyes? The air in his blood? The air in his bones? What did that mean? How hot could I get? How hot could he get before he stopped resisting? How much heat?

It didn’t matter.

I was going to give him everything.

I burned brighter.

I burned hotter.

Every passing second I could feel my flames doubling in size, consuming more and more fuel as I burned.

I was going to burn him away!

I will turn his blood into ash and set his lungs on fire!

I will turn him to ash.

I will kill him.

I opened my eyes and saw a world of fire.

Inhabited solely by a dried and dead husk of a man.

And then.

Darkness.

Chapter Text

Everything hurt.

A lot.

It was the kind of pain that was only amplified by the reality I was going to face. If I knew that Rei was alive, that our children were still alive, I would already be awake and fighting through this pain like it was nothing. But, I wasn’t ready to face the world where I was without them. Where I was a murderer, I could still see that hollow screaming skull of ash. I hated that I was still alive.

It would have made a better story if I had died then.

No one wants to read the story of a broken man.

I let out a long sign.

“Enji.”

I could hear her voice.

I could feel her squeezing my hand.

Wait.

I could feel her.

I shot up in the hospital so fast that I got light-headed. I fought through that, though as I stared at her as I stared at Rei. She was wearing a short-sleeved shirt that showed off the bandages that covered much of her arms and up to her neck; a few smaller bandages were on her face, but she was here.

“You’re alive.” It was more a pray than a statement.

She nodded, smiling brightly. There was no bitter sadness in her eyes, just the same soft, warming smile she always gave me. She moved from her seat beside my bed and kissed me on my cheek. Her lips were cold, but it still warmed my entire body. “So are you. I was worried when they flew your body in, but Recovery Girl said you’d just need some rest.”

“What about the kids?” The fog was lifting from my head as I glanced around the hospital room I was currently in. The T.V. was on, a charred crater being shown on one side. Did I do that? “How did you survive the bomb? Kushina?”

“Kushina’s fine.” That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “Fuyumi and Touya are doing good. I got the most hurt trying to protect everyone. Our house on the other hand.” Rei reached towards the counter and grabbed her phone. With the dexterity that still flabbergasted me, she opened a webpage with a single hand and showed me a photo. I recognized the crush remains of our house almost instantly, a large chunk of ice carved it in two while more carnage spilled onto the streets.

“I’m just glad you’re okay, when All for One said that he had a bomb and then set it off, I thought that you died. But what exactly happened?” I asked, looking between Rei, the photo and the muted T.V., “How did you survive the bomb.”

“Bomb? It wasn’t a bomb,” Rei frowned and took her phone back. “I’m not sure on the details, but what happened was that Kushina’s quirk started activating on its own, but it was more extreme this time.”

Rei let go of my hand for the first time, stood, and stretched, making a cute little yawn before she sat on the side of the bed and laid on top of me, holding up her phone for both of us to see. “Normally, she’s only about the size of a human on all fours with a single tail, but this time she was like the size of a house. It sounds like you know more about it than I do, but what happened was I fought a giant monster. And I have no plans on doing that ever again unless it’s in a video game.”

I smiled, relaxing into the sensation of feeling Rei cuddling up against me once more. I could feel the stress leaving me as my body quickly recovered. “The man me and All Might fought, he could take and transfer quirks, according to him, Kushina came to him to control her quirk, and he placed a bomb in her.”

“Oh,” Rei frowned. “She was crying, you know. When it first started, she tried to run away. So. I don’t think it was on purpose. That also explains why she’s under armed guard. Can you wait to hear what she has to say before you judge her?”

Nope.

“I can try. But I have my doubts.” I kissed Rei on the top of her head and glanced towards the window. It was dark. “Do you think they’ll let you sleep here tonight?”

Rei smiled and tugged on my covers before sliding in. “I’ve been discharged, and I’d like to see them stop us anyways.” She gave me a light, tender kiss and snuggled into place. “I think All Might’s address is soon. Do you wanna watch it before we sleep?”

“Listening to him talk is a good way to put me to sleep,” I mumbled into a long yawn. I moved my hand down and felt the bump on Rei’s stomach. “But, I want to see our kids soon.”

“They’re resting, they’ll be happy to know that their father is happy and healthy in the morning.” Rei stretched lightly, resting her head on my chest. “Besides, they’re with my parents. Fuso and Maki are also with them.”

“Maki’s going to yell at me.”

“Lots of people are going to yell at you.” Rei gestured towards the T.V. before she grabbed at the remote. “You did destroy a historical site.”

“But bad guy!”

Rei rolled her eyes and turned the volume on.

All Might walked towards a podium that was taller than most men, he looked confined in the dress shirt he was wearing. His right arm was wrapped in a cast up to his elbow. He coughed and stared at the cameras for a few moments.

“Monday Morning, with the blessing of the Kyoto police myself and Endeavour started a raid on a villain operation. In total, 43 missing people reports have been closed, and many more are being investigated as we speak. We uncovered many inhumane experiments, plots against the civilians and heroes of Japan, drugs, and more. During this raid, we encountered two villains, I myself fought Gigantomachia, whose strength was a match for my own, but with the help of some of Kyoto’s own heroes, I was able to beat the beast. Endeavour, on the other hand, fought someone much more terrifying.”

All Might paused, taking a small sip from his water bottle before continuing.

“The villain known as All for One attempted to use Endeavour’s own family against him, staging an attack that put his family in danger. Thankfully, I’m happy to report that they are all safe. As for Endeavour’s own fight, I’m sure you’re all aware of it by now. In order to beat this foe, Endeavour used his quirk to its fullest The reason for this extreme measure was because of All for One’s quirk, the ability to steal and transfer quirks. He has been someone that I’ve been trying to bring to justice for years, and while I wish he could serve time in prison, I am happy to say that he will never be a threat to our peace and justice ever again.”

All Might coughed and took another sip. “I will now be taking questions.”

I found myself drifting to sleep.

Happy.

Content.

And ungodly tired.

XXXX

“ENJI! HAVE NO FEAR! FOR I AM—”

I got woken up by the screaming of All Might as he came barreling into my hospital room and then woken up even more as Rei pulled our pillow out from under my head and threw it at him with enough force to shut the man up.

Which was impressive.

Rei was my hero as she glared at All might and then snuggled back down into me. “Why is he so loud.”

“Good question.”

“Haha! It’s good to see you’re both doing so well!” All Might bellowed, his understanding of being the third wheel was lacking. “But, come now, it’s nearly noon, and—”

“What doctor even let you in?” I asked, sitting up and glaring at him.

“I’m All Might. Do you really think they’re going to stop me?”

Dammit, bastard had a point.

I groaned with Rei and sat up in the hospital bed, feeling much more rested than I had the first time I woke up. My limbs didn’t hurt as much. And it felt like I could finally stand up and properly move around. And my first thought was to use this new mobility to punch All might right in the nads.

“Well fuck, alright, what do you want?” I patted Rei’s baby pump a bit as I sat up. She gave a light laugh at my touch and laid back down.

All Might took a breath and stretched before taking a seat between the bed and the window. “About what I gave you before the fight.”

I stared at him.

What did he give me again?

Oh! Right. One for All.

“I think you should keep it.”

Oh, hell no!

“Nope!” I reached into my head and grabbed a pinch of hair, pulling out far more than I needed to and shoved my arm out towards All Might. “I am not keeping this! It’s yours! I don’t want it.”

“But, you’re someone I can trust with it, and you’re—”

“Not you! I’m not keeping this! This is your curse, not mine!”

“But—”

“Seriously you two?” Rei sat up and stretched before placing her hand on my shoulder to look at the hairs I was holding out. “What on earth are you two fighting about now?”

“He’s trying to make me keep his quirk,” I answered, looking at Rei for a few seconds then back to All Might before I realized that maybe what I just said made no sense at all. “Basically, he can give people his quirk, and he wants me to keep it.”

“So, like super strength and stuff?”

“And hotter fire.”

Rei hummed and then looked towards All Might, “Toshi, please take your quirk back. I don’t need his farts being anymore devastating to our home than they already are.”

“That was once,” I whined, looking back at Rei and pouting.

“There were scorch marks on the toilet.”

It was something that any guy with fire powers would attempt at least once in their life.

“I cleaned it.” I rolled my eyes and then looked back towards All Might. “Look, I’m biased, I don’t want your quirk, and I’d probably end up giving it to the first kid I liked, hell, probably even Touya.” I blinked and looked at my hair, then looked at Rei, then back at All Might. “It’s also transferred with DNA, I swap DNA with her like daily, and because I don’t actually want One for All, there’s a good chance that my wife is going to end up with it.”

“Being All Might sounds like a lot of work.” Rei, my beautiful introverted wife, had my back that being All Might was a shit idea. “Look, Toshi, just take it back. You’re still too young to retire, right?”

All Might sighed and then took my hairs out of my hand. “I feel like you would have made a great—”

“Don’t want it.”

All Might sighed and rolled his shoulders before swallowing my hair.

I didn’t feel any different, just relieved that I wouldn’t be holding onto One for All anytime soon.

“Hey,” Rei tilted her head to the side and tapped her chin. “Is that why you don’t have a girlfriend? You’re worried about getting a blow job and then giving her your quirk? Because that makes a lot of sense.”

I smacked my lips and stared at her for a few moments. “Rei, did they give you any drugs?”

“Painkillers, they said the dose was low due to my baby belly. why?”

“No reason, you’re just being a degenerate in front of All Might is all.”

She pouted and buried her head into my chest. “Don’t tell me you never thought of it!”

I totally did.

Chapter Text

“You know,” I examined the destroyed remains of our house with a mixture of amazement and curiosity. Rei claimed that it had been a massive wave of ice on her part that had actually caused most of the damage.Fortunately, villain attack insurance also applied to self-defense, but, this was a bit overkill; even the house next to ours was likewise destroyed, or at least part of it. “I think I’m mostly going to miss our bed.”

I paused and looked at my wife, the heavy winter coat she was wearing combined with the red scarf I had gotten her made her look extra cute. She smiled at me and pushed a strand of her silver hair out of her face.She got a haircut recently, chopping off a few inches so that it was just above her shoulders. Now her hair bounced a lot.

It was mesmerizing.

Rei pointed towards where our bath had been. “You sure about that?”

“Home is where the heart is.” I took the two steps over towards her and grabbed her hands, holding them between us and smiling. She raised an eyebrow at me, daring me to say the stupid thing I was going to say. “I’m home.”

Rei let out a groan and fell forward, placing her head into my chest and laughing. “That was bad! Even for you!”

I laughed and pulled her into a hug, smiling ear to ear. Under normal circumstances we would have been devastated from our home being destroyed, but we were financially stable enough that we could afford to rebuild a home. Or purchase some new property. Ultimately, I was leaving the choice up to Rei.

Currently, we were staying at a condo in Might Tower, which meant that we were neighbors with All Might. Free rent too. Touya was excited that he got to stay at All Might’s tower, and was asking Toshi a question every single time he passed by. It was actually really funny watching my son follow All Might around, and All Might being put off guard by it. Fuyumi took the whole house being destroyed in stride, and was actually more concerned about Kushina.

Apparently the woman had made an impression on her.

An investigation was started around Kushina, and a medical examination confirmed that she not only had a chip implanted into her, but that she had multiple quirks as well, one of which would cause her to go berserk if she was introduced to a certain frequency. This combined with the implant was what caused her to go on a rampage, amplified by her own quirk.

Currently, she was being kept as both a prisoner and a patient while they removed the implant and figured out some way to prevent her quirks from being triggered.

It really did a lot to justify my feelings over killing that man.

We turned and looked towards the shattered remains of our home once more and let out a long breath.

“Well,” I asked, hugging Rei with just a single arm, my eyes going towards her belly. The heavy winter jacket prevented me from actually seeing her swell, but I knew our child was in there. I wanted to know so much about our unborn child, I could barely even contain myself. Rei wanted to keep everything about this child a secret, and I could understand why.With Touya, Endeavour had a test done to Rei’s womb nearly twice a month, but so far all we knew about our child was that there were no deformities and they they were healthy. “What do you think?”

Rei hummed, resting her head on my shoulder as she looked at what remained of our home. “I don’t know. For a while, it felt like a prison, but, then it started to feel like a home.” She shrugged and looked up at me. “I guess the location is good, but I wouldn’t object to finding a new place.”

“You don’t get to be indecisive on this.” I kissed her on the top of her head and watched her squirm.

“But why!” she whined, looking up at me and pouting. “Why do I have to make the choice about where we live! Shouldn’t you have a say in this?”

I smiled and nuzzled her with my chin. “I’m not the one that destroyed the house.”

I totally earned that swat.

“Besides, I do. I’m asking you right now if you want to build our own dream home here, or if you want to go and try and find our dream home out there.” I gestured towards Tokyo, though admittedly I wasn’t against changing locations. Just not Kyoto. “Hell, if you want to stay with—”

“We’re not staying with All Might.” Rei placed her hand on her head. “We need our own space where I don’t have to worry about…” She bit her lip and blinked up at me. “Being overheard.”

“Ahh.”

“Besides, if we moved, then Touya would have to find new friends at a school, and while it wouldn’t be quite so bad at his age, I’d hate to separate him now. Plus, this is a safe neighborhood.”

“I think it’s safe because I live here.” I glanced at the pile of rubble. “Or was?”

Rei rolled her eyes. “That’s not the point, but still, what do you want?”

“A large comfortable bath that I can spend all day in with you and not be judged too harshly, an incredibly comfortable bed that doesn’t roll around too much or make too much noise, a cozy couch to watch movies on, and a gameroom.”

“Alright, fine, we’ll rebuild here!” Rei flailed her arms about. “But, why do I have to be in charge of it.”

“How many hours do you have in animal crossing?”

“A lot.”

“Exactly, but don’t worry Rei, I’ll help you however I can.”

XXXX

December.

January.

February.

March.

April.

Due date.

I paced in front of her hospital room. I had been kicked out for panicking and nearly catching something important on fire. Which was for the best, maybe. I don’t know. I had no problem fighting a villain, but seeing Rei in pain, pain that I couldn’t do anything to relieve, kind of put me on edge.

It didn’t help that our child was late and that they were talking about inducing labor, and a bunch of other stuff that I had no idea about It wasn’t like I didn’t have a bunch of books on fatherhood, and didn’t pay attention during birthing classes or anything, but holy shit did none of that even remotely prepare me for the actual act of giving birth. It was a damn good thing there were good doctors here.

I stared at the delivery room for a few more moments, hands behind my back and I was well aware of the small patch of fire that had sprung up on my shoulder. It wasn’t really quiet in there, but wasn’t it supposed to be louder in there? Like, shouldn’t Rei be screaming at me in bloody murder and threatening to chop my dick off?

Wait, she was calmer about all this than I was.

Was she okay? Was I okay?

Where was I?

Did something happen in there?

Should I go in?

When could I go in?

I should get Rei something to eat.

What would she want?

Either ice cream or a salad.

There was no inbetween.

Unless there was an ice cream salad.

Wait, that was just a sundae.

Why wasn’t our house finished yet?

It had been months, maybe it was because construction was so bogged down during the Japanese winter.

Sure, it was almost done, and we could move in about a week once we got all the furniture and stuff in, which was good, but we weren’t going to be able to bring the baby home. Well, we could, we’d just bring it to Might Tower and then All Might would gush over being an uncle to a newborn.

Wait, All Might could crush her on accident.

Why did I let All Might near my children?

Was Fuyumi already dead?

Touya was having a sleepover with Rumi, so he was probably safe.

Maybe.

Wait, why was I letting my son stay near Rumi?

We should move.

What was the safest place for us?

What was the safest place for us that had good internet?

Where did Rei want to live?

How was she doing?

Was she doing alright?

Maybe I could go in and—

A cry excited from the room.

The cry of a baby.

The cry of my child.

I froze. I was unable to move as I watched through those small windows built into the door, the doctors moving about in a hurry. They were carrying something, moving something, holding something. After a moment, the crying stopped.

I felt like I might burst into flames at any given moment.

I saw someone coming to the door and quickly snuffed the flames on my shoulders and stood straight.

“Endeavour,” the doctor smiled at me from beneath his mask. “You can come in now.”

I nodded, but it took me a moment to actually start walking.

Despite the sweat that poured down Rei’s face, despite the tired look on her face, despite the fact that she was dressed only in a hospital robe, and despite everything else, she was glowing. I stepped into that room expecting to fall in love with my child, I did not expect to fall in love with my wife for the hundredth time.

She looked at me, a smile already on her face beckoning me over. Wrapped in a blanket, clutching her shirt, was our child. Our small, perfect child, with a tuft of hair that was half white, half red.

“Enji,” her voice was but a whisper but it sounded like music to me. “Come meet our daughter.”

Daughter.

I had a daughter.

I had two daughters.

I had three children.

The eldest, my son, Touya.

The Middle, my daughter, Fuyumi.

And now, my youngest.

I kneeled down beside the bed and smiled at her. Her blue eyes locked onto mine and a cute smile appeared on her chubby little face. Hopefully she stayed a happy baby. I reached out, giving her my finger, her tiny hands barely able to grab it.

“What do we call her?” I asked, completely enthralled by this small little creature.

“I made her,” Rei leaned her head on my shoulder. “You name her.”

I looked at our daughter for a moment, and smiled.

She was too young to be Natsuo.

She was too old to be Shoto.

And both of them were boys.

I laughed to myself and figured that I might already have the perfect name for her.

The name meant auspicious child, so that she might have a bright future.

“Shoko Todoroki.”

Rei let out a long happy sigh. “Shoko, I like it.”

Chapter Text

Unintelligible baby noises.

“Really? And then what?”

Bubbly babbling.

“No way!”

Excited baby noises.

“I can’t believe that, and then what’d you do?”

Gurgling.

“Oh, well it’s like you almost got away with it.”

Excited screaming.

“True, true, you haven’t gotten away with it yet.”

Bubbling baby banter.

“Well, I won’t stop you, if you hurry now, you might even make it before your mom gets home.”

“What are you doing?”

“Oooh, too late.”

I grabbed Shoko and pulled her onto my chest before I sat up with her to see Rei leaning against the doorway, arms folded and an eyebrow raised in challenge. The lopsided smile on her face was one I was familiar with; it was the smile she gave me whenever she caught me doing something strange. I loved turning that smile into a more loving one.

But, nothing came to mind so I just shrugged. “Vibin.”

Rei snorted, laughing and rolling her eyes. “And why is—”

“Papa!” Fuyumi squeezed past her mother and darted into the room, nearly falling over as she all but tackled me into a hug around the neck. “I went on a date with mom today! Are you jealous?”

Totally.

“Nope.”

“Aww, but mom said you would be!” Fuyumi pouted, moving to put her head right into my line of sight, Shoko reached up to grab at her sister’s hair. At five years old now, Fuyumi had turned into a chatterbox, a few more months and she’d be going to school with her brother. “Why aren’t you?”

“Well,” I booped Shoko on her nose, drawing her blue eyes towards me. “I had a date with your sister. We took a nap, listened to some jams and ate some yams.”

“What’s a yam?”

“Gross baby food.”

“Oh.” Fuyumi climbed over my shoulder before flopping over, I caught her with my hand and placed her on my knee. She looked towards her baby sister and gave a big cheerful smile. “I wanna date Shoko. When am I old enough to babysit?”

“Can you count to one hundred yet?”

That was one of those questions that I regretted asking the moment I asked it.

“Yep! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…” For a five year old, being able to do that without using multiple hands was impressive, and the way Fuyumi bobbed her head with each number was adorable, and Shoko even joined in mirroring her big sister’s head bobbing.

Rei walked over and Shoko only had eyes for mommy with how she gurgled and smiled. Like father, like daughter. She picked up Shoko and placed her on her hip with a pro-mommy move that really just made her look hot as hell to me. Well, she always looked hot, even after her third kid.

“One hundred!” Fuyumi jumped up off my knee smiling. “Can I start babysitting now?”

“Nope,” Rei booped Shoko on the nose before tapping my own nose as I was the only person sitting on the floor like a goofball. “But we can ask Kushina if you can be her super duper babysitting assistant.”

That sentence might have just made Fuyumi’s day.

While I had largely been focused on my own newborn daughter, there were a lot of things that I was kind of aware of that happened. First, Rikiya had campaigned well and was now a member of the National Diet, in the house of representatives, though chances are he was just using that as a means to get his foot in the door until he could get more influence. He wanted me there for his speeches, and I sent him a picture of Shoko puking down my back when I tried to burp her that Rei had found hilarious.

Rikiya also thought it was hilarious and sent a wide assortment of toys for all my kids in response, which also served as a welcome home gift.

Our new house had also been completed, and it was completely different. Rei ditched the traditional Japanese layout we had and went for something that was more modern and spacious, while still giving us plenty of places for comfort. Now we had a more proper family room, a game room, and an underutilized office that Rei was thinking about doing something with.

We also upgraded the hell out of the bathroom so that we had a large wooden tub that allowed for soaking the whole family at once, and certain activities during adult swim. Which was currently limited to five minutes of pretending we didn’t have kids until Fuyumi came in and told us she was ready for bed.

Which made the idea of calling our default babysitter all the more appealing. Kushina, despite the events, had been cleared of all suspicions and had assisted the police to the best of her abilities. She was currently under house arrest.

House arrest she was serving in Might Tower.

In All Might’s apartment.

Yeah.

Apparently my wife is magic and managed to hook them up somehow.

I was completely lost as to how that all happened, if I was honest.

Just, like, we went to have dinner there, I thought it was a bit weird that All Might and Kushina were living together, and I didn’t put two and two together until Kushina gave All Might a kiss on the cheek.

At that point I looked at Rei with a fiery version of the shocked pikachu face.

And right now I was looking at Rei with a very puppy dog face. “Wanna go out this weekend?”

“Hmm, that depends,” Rei hummed, tapping on her lip and looking at Shoko. “I might need an energy boost to not want to spend the whole day soaking in a tub.”

“That sounds like a good date to me.” I chuckled when she swatted my shoulder.

“Dad! You’re so silly!” Fuyumi bonked my other shoulder. “Why do you like baths so much?”

Because Rei was there and naked.

And it was really relaxing.

“Because I get really sweaty being a hero all day and your mom doesn’t like it when I’m all sweaty.”

“Yes she does!” Fuyumi jumped and pointed towards Rei. “Whenever you’re working out, she’s watching you and even licks her lips! I asked Miss Kushina about it and she said that it was because Mom likes to watch you sweat.”

I blinked.

Then I looked towards my wife.

She was blushing and looking away.

Well that was an ego boost I didn’t know I needed.

“Sooooooo, Friiiida—” I reached out and pulled on her pants slightly.

“Yes friday, I’ll call Kushina and check.”

Hehe, score.

I looked towards Fuyumi and rubbed her head slightly. “Wanna help me get dinner ready before your brother gets back from soccer club?”

“Yes!”

Fuyumi was so easy to win over it was almost laughable.

Touya was less so.

XXXX

I was staring at him again.

The charred skull of the only man I had ever killed.

The fire surrounding him was cackling around us.

I could still feel that fury.

That unending rage that had fueled my actions in that moment.

I could feel the scars that had been healing over ever since that day.

I had tried to act like everything was fine.

But.

It was hard.

It was hard to not freak out that I had killed someone.

“Did it feel good?”

I looked at the skull. It was speaking to me. The charred remains of a man that had thought that his resistance to fire meant that he could walk upon the surface of the sun. Somehow, without eyes, without skin, without being alive, it was looking at me, asking me a question I didn’t have the answers for.

Or didn’t want to answer.

“Killing me.” The skull continued. “It felt good, right? It felt good to be free, to let your flames loose! To drown the world in fire! All that glorious fire! To finally be true to yourself! I set you free! I let the real Endeavour out!”

I blinked. If this was a nightmare, it was doing a shit job of scaring me. If there was one thing I was good at, it was knowing who I am. Or, what I am. Look, I knew myself well. I know what I want, what I want to do, and what I desired.

And a world on fire was the exact opposite of what I wanted.

“Ohh?” The skull spoke once more. “I see, I see, your family still lives.”

A cackle echoed throughout my very soul.

“With a quirk like yours, with how readily you can let your fury go. I wonder how long that will last.”

The skull crumbled to ash in a scream of flames that quickly turned to the screams of Rei, Touya, Fuyumi, and Shoko.

A cold sweat greeted me as I shot out of bed. My hands were trembling, my heart was pounding, and I could do nothing but let out long, heavy breath after long, heavy breath. What the hell was that dream? Why? Why was I thinking about that? Did I regret killing him? Pragmatically, no, he was too dangerous, too evil to let live. Nor did I object to his death morally.

The problem was that I was the one to do it. There was a difference between saying someone should die and swinging the executioner's axe.

So why was I thinking about this now?

And why was I dreaming about burning my family alive?

A cold hand ran along my back as Rei sat up in bed with me, Fuyumi passed out on top of the covers like a starfish.

“Enji?” Her voice was soft, tired, and filled with concern. “What’s wrong?”

I swallowed and stared at my still shaking hands. “I… I had a dream. A dream where I burned you all.”

The familiar soft sensation of Rei kissing my cheek was enough to make the shaking stop.

“Enji,” she hugged me softly and hummed; there was a confidence in her voice that I sorely needed at the moment, “I know you won’t ever try to hurt us. And I know that you’ll stop yourself before you lose control.”

“But I—”

“Enji.” She kissed my neck softly, sleep still holding fast onto her. “You’re too much of a giant teddy bear to ever hurt us. Do you know how many articles there are about how your peaceful ways of doing things are working? So please, don’t doubt yourself. And don’t let a silly dream tell you otherwise.”

I kissed the top of her head and laid us both back down onto the bed. “Right, Rei, I’m—”

A cry from Shoko’s baby monitor completely ruined the mood.

I groaned and stepped out of bed. “I’ll take care of her.”

“I love you~” Rei laughed, letting her hand slide down my arm before our fingers locked for just a moment.

By the time I got Shoko calmed down with a diaper change, Rei had fallen asleep, leaving me with three hours to stare into the void and think about that dream.

Chapter Text

I remember dreading soccer games as a kid. Mostly because the neighbor’s blind, deaf, three-legged dog named Lucky had better hand-eye coordination than me. And Lucky didn’t even have hands. But, I finally understood part of what it meant to be a parent.

“Let’s go Touya!”

I shouted, pumping a fist into the air and watching as my son kicked the ball with all the skill an awkward eight year old could muster. He was a pro! Dodging for no reason, weaving around his opponents as they tripped over their feet, only to have a clean shot because the goalie was picking their nose. It took all my willpower to not gloat about my son being the best on the team. Because he was.

In part because most of the other kids were just standing there and moving like slow video game characters whenever their parents told them to do something.

I mostly just cheered Touya on.

And embarrassed him.

“Uhh, Mr. Endeavour, your hairs on fire.” I glanced over at one of my fellow parents. He was a kind looking man that wore glasses and looked like he was constantly squinting at everything. All I knew about him was that his wife was on the PTA, and she was ever so slightly very judgemental.

Rei didn’t like her.

Which by law of marriage meant I didn’t like her.

“Yeah, it does that,” I laughed and turned my fire off. “Sorry about that.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright; it’s thematic considering how your son plays on the Jets.” The man paused and tilted his head to the side. “Jets do still have fire, right?”

I shrugged, and we enjoyed a laugh as the game resumed once more from the starting point.

Watching Touya play soccer, watching him actually be happy doing something, put a smile on my face. It wasn’t that he didn’t smile at home, but I could tell he wasn’t exactly happy there. I had an idea of what was going on, it was the same thing that happened between me and my own two little sisters. They got born, and it felt like mom and dad had no time for me, I got moved to the little room while they shared the big room. Touya might be going through the same stuff.

Which was why I was here, cheering until my head caught fire, and I resisted the urge to cover my body in paint and swing my shirt off above my head.

That and I wanted to be here.

I watched as Touya carried his team to victory for another few more minutes until I got distracted.

“Endeavour! Endeavour!” A small kid about Fuyumi’s age came running up to me with a piece of paper in one hand and a pen in the other. She had salmon-colored hair and was missing a tooth in her wide smile. “You’re Endeavour, right?”

I kneeled down and looked at her in the eyes, smiling. “I am, and who are you.”

“I’m Haru!” She pointed back behind her towards someone on the other team. “That’s my sister! And I like you! You’re really nice, and you saved our big brother! Mama said that I could ask you for your autograph.”

I placed my right hand on her head for a moment, a light static shock making both of us jump. “Sure thing Haru.”

I signed her paper making sure to draw a big fire around my name, and handed it back to her. “There you go, make to share with your brother and sister alright?”

“Kay!” She ran, clutching the paper tightly in her little hand, both arms straight up in the air.

“And listen to your parents!” I shouted, standing up, trying to appease the other parents in the area. I had been asked several times to come and talk to less than disciplined children into listening to their teachers. I never did largely because the only kids I wanted to give any special attention were my own.

Touya ended up scoring three more goals, and his team ended up winning. The celebration was short, and respectful, with everyone just grabbing their bags and going to their parents.

“So,” I made sure that Touya was strapped into his seat before starting the car. “Do you like soccer?”

Touya looked at me, head tilted to the side as he let his thoughts churn in his head. Then he shrugged.

That meant yes.

“Well, I’m glad you like it. You’re pretty good at it, Touya.” I checked the mirrors and pulled out of the parking lot, taking to the streets. “So, because you did so well, why don’t I let you pick what we get for dinner?”

I glanced in the rearview mirror to see Touya looking at me, his lip partially bitten. “Dad.”

“Yeah?”

“Umm. Are you? Umm.” He sat forward, pulling on the seatbelt before sitting back. “Umm, never mind.”

“You sure?”

He nodded.

“Alright. So no thoughts on where to eat?”

His eyes went wide. “Oh! Umm. Can we eat McDonalds? And Umm. Just the two of us? We can bring Mom stuff later. Please?”

I guess I was right about what's bothering Touya.

“Sure,” I’ll just text Rei to let her know what was up. And find out what she and Fuyumi wanted to eat.

Shoko’s diet was currently boob.

“Hey, Touya,” I asked after we had finished eating, and he was enraptured by the All Might toy he got in his happy meal. I suppose I should just cut right to the chase then. “Do you want to spend more time with me without your mom and sisters?”

He looked at me. He almost looked indifferent to what I just said. “No.”

“Oh. Uhh, okay then.”

Why was I feeling awkward around my own son now?

Dammit. There needed to be some rule that social anxiety didn’t work on family members, especially not ones I’ve scrubbed butt naked.

XXXX

My talk with Touya lingered in my mind for far longer than it should have. Or maybe not. He was my son after all. So it was only natural that I’d be a bit more concerned about him than I would other people. He asked to eat dinner alone with me, then he said he didn’t want to spend more time with me, so that meant that.

“I have no idea?” I let my feet sink into the freshly cut grass of our yard and glanced up towards the full moon that sat overhead, if I squinted I could maybe make out a star or two, the city lights of Tokyo blocking out all but the brightest stars. Maybe I should go full caveman and drag him out camping during the summer like my dad did with me. Only, I hated camping, and I had no idea how to fish. Really, me and nature didn’t really get along, which was probably a good thing considering how I could start a forest fire by breaking wind at this point.

Was I even allowed in national parks?

Going hiking with Rei might be fun.

Touya would probably have a blast for ten minutes and then be so tired I’d have to carry him.

Should I learn how to play soccer? I glanced at the goal I had set up for him in the yard, the soccer ball sitting nearby. In theory, I knew how to play soccer, kick the ball and fake getting injured if someone flicked my ear, but that was about it.

I moved forward and nearly tripped on some thick grass that I had apparently tangled my foot in. “Damn, did Touya miss a spot?”

How did I miss him missing a spot? Oh well, no big deal. I remember cutting corners when I was a kid, only this wasn’t the corner this was in the middle of the yard. He’ll just have more to cut later I guess.

I held his soccer ball in my hands and tapped it against my forehead.

My parenting books did fuck all to prepare me for this.

What was going to happen when he’s a teenager?

Oh god, I’m going to have a rebellious teenage son and two teenage daughters.

This was how people got grey hairs.

Wait, could Rei’s hair turn grey?

“You look like a Pikmin.” I heard Rei’s voice as she walked out onto our porch, she was dressed in her usual pre-bath robe, tight enough that it wouldn’t fall from her moving around the house. The light of the full moon made her playful smile shine all the more and once again left me speechless as to how beautiful she was.

I had a hot wife.

It was awesome.

And we were going to be naked soon.

But at the same time.

“What?” I laughed. A pikmin was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever been called.

She moved over and reached up to the top of my head, something that she had done numerous times to put out the random flames I tended to sprout.

Only this time, I felt her pluck something.

“Ouch! Why’d you do—”

I looked at her hand for a moment.

A white flower rested between her fingers.

I blinked. “Did you pull that out of my head?”

“Yeah, did Fuyumi glue this to you or something?” Rei looked at the flower for a moment before shrugging and tucking it behind her ear.

“Uhh.” I desperately hoped that was the answer.

I could feel my head growing light, my legs heavy, and it felt like I was falling without moving.

I glanced at the patch of grass that Touya had failed to cut a trail of thick grass went from me to it, and was even wrapping around my foot once again.

“Enji?” Rei asked as I dropped the ball and ran towards her garden. I looked for those blue flowers that we had planted a few weeks ago. I placed both hands around one of the buds, and forced my will into it, just like what I did with my fire, but without my fire.

In front of my eyes, those Blue Amaryllis started to bloom. I plucked one, and walked over to Rei, my hand shaking as I processed everything that was happening.

“Enji?” She asked, looking at the flower then to me. “What’s happening?”

I swallowed, trying to find my voice.

It came out cracked.

“I think I stole someone’s quirk.”

Chapter Text

“Are you sure?”

This was about the twelfth time that I had been asked this in the past hour, each time was more annoying than the last. It was probably just the fact that I was stressed to hell and back about what all of this even meant. Was it that little girls quirk I stole? What was her name again? Haru? I couldn’t remember! It might not even be her! Sure, she was the only person whose head I remembered patting, in recent days, but I’m pretty sure that’s what I did to kids whenever they asked me something cute.

Or they kicked me in the shinn but that was just one little punk.

Rei, my saving grace in all of this sat calmly, now dressed in her pajamas and looking multiple levels of concerned and annoyed. “No, we just called you here to have a pajama party, and honestly, yours are boring Toshi~”

All Might was reduced to a blushing stuttering mess that put a smile on my face long enough for me to forget that I totally had All for One. “I, Uhh, I, I should have dragged Kushina here.”

I waved my hand and rolled my eyes. “Nah, Rei’s here for my emotional support.”

She placed her hand on my shoulder and nodded. “It’s a good thing Maki was willing to babysit on such short notice.”

“Your emotional support comes at my sanity.”

I smiled up at him as All Might sat across from Rei and I, and next to Nezu who still looked like he needed a booster seat on the couch. “That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

“Besides, do you really think Kushina wouldn’t be on my side when it comes to teasing you?” Rei gave a great big smile that helped to lighten the mood just a little bit. “Now hurry up and fix my husband so we can have a good night's sleep, so he can get his butt kicked in mario kart all weekend.”

I couldn’t argue with any of that. Though she did leave a few things omitted.

“But I didn’t break him this time,” All Might whined, a massive pout seemed so out of place on his normally happy face.

Rei Todoroki

Quirk: Tease All Might.

“But still,” All Might leaned forward, the seriousness coming in like the tide. “Are you sure?”

“He grew a flower out of his head,” Rei pulled the flower I had given her earlier out of her hair and smiled at it for a second. “He also made this bloom in our garden and is probably going to make Touya hate grass because my husband decided that green thumbs were for chumps and got green feet to turn our yard into a miniature jungle.”

Really, I had no idea how I got a flower to grow out of my head.

“But,” All Might shifted in his seat, folding his arms over his chest and taking on a thoughtful expression. “Why?”

I bit my cheek and closed my eyes, wracking my mind for knowledge that had once been so clear in my head when I had first woken up in this world, but had quickly become less important as I focused on actually living here. “I’m not really sure, but, for a while now, I’ve been having nightmares.”

Rei took my hand holding it tight.

“I know that One for All is alive, or, at least is sentient, kind of like ghosts, so.” I licked my lips, brain spinning as I tried to put what I could together. It was starting to make sense. And I wish it didn’t. “What if that’s not unique to One for All? What if it could be applied to All for One as well? What if he knew that some part of him would live on in his quirk?”

All Might groaned, placing his head in both hands and sinking into his seat. “I hate that that makes sense.”

Rei squeezed my hand tighter and moved so that her knees were on the couch as she looked at me. She stared into my eyes for the longest minute I ever experienced. “Do you think, he might be trying to take over?”

“Considering how he threatens to burn our family, uhh, I think that’s what he wants.” I admitted softly, “But, don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt you.”

“He is hurting me by hurting you.” Rei looked towards All Might, and then towards Nezu, “How do we make it so the only people keeping him up at night are me and our kids?”

“I got nothing,” All Might shrugged and gestured towards me. “Once again, I feel like you’re the one that knows more about this than I do, I still haven’t even made contact with my master yet.”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best to avoid giving him any ground.”

“On the plus side Enji,” Nezu stood up his little night cap still on his head. “There’s not much he can truly tempt you with, all he can offer you is power and you act like you’re allergic to it.”

Rei laughed and I felt my cheeks burn. He wasn’t really wrong, I mostly just wanted to live a peaceful life.

“But, I have been thinking of a few possibilities.” He pushed his tablet to the side and hopped over onto the table, “As terrible as it sounds, we can make use of All for One, taking away the quirks of villains that would otherwise need to be sent to Tarturus, could be one application for it, and might even allow us to reform villains as well.”

I blinked, “And what do we do with all the extra quirks? It might not be safe for me to hold onto them considering how I tend to randomly set myself on fire.”

“True, true, but, there are plenty of heroes that could use a boost, additionally, you don’t have to keep the quirk yourself correct? You can easily pass it off to someone you can trust, though, finding someone as simple,” he held up his paws. “In a good way, as you, might prove challenging.”

“So turn it into a second One for All?” Rei asked, “Only instead of turning some poor kid into All Might, they’ll have nightmares and might bring about the second coming of the demon lord.”

I loved how I corrupted Rei into being a nerd.

“There are risks to this yes, but, I’m merely discussing our options here.” Nezu took in a deep breath. “If Japan didn’t abolish the death penalty, I’d suggest giving the quirk to someone right before their execution, but the only country that currently does that is the United States, and dealing with them in a matter such as this might not be too wise.”

I could only nod, I had no doubt that the American government would try to take the quirk for themselves, hell, I didn’t doubt that the Japanese government would do the same. And I was saying that as someone that was good friends with a congressman.

“Alternatively, we do a little bit of an experiment.” Nezu smiled and gestured towards himself. “I’m not the only animal that has a quirk, so it is possible for us to develop them. Nothing is stopping you from buying a rat, seeing if you can transfer the quirk to the creature and then just, not, letting it live.”

That felt like something I should have thought of.

“Alright, so, one last question.” I asked, looking at the ring on Rei’s finger. The ring that I had given her out of love, a ring that was my promise that I wasn’t going away. And I was going to keep that promise. “What happens if he doesn’t let me transfer All for One? How am I going to deal with these nightmares?”

Nezu shrugged. “I’ve been working on a psychology degree in my spare time, I have no problem acting as your therapist, medication might also help, meditation as well, but I suspect that your most powerful weapon is right there next to you.”

“Enji,” Rei whispered in my ear. “Is he trying to flatter me?”

“I’m simply stating the truth.” Nezu gave a short nod. “As for the activation of All for One, you just need to avoid giving head pats.”

“Right, I can do that.”

“You almost gave Touya a head pat before we left.” Rei hummed and gave a long stretch, the late night was getting to us both. “But, what are we going to do about the quirk he stole?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” Nezu folded his paws behind his back and smiled. “We know the school name, it won’t be too hard to arrange an accidental meeting.”

XXXX

Rei had fallen asleep in the car.

“I’m not asleep,” She mumbled as I opened the car door for her. I wasted no time in grabbing her by the wrist and gently guiding her up. We closed the car door and I scooped her up in my arms. “Enji~” She whined, her legs kicking at the sudden weightlessness, one slipper went flying into the yard. “If you’re going to pick me up like this, you should at least kiss me first.” She gave a dopey laugh, “Especially if you wanna toss me around later.”

“You’re adorable,” I muttered, smiling as I carried her to the house. Talking with Nezu and All Might had helped me a lot, and it also helped me realize that so long as Rei was around I would be fine. “But, we’re not going to do anything but cuddle.”

Rei gasped and buried her head into my shoulder. “You’re threatening me with a good time, you villain.”

I rolled my eyes and kissed her gently on the top of her head. I moved past our living room, I saw Maki passed out on the couch in an unflattering position, our daughter Fuyumi was living the dream with being able to use the busty Maki’s chest as her own personal pillow, Touya was asleep in the chair, and Shoko was awake in crib, looking at me with a big goofy smile.

I placed Rei in bed, leaving her to protest before I set out to deal with the rest of my family.

Shoko first, checked her diaper, and made sure that she was all taken care of.

Next, I grabbed Fuyumi who was all but glued to Maki. She was tucked in and her night light was left on.

I placed a blanket on top of Maki, and just assumed that she stay the night, considering how late it was. Besides, me and Rei were probably going to be too tired to deal with the early morning chaos.

“Dad?” Touya asked as I picked him up.

“Yeah, what’s up buddy?”

“Why does grass grow so fast?”

“Because of bird poop.”

“Birds are stupid.”

“I know buddy, I know.”

Chapter Text

Locating Haru and returning her quirk was easier than I thought it would be. I thought that there’d be some forms, some secrets to be kept, and some promises. But, it turned out that all I had to do was speak at a school and sign some stuff. Naturally, Haru showed up alongside her brother, and I was able to put my hand on her head and then just give her back her quirk.

It put a bit of a smile on my face when it came to this whole thing. If it was that easy to just give someone back their quirk, then it shouldn’t be too hard to simply get rid of All for One.

With a sigh, I reclined into the couch just a bit more as I watched Shoko crawl on the ground and play with one of her toys. Fuyumi was blowing bubbles in the yard, Rei had gone out grocery shopping, and Touya was at school. It was a peaceful day that just made everything feel worth it. It was the perfect day to think.

Think about what the fuck I want to do with All for One.

I had argued against Tomura being born with myself right up until they were born nearly a year late. The idea of having a quirk that could only destroy was a hard fit for society. It was hard to see something that could only destroy and think that yes, this person could become a hero. But, I decided to swallow my concerns and see what happened.

But with All for One, it was different.

I could see a world where this quirk was useful. I could see a world where I used this quirk every single day as a part of my job. I could see how the transfer of quirks could help so many people. But, this quirk, this piece of All for One, was just inherently evil. The man had ruined so many lives that to count them would be folly. He had endangered my family and had destroyed others. And this was the quirk that was whispering in my mind so many dark thoughts.

With a weak smile, I stared at my hands. I lived with that darkness before, not by the doing of someone else, but a darkness of my own making. I had been pushed to the brink by my own thoughts and had fought them off. If I needed to, I could hold All for One off.

I heard the car pull into the driveway and saw Shoko’s head spin towards the door in anticipation. I reached down, feeling my smile growing with every moment. “What’s that, Shoko? Is Momma home?”

Incoherent happy baby noises.

“Papa!” Fuyumi jumped up and ran inside, pausing at the door. Her smile was filled with teeth. “Mama’s home!”

“Really?” I asked, standing up with Shoko, “Then let’s see if she needs help with the groceries.”

“Oooh! If she has any cookies, can I eat some?”

“After I finish them.”

“Then there won’t be any left.”

“That’s how it works.”

“No fair!”

I carried Shoko high up near my shoulder. The mystified look on her face brightened when we got outside and saw Rei emerging from our car. While traveling by car in Tokyo wasn’t inherently necessary, and most of the time Rei didn’t bother with taking it anywhere, especially grocery shopping, today she had. Something about a surprise. “Look, Shoko, it’s Mommy, what do you—”

“Momma!” Fuyumi squeezed past my leg, nearly tripping on the grass as she ignored the path and plodded on a collision course with Rei. “What’d you bring us?”

“Here, take this inside.” Rei handed Fuyumi a bag filled with vegetables.

With her new responsibility, Fuyumi waddled back towards the house, carrying the bag with both hands and trying to keep it off the ground. It was adorable.

“Need a hand?” I asked, walking up towards the car.

Rei’s smile went from happy to a slightly annoyed eye roll as she saw Shoko in my arms. “Why’d you bring her out? I needed both your hands, you know.”

I grabbed Shoko and forced her onto Rei. “There, I have two arms now.”

She rolled her eyes again. Oooh! A double roll, that was rare!

I pushed a bit of hair out of Rei’s face and kissed her on the cheek before I looked in the trunk of our car and saw a few more bags of groceries, a few drinks, and a styrofoam container. “What’s in the box?”

“Dinner.” Rei smiled cheerfully, now holding Shoko on her hip like the pro she was. “Be careful with it when you bring it inside, and you’re helping me cook tonight.”

The container was filled with liquid, likely water with how it moved, and it felt like there were a few large objects in there as well. Naturally, I was confused as all hell, but that confusion did not stop me from performing the right of passage that was carrying everything in one trip. One bag on each finger, the container safely tucked under my arm, and I was inside before Fuyumi even came out to help again.

“Is that why you took the car?” I asked, watching Rei pull out the largest pot we owned and placed it on the stove. She had put Shoko in her pen again, where our baby girl was bouncing with excitement that mommy was home.

“Yep!” Rei pulled out a pair of scissors and undid the zip ties.

A moment later, it was like a horror movie in my house.

Because Fuyumi freaked out when Rei brought out two mottled brown, still very much alive lobsters. Our daughter ran out of the kitchen and down the hallway. A moment later I heard her door shut for her room. “So, uhh, I guess that we just gave our daughter a new phobia.”

Rei looked at the lobsters with a shocked look on her face. “I thought they were cute.” She let her shoulders slump. “But, I guess that they’re not.”

My wife thought lobsters were cute.

What the hell did that make me?

“Okay, well, traumatized children aside, what’s with the lobsters?” That was a lot more rich than we normally ate, so I really didn’t know what to think about it. “Are you trying to seduce me? Are you trying to seduce me into seducing you, because if there’s been signals, I’ve missed them.”

“Oh, no, I know how your buttons work. I was just thinking about what Nezu said.” She shrugged and looked at the lobster. “I figured if you could uhh, give this lobster that quirk thing, then we wouldn’t need to kill a cute rat.”

I looked at the lobster.

I looked at Rei.

I looked at the other lobster.

“So.”

She tilted her head in confusion.

“You want me to try and transfer All for One into a lobster.”

She nodded yes.

“And then you want to cook it?”

She nodded yes.

“And then you want to eat it.”

“It’d be a waste otherwise.”

“Rei?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.” Despite her lobster hands, I hugged her tight and kissed her on top of her head. The very idea of giving a lobster All for One, then cooking and eating it was too good to pass up. “But, you do know you just suggested that we eat the equivalent of an evil spirit, right?”

When we pulled away, she just gave me a great big mildly evil smile. “Well, he did try to murder us.”

She made an excellent point.

“Alright, evil lobsters for dinner, I’m sure Fuyumi will be happy.” I grabbed one of the lobsters and looked at it. “If it starts talking, though, I’m incinerating it.”

“Not if I freeze it first.” Rei looked at lobster with wide paranoid eyes. Despite the humor in all of this, she was taking it seriously.

“If this works, I’ll do whatever you want later.”

With a light breath, I grabbed the lobster by the head and felt its whiskers and strange skull-like structure. It reminded me of a lobster villain that I had managed to talk down months ago. It attempted to bite the palm of my hand, but I managed to ignore it’s gnawing.

When I had given Haru her quirk back, I had felt something move inside of me. It was easy, simple, and just satisfying to return her quirk, a bit like the sudden relief of no longer having to go to the bathroom. As crude as it was to say, that was just about the only comparison I had for the feeling.

This time, I felt that same feeling. I could feel the weight, I could feel that I had a place to release that weight, and I could move it. Until I couldn’t. It was working. Until it wasn’t. I could feel my own quirk, I could rip it out of my body and shove it into this lobster if I wanted, but All for One was stuck, lodged up deep inside my body like a stubborn booger that was jammed up deeper inside my nose the more I tried to remove it.

Mentally I roared, thrashing about inside of me as I tried to grab this quirk by its feet and shove it so deep inside this lobster that it wouldn’t even be able to manifest until it was already digested.

“Enji, your nose is bleeding.” Rei broke me out of that fight as a damp cloth touched my nose.

I moved towards the sink, clutching my nose and watched as several large drops of blood sputtered outward, a headache pounded on my head. After a few moments, the blood stopped, but the sting remained.

With a growl stared at the lobster for a few moments.

“Did it not work?” Rei asked, her cold hand on my shoulder.

“No.” I put the lobster back into the container.

“Darn, maybe it won’t work on shellfish. Maybe we’ll have to try a mammal after all.” Rei gave a light frown and rubbed a circle on my back.

“No, no, it’s not that.” I pointed towards the lobsters. “I could load that guy up with so many quirks; it could be All Might.”

Or explode.

Probably explode.

Multiple quirks was generally a terrible idea for like, almost everyone.

“But, All for One itself is resisting. It’s putting up a fight.”

“Oh,” Rei let her shoulders slump, and she looked back towards Shoko for a few moments. “Well, I guess we get to have lobster anyways, so that’s something to look forward to. Maybe we should see if anyone can watch the kids tonight.”

“Huh? Why?”

Rei walked over, pushing me down by my shoulder while she bounced up to whisper in my ear. “I just remembered lobsters are an aphrodisiac.”

Now that was the real aphrodisiac.

XXXX

“You’re going to burn them all alive!”

Knowing that this was someone messing with me, knowing that this wasn’t because of my own mind, because of my own doubts, knowing that this was because of a bitter man that didn’t know when to accept defeat, made it so much easier to deal with.

I stared at the burnt, charred skull I was holding in my hands and smiled. “You know, if you’re going to do this, you should do it when I’m not having amazing post-coitus cuddling with my wife because she forgot lobster made people horny.”

If the skull could, I’m sure it would have blushed. Instead, a stunned silence fell over my dream, and the fire vanished, giving way to a shapeless room that reminded me of where All Might and I confronted All for One. The skull crumbled to ash in my hands, and I saw him.

Or, rather part of him. Most of his body was gone, leaving him mostly just as a torso, his left arm, and his head, with the rest vanishing beneath a thin layer of shadows that clung to his body like a bad hair day. He smiled at me with all the charisma of a used car salesman.

“Fine then,” His tone was somewhat lively, “Let’s make a deal, shall we?”

“You fuck off and die, and I don’t find someway to shove you into the most humiliating form I can possibly think of?” I scratched my beard and remembered my grandmother’s pomeranian the week it had to get all its hair shaved off. Yeah, that’d do.

He gave me a cold laugh and shook his head. “No, no, think about it Enji, I know what drove you to have your little family, it was how you were going to beat All Might.”

Ahh.

He was running on outdated information.

Very outdated information.

“Pass.”

“Come again?”

“I said pass,” I leaned back and found myself now sitting in a pretty comfortable chair. I smiled, just how much power did I have over my own mind? “I don’t need to surpass All Might, I’m quite happy with being number two on the billboard, and I don’t mind if I go any lower.”

“What?” All for One looked at me with wide eyes, “But that was what you always wanted! That was what drove you! Think about it! With my quirk, you can—”

“Surpass All Might? You’re aware he’s like, my best friend and the godfather of my kid, right?” I waved my hand at the notion and imagined Rei snuggling up next to me. A dream version of Rei appeared next to me, cuddled up in her pajamas and looking extra cozy. “I don’t want to beat All Might.”

Technically I never did.

Old Endeavour, probably, but I think he’d be too stubborn to accept anything that this guy had to offer.

“Then what do you want!” The angry spirit of an old angry man flailed his arm at me, his face was red with anger.

I smiled and leaned further into the chair. How often could I be so smug to someone that had at least a century on me? “The one thing that you can’t give me.”

“Which is?”

“A peaceful life with my family.”

The dream came to an abrupt and fiery end.

The bright early morning light filtered into our room and made me very aware of the sensation of Rei leaning onto my chest.

“Enji,” she said softly, placing a cold hand to my cheek. Her silver eyes could make the moon envious. “Are you okay?”

She leaned forward again, her bare chest pressed against mine as I felt the nakedness of her body once again. “You were talking in your sleep. Again. Did you have another nightmare?”

I smiled, grabbing her by the waist as she all but laid on top of me. “I did, but this time I had a secret weapon that let me tell him to fuck off.”

“Ohh?” Rei asked, her cheeks a light pink. “And what was that weapon?”

“You.” I leaned up to kiss her.

I expected just a tender good morning kiss that we had shared so many times, or maybe a ‘last night was amazing kiss’ that we tried to share frequently. Instead I got a kiss that made last night look tame.

She pushed me down, the blanket sliding from her body as she sat on top of me.

With a smile that could melt a glacier she pulled some of her hair out of her mouth and smiled. “Is it wrong that kind of turns me on?”

I laughed, rolling over with her in the bed and kissing her again, and again, and again.

There was nothing that All for One could give me.

Chapter Text

“We should go on a cruise.”

Both Shoko and myself looked up from our comfortable snuggle pile with Rei and looked at the woman like she had just grown a second but no less attractive, head. “With people?”

“Damn,” Rei muttered, biting her thumb and glaring at her tablet for a moment. “I forgot about that.”

I looked back towards the T.V. and shrugged. “Why not camping?”

It’s what my family used to do to bond and stuff.

Now it was Rei’s turn to look at me like I was the crazy one. “With nature?”

I frowned, “I know how to start a fire.”

This time Shoko joined her mother in looking at me like I had shat in her diaper.

“Without my quirk.”

Rei blinked, an eyebrow raised in challenge. “Honey, I love you, but from everything I know about you, if it doesn’t have an internet connection, you’re kind of useless.”

“Hey!” She wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Oh, come on, you had to call Maki to help you fix the sink.”

“She’s capable.”

“When Fuyumi asked if you wanted to have a tea party, you said ‘Oh, fuck yeah,’”

“So? Tea Parties are the shit, and besides, Shoko, Fuyumi, and I had a great time, isn’t that right?”

Shoko stared at me for a few seconds. “Da!”

“Still no Dada, or Dad, or even a daddy? Meanwhile, you know how to say Mommy,” I pouted at my child for a few moments, only for Rei to reach over and rob her from me.

“That’s because I’m the milk truck.”

“I’ll say.”

I got a playful smack for that one.

“Besides, it’s not like you’re any better at Nature than I am.”

Rei rolled her eyes and smiled at me. “Well, the garden isn’t dead yet.”

She had a point.

“Alright, fine, I’m a big ole goofy nerd that can’t function without internet. Happy?” I crossed my arms and gave a big fat pout.

Rei sat back up on the couch, her legs tucked under her butt. She leaned on me, moving her face towards mine, her eyes pulling me in while her hands were occupied. I’d never grow tired of those soft kisses she gave me whenever she was about to tell me she loved me. My heart always pounded. My ears always burned, it was like my entire body was smiling. “I’ve been happy for a long time Enji.”

“Oh, well, umm,” My brain did that thing where it didn’t do anything. “Yay.”

“Dork,” Rei snuggled in closer, Shoko pawing at her chest. The word milk probably made her hungry, even if Rei hadn’t been breastfeeding her in months; baby teeth hurt, so I’m told. I wrapped my arm around both of them and set about enjoying my day with Rei.

“Hey, Enji?” Rei asked, eyes locked on Shoko. She didn’t wait for me to respond, but she spoke slowly. “With Touya and Fuyumi now in school, and Shoko getting there, what should I do?”

“You mean like, while the kids are at school, and I’m at work?” I asked for clarification.

“Being a full-time Mom is all I’ve known for a while.”

I took a deep breath and acted like I was deep in thought. “You could become a Yoga instructor.”

A playful swat and a slick smile told me my kind of joke suggestion was kind of taken as a joke.

“But really, it’s up to you, if you want to get a part time job or something, I’ll support you. Hell, if you want to get into politics, Rikiya would love to have you.” I blinked as I realized what I just said. “But if he touches you, I’ll turn him to ashes.”

Rei rolled her eyes and snorted, smiling slightly. “I’m not really sure what I want to do.”

“That makes two of us.” I let out a long heavy sigh. Really, all I wanted to do was to have more moments like this, spending more time with my family. “Why don’t you become the pro hero, and I’ll be the mom?”

“Oh, I’m sure that’ll work out great,” Rei smiled and looked up at me. “Yoga, Pro Hero, I’m starting to think you just want to see me wear form-fitting pants.”

“I’m kind of serious. If you want to become a hero, I’ll help you. Besides, it’d make my days easier if I was around you more often.” I kissed her forehead and held her close, Shoko still between us looking like she had no idea what the hell was going on. “But, I don’t want to put you in danger either, or force you to do something, so, what do you want to do? I’ll support you however I can.”

“I’m not sure, maybe write? Paint? I could go back to college and figure things out there.” Her face scrunched up in an adorable way. “I don’t know.”

“Well, Shoko,” I poked our daughter’s cheek and watched her glare at me. “What do you think, what should Mommy do?”

“Momma!”

“I don’t think we’re having another kid. Try again.”

Shoko’s face scrunched up, and then she looked at her mother. After a moment, she made some adorable, not quite toddler, not quite baby noises before her face scrunched up.

“Seriously?” Rei laughed, standing up and holding Shoko at arms length away. “It is not my job to change your diaper.”

Shoko just pouted.

What did she want to do, huh?

I couldn’t even tell her what I wanted to do.

“Here,” Rei handed me, Shoko. “You can change her.”

“Huh?” I stood, Shoko tucked under my arm like a sack of rice. “If I’m doing this, I’m not doing it alone!”

“Huh?” I picked Rei up and tossed her over my shoulder. “Enji! What! Put me down!”

I laughed, ignoring her flailing limbs as we made our way towards Shoko’s baby room.

Chapter Text

Snow Bae: So, what do you think we should do for our unofficial ten year anniversary?

Snow Bae: The important one.

I blinked and stared at that text like it was some kind of code for something. After a bit of mental math, I coughed, my head catching fire as I scared the crap out of some civilian that had been looking at me. Ten years? Had it really been ten years? How? What? Why?

Me: Holy shit Touya is 15.

Me: Holy shit he’s going to U.A. next year.

Me: Holy shit! Rei! What happened?

Snow Bae: How’d you forget?

Me: I’m slow okay, it takes me a bit to acknowledge time passing.

Me: That’s why you’re still as beautiful as the day you first smiled at me.

Snow Bae: You’d think after ten years you’d stop flirting with me like we’re in highschool.

Me: Why? Does it not work anymore?

Snow Bae: I wouldn’t say that.

Me: Then the shameless flirting will continue.

Snow Bae: I’m so worried out kids are going to have a complex about it.

Me: What? Affectionate parents? I mean, we have like what 2.25 well adjusted kids?

Snow Bae: .75 each?

Me: More or less.

“Quirk rights are human rights!” I looked up from my phone to see another protest. It was a bit strange seeing these pop up so often, especially since I felt at least partially responsible for them. My big mouth might have spawned some kind of a movement. “We don’t need to hide who we are! Let us be ourselves!”

I sighed and pinched my nose. Maybe I should turn around and pretend I didn’t see anything?

“It’s quite the sight isn’t it?” A familiar voice nearly made me jump out of my hero suit. Rikiya placed his hand on my shoulder; he was currently dressed in the working politician uniform, which, for the most part, was basically just a suit without the jacket. It was a good look for him. Even if his hairline was receding. “The youth of our nation are truly ready to fight for what they believe in.”

Hopefully not actually fight, or cause any real riots. Anything like that would be amplified given quirks, and I’m not sure how many heroes would be willing to try and fight an angry mob of civilians. “I take it this is your doing?”

Rikiya just smiled and shrugged. “Not really, I found out about the protest and decided to show up in support of the motion.” He adjusted his tie. “It might sound cynical, but doing this will help me get re-elected, and help my platform when I run for Prime Minister.”

“Do you think you’ll win?” I asked, glancing back towards the protests. A few of the journalists caught me talking with Rikiya and snapped a few pics. Great. That was going to be all over the internet again.

Rikiya laughed, “This time? Not a chance. Next time? Maybe. But eventually?” He pumped his fist and grabbed at the air like he was seizing victory. “I have no doubt. And by then, we’ll be able to make some real change, especially with the support of passionate youth like your son.”

“My…” I frowned and scanned the crowd of protests. “My son?”

“Oh yes, he’s quite passionate about fighting the good fight. I told him if being a hero doesn’t work out for him, he could get a job working for me.” Rikiya chuckled and hit me on the arm lightly. “Compared to the sleeping lion that is his father, he certainly has a rebellious heart.”

I’m pretty sure I just got called lazy by a politician.

I sighed and scratched the back of my head, “I told you, I—”

He held up his hand. “I’m aware my friend, I’m standing here now because of you. Those of us who would have supported a bloody rebelion are instead moving this nation towards peaceful change, the laws and resolutions that we have passed to help keep Japan safe once All Might retires are all because you opened their eyes to that truth. Did you know a study by a college went through and projected that you reduced crime by 3%?”

I huffed crossing my arms. “All Might did more.”

“Through force.”

“Could you not put me up on a pedestal? I’m just a—”

“A hero?” Rikiya laughed and swatted my arm again. “Enji, my friend, your modesty and humbleness are starting to get old.”

“Are you sure you’re not trying to butter me up?”

“If I wanted to do that I’d be offering you a trip with Rei.”

Dammit, he was right.

Why was I friends with him again?

“No, this is just a happy coincidence, I was supporting the protest, and your son just so happened to be in the protest.” Rikiya held out both of his hands and gave a smile that was blocked by his large nose. “I have no hidden goals, which I’m told makes me rather suspicious as a congressman.”

I nodded. Still, for him to hold his position as a Diet Member for eight years while being a political outsider was rather impressive. “Well, I’ll be sure to vote for you again.”

He nodded and started walking towards the crowd and the reporters. “I’ll see you later, maybe dinner sometime this month?”

I just shrugged and watched the protest for a few more moments. I still couldn’t see Touya. How hard was it to find a redhead in a crowd? Well, considering how every part of the rainbow was a natural hair color, it was actually a bit difficult.

When I saw Touya I frowned.

Naturally, my tree climbing monkey of a son, who had more scars from falling out of trees than he did from practicing his quirk, was climbing on top of a news van. Megaphone in hand.

“We have trampled upon basic human rights for far to long!” Touya shouted into his megaphone, one hand raised into the air holding his school uniform like it was a flag. “We need to allow people to express themselves! And quirks are a part of who they are!”

The crowd cheered.

“Open up quirk licenses!”

The crowd cheered.

“Revoke the outlaw on quirk-based jobs!”

The crowd cheered.

I walked through the crowd with a great deal of ease, with people either getting out of my way out of respect, or out of fear, or both. In their defense, I did look mildly peeved at that moment.

“Give us—”

“Touya!” I boomed silencing him. I snapped my finger and pointed down at the ground. “Get down. Now.”

“But, dad!” He whined like he was still twelve and guestered towards the crowd. “I’m in the middle of—”

“You’re in the middle of getting in trouble.” I said firmly, “Now get down.”

He frowned and hopped off the van, handing the megaphone off to someone else. “What’s the big deal, isn’t this stuff you support anyways?”

I glanced around the crowd as they looked at me curiously. I sighed. “I do, but that’s not why you’re in trouble.”

“It’s not? Did I forget to mow the lawn again?” He asked, wincing slightly.

“No, I’m just pretty sure that me and your mother didn’t raise you to climb on top of vans.” I placed my hand on his back and guided him out of the crowd, “Now come on, let’s go home and talk about the fact that you’re not at Soccer Club, where you said you’d be.”

Naturally, being walked out of a protest would likely kill most teenagers out of embarrassment, but that was alright; my son was used to being in a state of near constant embarrassment. Still, Touya was silent all the way until we got to my office and then into my car.

Me: Make that 1.5

Snow Bae: oh no, what’d he do?

Me: Stood on top of a van and started protesting.

Snow Bae: Oh, wasn’t he supposed to be at practice?

“So,” I asked, hands on the wheel. “Why didn’t you tell us where you were?”

“There isn’t much of a point for me to be there,” Touya mumbled, sliding in his seat, and pouting. “I mean, we lost our last tournament so the third years don’t have any more games to play, and all we’d be doing is helping the first and second years out during practice. Besides, it’s not like I skip everyday or anything.”

I sighed, “Alright, well, that’s understandable, but I would have liked it if you had told us beforehand. I would have been fine with you going to the protest.”

“Because Mr. Rikiya is there?”

“Not, exactly, just, well, I want to believe I trust you enough to let you do what you want?”

“Really?” Touya asked with a big smile on his face, he leaned forward as far as his seat belt would let him and grabbed onto the two front seats. “Does that mean you’ll let me dye my hair?”

“Get good grades and I’ll pay for it.”

“Guh, so I have to wait?”

“Yep! You gotta earn it boy!” I laughed, and then stopped. “Wait, what’s wrong with red hair?”

“That’s your thing dad, just like having white hair is Mom and Fuyumi’s,” Touya shot back into his seat with a bounce.

“So, what’s your thing then?”

He just shrugged. Apparently that question was simply too deep for a kid his age.

“Well, U.A. is a bit more relaxed when it comes to dyed hair, so you shouldn’t get into too much trouble there.” I really didn’t remember where I got that information from, but it felt right considering the number of natural hair colors. Maybe I got it from that Manga thing I remembered from my previous life?

It still bothered me that that was ten years ago.

Touya was 15. 15! And on his way to U.A.

Fuyumi was 12 and honestly I felt like she was probably the smartest one in the whole house.

Shoko was 8 with the soul of an 80 year old.

My kids were growing up so fast!

And I was getting old!

When we got home, I found Rei waiting for us at the door. Her long silky smooth hair was tied into a loose ponytail that was flopped over her shoulder. I all but ran towards her, smiling as I pulled her into our usual seeing each other after work kiss, where I dipped her ever so slightly.

Only this time, I undid her ponytail and smiled at her. “Don’t wear your hair like that.”

“Why?” She asked, sticking out her tongue. “You’re worried it’s dead anime mom hair?”

“Don’t you joke about that.” I scolded slightly and helped her stand back up. I gestured towards our blushing son. “And behold, our freshly scolded child. He won’t be standing on vans anytime soon, or lying about where he is for at least until he gets a girlfriend.”

The eye roll Touya gave me was something else.

“Also, I told him if he got good grades he could dye his hair.”

“What? Why?”

Apparently Rei had a bit more of a problem with this than I did. I looked between them and shrugged. “I’ll keep my word kiddo, but you gotta convince your mom.”

That was a battle best fought with back rubs, clean dishes, and maybe some chocolate.

Chapter Text

“I cast fireball!”

“Shoko, honey, fireball is not the solution to everything.”

“Oh?”

Rei smiled and tapped my arm, “Coming from you that’s more than a bit ironic.”

I tore my eyes from the dice, battlemap, and books to look at my wife, currently dressed as a barbarian, complete with pointy viking hat and a small sized wooden battle axe that she had lovingly bonked me with after she had made it. “Coming from Hilfguard the illiterate, I’m surprised you care.”

She just gave the biggest smile and looked towards the tag team of Fuyumi and Shoko as they figured out what spell Shoko was going to actually cast. As far as group dynamics were concerned, my family was pretty balanced around the table. Shoko was the sorceress of draconic origins and the group sweetheart, or at least she was, until her power gaming mother pointed her in the direction of Fireball. Rei was currently playing a half elf barbarian, that was roughly the size of a human and half an elf, that largely survived charging into most encounters because our eldest daughter Fuyumi was a rules lawyer and a half. Fuyumi had not only read the entire rulebook, and several supplemental rulebooks, but she also knew how to find the answer to any question that might arise, perfect for a lawful good dwarven cleric.

Touya was only the second edgidest rogue I’d ever seen.

“Dad!” Shoko stood up and looked at me with wide eyes like she had just received a revelation from god. “I cast cone of cold.”

I wanted to object, but, after looking at the battlefield and seeing exactly where Shoko wanted to unleash her icy destructive powers, I couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, roll damage!”

The excited look on Shoko’s face as she began to count out the number of dice she would need made all the struggles of being a DM worth it.

That, and apparently, it made Rei rather frisky.

XXXX

“How do you do this one?”

By burning the book.

I ran a hand through my hair and felt like I needed to scream my head off. I had always believed that no matter what, math was going to be math. Sure, there were some differences in how math was going to be taught, especially with how I was taught to teach it, but the basic principle should have been the same. I glanced at Fuyumi’s textbook again, and tried to remember if Touya went through this as well.

He didn’t.

Either Fuyumi was struggling more with her homework, which seemed doubtful because she got better grades than Touya did, or she was in a slightly more advanced class than Touya was, which seemed likely. Touya’s goal was to be a hero, Fuyumi’s goal was to be a… well, her goal changed a lot.

But, either way, Fuyumi’s math was uhh, unique.

“I’m not sure,” I sighed, letting my entire body deflate alongside my pride. “What are we working on again?”

“Umm, matrices.”

I blinked and looked at the book again. That made sense.

“Ooh! Right, here, let me show you how your dad will do them.”

“The teacher said I’m not allowed to do it your way anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not the way she teaches it.”

What a shitty teacher.

I let out another sigh and tapped at the problem. “Well, why don’t you show me how you’re supposed to do it then, I might be able to help more.”

“Okay,” Fuyumi tapped her pencil on the paper again and began the process of multiplying two matrices of different sizes. “So, I’m supposed to go row by column and then multiply, then add to get one of the numbers and then I do that for each one.”

“Oh, okay, so that’s how it’s done, alright, so what are you stuck on?”

“How big do I make it?”

“Oh, Well, whichever one you’re going to be multiplying horizontally determines the height, while the vertical one determines how wide it is.”

Fuyumi frowned at her math homework, then, in true twelve year old fashion, slammed her head against her desk with enough force to make me jump. “That doesn’t make any sense!”

I patted her on the back and smiled, “Look, give it a try and I’ll check it over later,” with google’s help, “and if when we get it back and it’s marked wrong, you can choose what we eat for dinner.”

“Pancakes.” Fuyumi’s head shot up and she looked at me like the manic syrup goblin she was. “Oooh, or Crepes.”

I rolled my eyes, “you know those aren’t for dinner right?”

“People have dinner for breakfast all the time!” Fuyumi flailed her arm around as she gestured in the vague direction of Tokyo. “I mean, why else would places serve breakfast all day?”

She had me there.

“Because some people’s dinner is our breakfast.”

“Those are my people.”

I rolled my eyes and rubbed Fuyumi’s head with my left hand, messing up her hair for the night and misaligning her glasses, before I gave her a light kiss on the temple. “Fine, fine, we can have pancakes for dinner.”

I blinked and realized the fault in my plan. “But only if you get an A on your next exam.”

“Oh that’s easy!”

Cocky little kid.

I stood off of Fuyumi’s floor and gave a long stretch, fully expecting some part of my body to pop for some reason or another. Instead of a pop there was a knock, but it came from the door. Touya stood in the doorway looking like he had just kicked our dog.

And we didn’t have a dog.

We should get a cat.

Why don’t we have a cat? We can say it's Fuyumi’s or Shoko’s and force her to feed it while I reap all the benefits. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Also, Touya was still looking at me.

“Oh, uhh, what’s up son?”

Touya winced.

Oh no.

He fucked up.

Burn victim? House on fire? Arson? Shoplifting? Destroyed toilet?

“Whatever it is, you know you can tell me.” I took a few quick steps out of Fuyumi’s room and shut the door.

Fuyumi’s footsteps told us that she was very nosey.

“Umm, can we talk?” Touya asked and glanced towards Fuyumi’s door. “Somewhere private?”

“I’ll get my keys.”

XXXX

The Pacific Ocean was to our left as we cruised along the twilight of the fading day. It’d be dark by the time we got home at this rate, but I intended to drive as far as I needed to to get Touya to talk. The more looks I took towards him, the worse he was looking. Whatever this was, it was eating him up inside. For ten years I’ve been watching this boy grow up, trying to help him understand himself even as I tried to understand him.

It wasn’t like I was alone in this either; Rei was a big help in helping my transition into a father be ever so slightly less chaotic than it otherwise would have.

I took an exit off the highway, going down towards a beach we had visited during the summer, and guided the car into a parking lot. Even now as winter was upon us, a few shops were still opened along the boardwalk. The BBQ place that me and Rei said we’d come back to but never did was as lively as the day we took our kids there. But, the beach was sparse enough that a simple walk would give us all the privacy we’d need.

I exited the car and stretched. It took a moment for Touya to join me, the cold wind slapping his shaggy red hair about for a few moments. With a breath, I ignited a beard on my face, if only to help against the chill.

I walked first, guiding the way down a path I had never been down before. Only that wasn't true. I had walked this path before, behind my own father. I felt a bit of fear well up inside of me as I remembered what that talk had been about. What I had been so afraid of talking to my own father about. Though, I had the sensibility of talking to him early on the weekend, and we had fishing poles.

We didn’t catch any fish.

We walked down a long pier that we had all jumped off of that day, Shoko had gone first, followed by Rei, then Touya, then myself, and lastly Fuyumi. She’d never admit it, but she might be a bit afraid of heights.

But, only a bit.

When we got to the edge, we were as far away from people as we could get. I found the ocean waves a few meters down, calling to us to jump in once more. I sat down and stared out at the last remnants of the sunset and waited for Touya to begin.

He waited until the final sliver of orange vanished from the sky.

“Do you remember, back when I was little?” He stopped and bit his nail, a few sparks rising from his palm out of frustration.

“I remember a lot about when you were little, like how you climbed every tree you could see, or how you were such a momma’s boy, or—”

“Do you remember when you read Fuyumi that wizard story for the first time?”

I blinked.

That was right after I first started out as Enji. “Yeah,”

“I wasn’t asleep.”

Oh.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Touya muttered. “So. You’re... not my real dad, are you?”

I sighed and flopped back against the wooden pier so that I was looking up at the stars. “There’s a lot I could say to that, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“Genetically, I am your father.” I paused, letting the word soup in my mind come to a calm. “And I’m in love with your mother. So much so that she married me twice.” I held up my fingers even though he wasn’t looking at me. “And I’ve always tried to be there for you, I’ve tried to raise you so that you’d be happy, and I’ve always thought of you as my son.”

A thick cutting silence washed over us a thousand times louder than the waves crashing beneath us.

I started again. “But, as to whether or not I’m your dad, that’s up to you.”

“What happened to him? And, what was he like?”

“To be honest, I have no idea what happened to him. One day, I was just me, then the next, I was, well, who I am now, only about ten years younger.” I let out a long sigh and thought about how to word things right. “But it’s not something I’ve really worried about. This is my life now, so.”

I shrugged.

“But, as to what he was like. Uhh. Hmm. He was not exactly, uhh, well, you have some memories of him don’t you? You should know what he was like.”

Touya kept leaning forward, staring out at the ocean. “Kinda. I mean, I remember hating training with him once I got my quirk, and I remember mom avoiding him, but I’m not sure why. I can’t really ask mom about this, though.”

“Well, he was a bit of a bastard. He only cared about becoming the number one hero, and he didn’t love your mother.” Talking bad about someone like this was leaving a bad taste in my mouth, even if it was technically my past self. “He married her because of her quirk. He wanted to create a child that could one day beat All Might.”

Touya finally let out a laugh and flopped back down next to me. “So the exact opposite of you, dad?”

“Damn ocean water, must have splashed up on my eye or something.” I gave the biggest cheesiest grin I could muster and looked at my bright eyed son. “Touya, never doubt that I love you, and I’m proud of you.”

Touya shot up. “Guh, that was so sappy.”

“Oh, right, you’re a teenager. Those sap allergies suck huh? Do you get hives when you see me and your mom make out yet?”

“Nope, only when I hear you two take a bath.”

“You can hear that?”

“Fuyumi and Shoko can too.”

“Well, sucks to be you guys.”

Note to self, figure out a way to make the bath a bit more soundproof.

“You know, I really thought you’d be like, mad about this, or something,” Touya admitted as we stood up. “Like you’d be like all ‘you have discovered my secret and must perish.’ kind of deal.”

“Dude, realy?” I asked, finally getting my knee to pop when I stood. “I think you’re spending too much time on the internet.”

“Says you.”

Damn, called out by my own son.

“And hey, can you keep this between us? I’d rather not deal with a lot of interviews.” I paused, and blinked. “Or like, rumors in general.”

“Don’t worry, your secret's safe with me.”

“Awesome, now we good? Or you wanna get something on the way back?” I checked my phone. “Your mom wants a milkshake, Fuyumi too, and so does Shoko. Why isn’t she in bed? Apparently we’re having a family movie night.”

“Isn’t it cold enough?” Touya rubbed his arms with a bit of fire. “Seriously, I’m starting to think Mom’s a bigger freak than you are in the winter.”

I couldn’t really argue that.

I checked my phone again real quick; a text from Nezu had gone unread from earlier.

Rat-Bear-Dog: Stop by U.A. this weekend! I want to have a chat! You can bring your wife. Or not. I like her. She’s funny. 1 pm. I’ll serve lunch.

Well there were several reasons why that was alarming.

Chapter Text

U.A. was always impressive; no matter how often I walked through the gate, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the feeling of being on a campus. It could just be nostalgia, it could just be the atmosphere, but I really did welcome every moment I could spend at U.A. Provided that I wasn’t getting hit in the face by All Might-powered dodgeballs.

I looked to Rei, who gave me a light nod, and we exited the car at the same time, in an attempt to look like we were ever so slightly more put together than we actually were. For whatever reason, Rei had decided that we should wear formal clothing, because we were meeting with Touya’s future principal.

But at the same time, we were just meeting Nezu.

Still, I glanced Rei up and down and wiggled my eyebrows at her. “You’d make a hot office lady.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled at me. The light foundation of her make-up hid the blush I put on her cheeks, but her ears still turned just the slightest bit red. I had been around Rei long enough to know all of her tells, like how she brushed a bit of her hair back whenever I made her feel loved in public. It was a personal favorite of mine.

“And you should wear a dress shirt more often.” We met in front of our car and Rei fiddled with my necktie for the hundredth time that day. She touched my face a bit, a scrutinizing look on her face. “You clean up pretty good after all.”

I wiggled my eyebrows aggressively in her direction before biting the air.

Her silver eyes narrowed and she wrinkled her nose at me. “Watch yourself mister, we’re at a school.”

I shrugged and grabbed her hand, taking a moment to kiss her knuckle softly. “I was just stating the truth, but then again, you look good in anything.”

And out of!

I just had a cute wife.

And cute kids!

Wait, did I become a ginger version of General Hughes?

Wait, no, I had fire, so I was probably not that one. What was the other guys name?

“Come on,” Rei pushed her hand into my chest and nodded towards the building. “Let’s go see what the principal wants to talk to you about.”

“Are you sure you’re not just hungry?”

Her ears were all but glowing.

“No,” She looked to the side, and pouted slightly. “Maybe.”

I placed my hands on her shoulders and placed a light kiss on the top of her head. “How about tonight, we cook something together? We can grab the ingredients on the way back, maybe some lobster?”

I could all but feel All for One stirring at the mention of lobster like it was trying to brace itself for the impending quirkicide me and Rei were ever so slightly willing to commit.

“You’re making it worse! Now quit doing that in public.” she pushed my hand off and started walking.

“Doing what?” I laughed chasing after her.

“Being all super lovey.”

I just shrugged, “I’d rather be known as a—”

“Stop,” She turned and glared at me. “If you finish that sentence I will make you sleep on the couch.”

“And you’d end up joining me.”

That time, I could see her blush through her foundation.

Daily quest, shower Rei with love in public: complete

Reward: cute Rei noises and faces.

We arrived at the principal’s office in short order and found that Nezu was looking completely at home in the place, despite the fact that all the furniture was made for normal sized people. There were an abundance of step stools and more than one of those reach-extending claws. Dressed in his suit, and with his shiny black eyes, he looked like an old teddy bear that had been lost and restored.

Only this one moved and was two parts good guy, one part mad revolutionary, and one part bastard.

“Ahh! Rei! It’s so good of you to come!” Nezu hopped on top of his desk and smiled at her. Then he gasped, placing both hands over his mouth. “Oh, and I see you brought Enji.”

“Of course!” Rei clapped her hands next to her cheek, a sickly sweet smile on her face. “After all, how else are we supposed to beat you at arm wrestling?”

“Oh-ho, and here I was expecting a cooking joke, I should have known better.” Nezu clapped his paws in front of him, and rubbed them together in a way that was ever so slightly villianish. “Though I must say, I’m going to miss you burning All Might a new one, but today’s meeting doesn’t require him. Now please, please, take a seat.”

Rei and I did, taking a seat on one of the two couches that were inside Nezu’s office. The coffee table in here was just low enough that it might make a decent foot rest. “So what’s the meeting for? Your habit of being vague as all fucking hell is showing again.”

“Language Enji, we’re in a place of learning.” Nezu tapped on something on his desk, then jumped down to join us on the seat opposite us. “Lunch will be here soonish.”

The rat had room service.

“So, what do you think I called you both here for?” Nezu scooted back until his back was against the cushion, leaving nearly a foot of seat between his feet and the ledge.

Rei snapped her fingers. “You want to join our D&D campaign.”

“Oooh? Can I? I’d love to be a barbarian!”

“Oh! That’s what I am!”

Nezu smiled and slapped his knee. “It’s good we’re of similar spirit Rei, because despite what my message said, you’re both here for the same reason.”

“Cryptic texts at 7pm on a weekday?” I asked, raising my eyebrow. With a thought, I lit it on fire, a trick that had taken me over a month to perfect.

“Exactly!” Nezu clapped his paws. “You see, I’m finally in a position where I’m trusted enough that I can start abusing my power as the principal, not that this is much abuse right now, but regardless, it’s now up to me to do the hiring at U.A. As such, I’m going to practice a bit of nepotism and extend a job offer to both of you.”

“Both?” Rei shrieked. “But, why? I mean, Enji I can understand, he’s a pro hero! And I mean, he’d be great with kids, but, I’m not.”

“No, but, you do have a degree in Japanese and English, do you not?”

Ever since Shoko stopped being in need of constant attention, Rei had gone through the trouble of going through college. Most of her classes were online, or at a local university. She didn’t have the most prestigious degree in the world, but it was a degree nonetheless. At least it was more prestigious than my technically non-existent degree in mathematics.

Speaking of which, “You’re aware I don’t technically have a degree, right?”

Nezu shrugged. “You’d primarily be a hero course instructor, with a secondary in math. For your information, heroes don’t really need a degree to teach at U.A.”

“That’s a shitty idea.” Rei spat out. “I mean, like, All Might is a lovely person, but I’ve seen how that man does math.” She swished her lips back and forth, eyes narrowing. “And it’s not pretty.”

“I agree, and that’s why I’m changing precedence. Besides, while you’ll only be teaching three classes a day Rei, for the most part you’ll be serving as my assistant,” Nezu tapped his heels together. “As self reliant as I am, there are things I must admit I need help with.”

“You’re aware I’m like, short, right?” Rei raised an eyebrow and slapped me in the chest with the back of her hand. “I rely on him to grab anything that’s on the top shelf. Hell, my own son is taller than me now.”

“He is?”

“Yeah! He’s like fifteen, and a boy. Not hard to be taller than 5’2”,” she looked at me, “especially with your genes.”

“Oh no, I assure you I have plenty of people willing to help me reach the top shelf,” Nezu raised a hand and let out a sigh. “No, rather your position would be more like acting as my stand-in for certain meetings. While I am now public, there are many that won’t respect me based on appearances alone, and your connection to your husband gives you a bit of an edge. In addition, I’d like to fashion Enji into the face of U.A.”

“So, let me get this straight.” I let out a long desperate sigh. “You want both of us to become teachers at U.A.”

Nezu nodded.

“You want Rei to become your stand-in for dealing with parents.”

“More or less.” He nodded again.

“And you want me to deal with the press and be the face of U.A.?”

“Absolutely. Despite what you claim, you’re actually rather good at being on the news, you know.”

“You’re aware we’re both introverts that have plans to move out into the middle of nowhere”—with good internet connection—“the moment Shoko is out of school?”

“Quite. However, I believe that both of you can succeed given the circumstances.” The door opened, and Nezu smiled. “What’s more is that this is the generation of kids that grew up with Endeavour, the kind hearted hero, and All Might, the pillar of peace. I wonder how many of them you’ve inspired? I want to find out how many more of them you can inspire in the future.”

I rolled my eyes. Why was it that this rat-dog-thing was always trying to butter me up?

“Besides, the hours are very agreeable.” Nezu made the offer with a smirk like that would seal the deal, and it probably would have, but I wasn’t so sure.

Rei placed her hand on my knee and gave Nezu a very stern look. “Give us some time to talk this over, it’s a big change for both of us. And, while I’m certain that Enji would love to have an ever so slightly less violent career path, this isn’t something we can just rush into.”

“Absolutely, this was just a job offer,” Nezu replied with a smug grin on his face.

Just a job offer, he said.

Bah.

“Now then, I believe soonish is now.” The door opened and a rather tall and slender man with messy blond hair and a large smile walked into the room. He was wearing a U.A. school uniform that looked to be way too loose on him. “Ahh, thank you Taishiro, I trust your recovery is going well?”

“Darn hootin, the grub at the kitchen will get me back to Fatgum mode in no time all.”

Fatgum, now that name felt familiar. Was he someone from the manga? It was hard to remember given how I hadn’t really read it in ten years now.

The blonde student looked at me and jumped a bit. “Woah! What’s Endeavour doing here? Oh wait, ain’t your kid coming here? If you have any concerns about him, don’t worry, I’ll be a grade-A senpai, just you watch.”

I laughed, and stood to shake his hand. “No problem my boy, uhh, Tashikiro was it?”

“Taishiro sir!” he shook my hand eagerly. “Oh wow, I can’t believe I’m meeting you, I still remember your speech from what ten years ago? It was great! Don’t worry, I’m going to do my best to help that dream of yours to become a reality!”

Was that what it was? A dream? I laughed again and patted him on the shoulder. “I believe in you, and thanks for the food. Now go back to recovery, we’re going to be needing you back in action before you know it.”

“Yes sir!”

I watched as the boy darted out of the room with an extra spring in his step.

“Hmm,” I heard Rei hum from behind me, “You know, I think Nezu might be onto something.” Rei paused as I turned around, and then glared at Nezu. “Though knowing him, he planned that.”

“I prefer, ‘set into motion’. Just because fate's hand needs a little nudge does not mean it’s not genuine.” Nezu pushed himself forward on the seat and took a bite of the small sandwich that had been made for him. “Now then, let’s eat!”

U.A. had some of the best school food I’d ever tasted.

XXXX

“So,” Rei sat down on the edge of our bed. The dress shirt I had worn that day had become her night-gown the moment we got ready for bed. “What do you think?”

“About Nezu’s offer?” I swung my leg onto the bed and slowly did a slow wiggle towards the center of our bed. “I’ve been a teacher before, I stopped for a reason.”

“Hmm, maybe, but you were young back then right? Now, you’re, well, you’re kind of an old man.” Rei pounced onto the bed, quickly taking her spot right next to me. Our nightly embrace was roughly the same year-round, a side effect of our quirks I thought, but it could also just be that we found what worked for us and never bothered to change it. “And you’ve raised three wonderful kids. Well, mostly.”

“Mostly raised, or mostly wonderful?”

“Both.”

She looked up at me with silver eyes. “I think we should try it, don’t you? Just for a year?”

I let out a long sigh and looked towards the ceiling. A smile crept upon my face. “Yeah, but only so I can surprise Touya with it.”

“How did I know that you were going to say that?”

“Cause we’re an old married couple.” I smiled and kissed Rei on the cheek, my hand grabbing her shoulder as I rolled on top of her. “Though, even if we are old, that doesn’t mean you’ll ever stop being beautiful to me.”

Her arms wrapped around my neck. “I certainly hope so, because there’s no way I’m letting you go.”

Chapter Text

It wasn’t until I saw Touya walk in with his hair dyed black that it really hit me. Touya was Dabi. Or, at least looked close enough to what I remember him looking like that I had to do a double take and slap myself in shock. Also the whole deal about his fire being blue was probably a bigger giveaway, but I could make blue fire if I wanted. I just thought it was an aesthetic choice.

“You’re not walking me to school today.” Touya placed a hard, boney finger on my chest, and the tanktop I had worn to bed provided little protection. “I’m in highschool now, and it’s on the other side of the city from Fuyumi and Shoko’s school, so I better not see you there.”

I let out a long yawn and paused in the doorway, glanced at my son’s crisp-looking school uniform, then scratched my belly. “No promises, I like to have lunch with Nezu sometimes. And so does your mother.”

Rei stumbled beside me and let out a long sleepy yawn that was pure heartwarming fluff to me, and just made me want to hug her and kiss her. Which honestly was pretty much what I always wanted to do all the time. She scratched her stomach and exposed a bit of her belly, which was all I needed to officially wake up and call this a good morning. “You look good honey, minus the hair. You had such pretty red hair before, now all the girls are going to think you’re edgy, instead of the sweety you are.”

“Mom!” Touya blushed and turned into a candle.

I pinched his flame out and gave a light laugh, for more reasons than one. “Your mother means well Touya, but, try to keep your head cool today. Who knows what can happen at U.A.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just saying that the principal is a talking hamster.”

Touya opened his mouth to respond, but ultimately just stared at me for a few seconds before he sighed. “Okay, you have a point. At least I won’t have to worry about you two embarrassing me.”

“You worry too much!” Fuyumi jumped up in her middle school outfit, beaming with pride. “Mom and Papa are awesome! And really Touya, you should be more worried about Rumi or Moe making you cry.”

Shoko jumped up in her elementary school uniform; both she and Fuyumi had their hair in messy ponytails that started at the base of their neck. “Again!”

“You know, if I turn into a villain, I’m blaming all of you.” With a huff, our easily embarrassed teenage son headed for the front door. “And don’t follow me! We go to different schools!”

“For now!” Fuyumi shouted, chasing after him. “Bye Mom! Bye Papa!”

“For now!” Shoto shouted and chased after her siblings for a few moments, then turned around and hugged both of us. “Love you. Bye.”

Rei and I watched them leave and we smacked our lips. The first day of the new year. Right. We were teachers.

“Wanna shower together to save time?” I grabbed her by the waist.

She snorted, rolled her eyes, and swatted my chest in one move that she had done countless times against me. “When has that ever saved us time? Besides, I don’t think I need a super clean chest, ass, or stomach.”

She had a good point.

“Okay, fine, separate showers, but I get to pinch your butt once today at work?”

“Are you trying to get us fired?”

“Will a pun get me smacked here?”

“You bet. Now come on, we actually do need to get ready.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the shower.

“I thought you said we didn’t save time like this.”

“We don’t, but I didn’t say no~”

My wife was irresistible and keeping my hands off of her at work might be easier said than done.

XXXX

The fact that I had kept my recent occupation a secret from my kids was purely for my own satisfaction. It wasn’t even that hard; Touya was busy with clubs and friends, Fuyumi had her own activities, and even if she did find out, she was easy to bribe as an agent of chaos, and I’m pretty sure that Shoko wouldn’t even register that something different was going on.

I hadn’t even announced to the press that I was going to be a teacher at U.A. yet, which, given how I was kind of the number two pro, I probably should actually announce something soonish. Honestly, the fact that I never got much closer to All Might didn’t bother me as much as the fact that I never dropped from rank two.

Apparently, not being an asshole went like, really far in terms of public opinion. My stats also improved whenever someone took a picture of me and my family. I’m pretty sure a picture of me carrying a baby Shoko strapped to my chest, Fuyumi riding on my shoulders, and Touya being held like a sack of potatoes had been on multiple magazine covers. I was even the number one DILF in certain magazines, a title that Rei enjoyed a great deal.

Though, perhaps the biggest spike came from a kidless vacation to Hawaii, where Rei and I were walking on the beach, holding hands in our swimsuits. We weren’t even doing anything special, just walking. It made me realize that people were perverts.

Maybe me and All Might should do a calendar? For charity.

And for wife.

Was I allowed to do that as a teacher?

I'd have to ask Nezu.

I relaxed into my desk, one of a dozen in the teachers’ lounge. Rei's desk was right next to mine, either by oversight or on purpose, I couldn't say. A few students recognized me on the way in, and a few of the staff greeted me with knowing looks.

"Nervous?" Rei asked. In terms of professional attire, she was leagues above most of our new coworkers. And she looked fantastic in it.

"Not especially." I crossed my arms and frowned at the way my dress shirt moved over my hero suit. Compared to Rei, I looked comical. A white dress shirt that was a tailored fit covered most of my hero costume, but a few bits stuck out from the collar and cuffs. "They're just teenagers. Most of whom want to do good. Though, if anything, I'm regretting my fashion choices."

"Well I think you look refined." She reached up and fiddled with my black flame tie. "Besides, if you do end up using your quirk, it's better than burning through your clothes."

I made a gagging noise as she adjusted the tie a bit too tight.

"What about you?" I asked, grabbing her hand. "Are you nervous?"

"Terrified, actually. But I'm not the one actually teaching today."

"If anyone bullies you, let Touya know. And I'll set them up against him." I offered a wink.

Rei laughed and slapped my chest. "Dork. Now you need to get prepping, right? I need to go see Nezu."

I watched Rei leave for a bit too long before I started to actually prep for my first time teaching a class in over a decade.

Fortunately it was just algebra for now.

XXXX

Class 1-A spent half their time being star struck and the other half agonizing over algebra. Most of the kids I knew nothing about, and I struggled to learn their names. But one stood out to me.

Ryuko Tatsuma, a perky blonde-haired girl that answered every question I put up. I know as a teacher I'm not supposed to pick favorites, but she was mine.

Plus she could turn into a dragon.

It hit me that she was yet another pro hero from that Manga about halfway into the class.

1-B was probably designed to give me a headache.

It was filled to the brim with hot heads.

Quite literally in some cases.

Moe Kamiji sat in the front row, her face and hair lighting up when she saw me enter, and Rumi Usagiyama’s ears perked up from the back row before she stood up on her desk to get a good look at me. But, the real hot head was the punk in the middle of the class with dyed hair that stood up and called me out.

“Dad!” Touya shouted, pointing at me with a wide open mouth. “What. What are you doing here?”

“Despite what you might think, I’m not here to make your highschool life a living hell.” I smiled and winked at the class. A blue flame appeared on Touya’s head as he quickly began to blush up a storm. “No, I’m actually here to teach math and heroics. You may call me Endeavour-sensei, well, I guess I can let you call me dad-sensei, Touya. Before we begin, any questions?”

Touya shot his hand up.

“I teach for 1-A too.”

Touya’s hand sank down.

“Any other questions?”

They were going to be curious no matter what I did, so answering a few questions would help.

“Why are you wearing a shirt and tie over your suit?” One student asked.

“Because my wife thinks I look cute, plus, I’m a teacher. I’m supposed to be professional or something.” I shrugged and turned towards the board. It was blank. Touya distracted me so I couldn’t write my name in flames. Dammit son! “Now then, before you ask why you need to know math if you’re going to be a hero, the answer is simple. Stupid heroes are bad heroes. Making sure that your education is well rounded is of vital importance; not only that, but many of you have quirks that can benefit from knowing algebra.”

“How?” I heard one student speak up.

I turned and pointed my finger at them.

“Good question! I’ll go over a few examples in class today, and if you think that math can help your quirk, come see me after class.”

Chapter Text

“Your move.”

“For the love of god! Can we do anything besides tic-tac-fucking toe in here?”

I glanced at All for One and tilted my head to the side just a bit, “If we play anything else, you accuse me of cheating.”

Which was actually kind of valid all things considered. Inside of what might as well be my mind it was hard to actually focus on things that weren’t directly related to what I wanted. For example, we tried chess, but, we found that if I stopped paying attention to the board even for a second, then the pieces might end up moving, or the entire board would vanish and we’d spend over an hour arguing about what piece was where.

And both of us hated checkers.

“We could try role playing again.” I smiled and leaned back into my non-existent seat. The dull white void of nothingness changed around us as I pictured a simplistic book store, All for One switching from his classic suit to a turtleneck complete with glasses. From terrifying wall street villain to nerdy book lover just like that.

“No thanks! You’re a terrible storyteller that focuses way too much on romance.” All for One looked at his new apparel and sat down at a desk letting a large bored look fall over his face. “Honestly, the fact that you even consider yourself a writer is an insult to anyone that has ever picked up a pen. Not only do you never even let me fight, but you basically force me to resolve everything by talking! Worse yet when there is a fight, it’s over like that!” He blinked. “Besides, you never even let me get to the fun part.”

“Sorry, but I’m not going to picture you having sex in my mind with anyone, it’s not my fault you just lack the ability to be wholesome.”

“Guh,” All for One slammed his face into the desk and let out a long groan. “Why is it that whenever I talk to you I feel like I’m eating way too many sugary sweets?”

“Because you’re bitter enough that talking to you is like drinking cranberry juice.” I liked cranberry juice, especially cranberry lemonade, that stuff was the bomb. “But look, I get that you’re unhappy, but there’s only so much I can do for you in here.”

Admittedly, I was doing most of it to make sure that the megalomaniac villain that had stuck himself inside my head didn’t go crazy and drive me crazy by proxy. Besides, it kind of gave a whole new meaning to the term talking to myself. It was a bit like having a roommate that lived in your car, you needed to have a good relationship or one day he’ll send you both crashing into the bay.

“I mean, there’s always the lobster.”

All for One shuddered. “Your wife is evil.”

“Hey!” I snapped and smiled at him. “That’s why I love her.”

“I’m aware!”

Years ago he would have gone onto a rant about how if he had actually managed to kill Rei then I’d be easier to take over, blah, blah, blah. Eventually he learned that’s a good way to get onto my bad side.

“But, can we just talk about letting me go? I mean, you barely use my quirk, and you never even keep what you take all that long. I’d rather serve out my time in prison, at least there I can scheme.” He had the look of a desperate man at his wits end.

The few times I had used All for One, it was after heavy debates with my most trusted confidants, so far I had only used it to take away quirks from a few dangerous villains, and again to remove someone’s quirk that would otherwise kill them. Each of those quirks had been given to something that was soon to be dinner, just because I still didn’t want to risk another person’s soul being taken over.

“Look, we’ve been over this, you’re either going into something without hands,” Even then that was still iffy. “We’re having you for lobster, or you die with me.”

Technically there was a fourth option of him somehow redeeming himself and I decided to give him to someone I trusted. But, that was incredibly unlikely. Giving him to Nezu might not be the most ethical thing in the world, but I was also kind of drawn to that brand of chaos.

“What on earth did I do to get such a fate?” He sat up and looked me dead in the eye. “Don’t answer that question.”

I shrugged and then stood from my seat, giving myself a long mental stretch. “I know I say this everytime I leave, but really, try to figure yourself out.”

“I’m well aware of who and what I am,” He crossed his arm and frowned at me.

I smiled, All for One was a Tsundere.

With a breath I opened my eyes and found something heavy resting on my shoulder, and something resting on my lap.

“His eyes are open!” Shoko shouted and stood to look me in the eyes. “I was about to set your hair on fire.”

“It does that anyways,” Fuyumi leaned onto my back even harder, I could see more and more of her mother in her every day.

I grabbed Shoko by the arm, and reached around grabbing onto Fuyumi’s waist as I stood, causing both of my girls to scream as they found themselves dangling a foot or two off the ground. I gave Shoto a quick toss up and caught her before she really fell so I could hold her on my shoulder. “What are you two doing?”

“Dad!” Fuyumi screamed, flopping downward so that her hands were touching the ground. “Put me down!”

“Answer me first! You know the rules, thirty minutes once a week, no one bugs me!” That rule had been broken so many times that I didn’t even know why I bothered anymore. Touya was the only one that really respected it, with either Shoko or Fuyumi showing up to get something out of me, or Rei deciding to have some fun and try to seduce me.

And it didn’t matter what she called it. Wearing Yoga pants and stretching right in front of me was pure seduction and it always worked.

“We’re hungry!” Shoko laughed, her legs kicking near my face. “Mom said you have to feed us!”

“Touya went out with his friends.” Fuyumi twisted in my arm and pulled herself free. “And Mom’s at grandma’s so you’re responsible.”

I snorted and looked at Fuyumi, at twelve she was already capable of basically living on her own, and was on her way to rivaling Rei in cooking prowess. “Both of you know how to cook.”

“Yeah! But!” Shoko grabbed onto my shirt and pulled herself down. I let her go and she fell to the ground. I expected a thud but she landed on her feet. I was pretty sure that Shoko was a ninja at this point. But, I couldn’t prove it because she was also completely unaware and could walk into a door. “Mom’s not here.”

“I’m aware.” She’d be back later tonight, both of us (mostly me) couldn’t sleep without the other in the room and there was no way she’d do that to me! Especially since it was Saturday and that was the night we locked the bathroom door and enjoyed a nice bath of mutual nakedness.

Ten years since I got here and seeing Rei is still my favorite thing in the world. Especially when she lacks clothing!

“I told you he’d forget!” Shoko shouted.

I blinked and looked at the two of them. No Touya, No Mom.

“Oh!” I snapped my fingers. “You two wanna go to that sushi place right?”

“Yes!” They both shouted and Shoko even jumped up into the air, huh, all that volleyball practice was working I guess.

“Alright, let’s go,” I whispered in a hush tone and pulled them both into a hug. “Remember, don’t tell your mother.”

“We won’t.”

They both lied.

Fuyumi and Shoko were basically extra ears for Rei and extra mouths for me.

But, it wasn’t that Rei would exactly be mad at me, she actually liked the sushi place Shoko and Fuyumi liked as well, but, making it seem like it was something special was special to my girls. Just like Touya with that burger place, and Rei with whatever restaurant we wanted to try next.

Or that burrito place at I-Island.

Chapter Text

Being a teacher at U.A. was a lot like how I remembered being a teacher being back before I ended up who I am now. The kids were confused and curious; many of them were still trying to find out who exactly they were, others were trying to be someone who they weren’t. Even in a school where they all wanted to become heroes, there was still so much growing that they had to do.

And with that growing came a lot of pains.

“Rumi,” I kept the ice-pack firm to my face as I stared at her with one eye. “I’m fine, go to class.”

Her usually straight bunny ears were flat against her head as she looked at me with big sorrowful eyes. “But, I knocked you out! And gave you a black eye!”

I had a few vague memories of a student slugging me in the face before, but honestly, I had a hard time blaming Rumi in this situation, this was a school full of superpowered teenagers that were well on their way to becoming heroes that would have to beat up bad guys from time to time. “I’m well aware that the bottom of your foot slammed into my face and then I woke up in the nurse’s office.”

The day that Recovery Girl was away treating other heroes no less.

I could have used my fire to block or mitigate the attack, but with such short notice, there was no way to do so without causing more damage to Rumi or the other students.

“I know, but I—”

I held up my free hand and smiled at her. “What did you learn?”

“Learn?” Her ears were still pressed flat against the side of her head and she fidgeted where she stood. “That, I, That I—” She fidgeted, her leg bouncing up and down for a moment until the room started to shake and she forced herself to stop. “That I’m not really good at controlling my own strength.”

“Right,” I sat up off the bed and glanced at the clock—Rei should be finished with classes in about twenty minutes or so. “I can relate to that, you know.”

“You can?” Her red eyes went slightly wide and she stared at me with just a hit of admiration and awe. “But, you’re so good with your fire, I’ve seen you heat up a cup of coffee just by blowing on it! And you’ve even shot that note I was tossing to Ryukyu! You’re so good with it, but all I can do is break things. And people.”

“My Hero agency is right next to a fire station.” I gave a light chuckle as I remembered some of the men that worked there. An interesting bunch, many of whom I would call friends. “Do you know why?”

“Because the city is paranoid?”

“Kind of, but they are for a good reason.” I looked at my hand and forced a bit of flame into my palm. “You saw what I did in Kyoto right? I know there’s at least a dozen videos of that night.”

“Yeah, you destroyed most of the castle and even damaged some streams to kill that one bad guy, right?”

Heh, no doubt All for One was screaming at being reduced to ‘that one bad guy’.

“Yep. Just like you, my quirk is really strong—so strong that it’s hard to control. Everytime I fight, it’s not about am I strong enough to beat them, it’s a question of if I can beat them without killing them.” I clutched the fire in my hand and let it go into several burning petals, which was a neat trick that my girls absolutely loved. I wasn’t telling the whole truth: up until that day when I thought my family had died, I had a hard time controlling my quirk and using it at full power, but the experiences of Endeavour were mine as well now. “It took me years of practice to control my quirk. It’s hard work.”

I held up my warm fist and bumped Rumi in the shoulder. “But you’re not afraid of hard work, are you?”

“No way!” Her ears shot up and she let out a smile that reached all the way up to her eyes. She pumped her arms and bounced up a few feet with ease. “I’m going to work even harder and become a hero that’s even better than you and All Might.”

“Haha! That’s the spirit! Remember, don’t be afraid to ask for help.” I tried not to let the fact that my eyeball was currently feeling like it might pop like a zit distract me from being a good teacher. “I and all the other teachers will help you however we can.”

“Right, I’ll get started right away! Can I have the keys to the gym?”

I blinked my one good eye and then pointed towards the door. “No, but you can go to class and then go to the after school clubs.”

“Oh! Right. Okay Sensei! Thank you and sorry about your face!” Rumi bounced on her heels and started to run out the room.

“Oh, and Rumi!” I shouted and gave her my best fatherly smile as she stopped halfway out the door frame. “Go easy on my son. I’m aware it’s fun to tease him, but give him a bit of a break.”

“But, he won’t talk to me otherwise!”

“Have you tried confessing?” Rei’s soft voice rang like a glass of perfectly poured wine next to a firelit dinner.

Rumi let out an eep and her ears fell back down. “Other-Todoroki-sensei! I umm, don’t have a crush on him! I don’t!”

I could all but hear Rei’s soft and motherly humm. “Well, okay then, now hurry back to class while I make sure my husband is still my husband.”

“He did punch my boob.”

I blinked. “I bumped your shoulder!”

“You have big hands sensei!” Rumi shouted before she stuck her tongue out at me and then ran out the door.

Rei walked in with all the grace in the world. Her soft eloquent smile filled my chest with butterflies that spread throughout my entire body and stopped my eye from hurting even more. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her as she walked; the tight skirt she was wearing was modest enough that it wouldn’t distract the students, but my love for Office Lady apparel, and the fact that I would get to see her take that off tonight, made it ever-so-slightly erotic to me. Even her light blue blouse that revealed nothing put a smile on my face.

I grinned through the pain and kept my eye focused on her. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?”

She rolled her eyes and stood in front of me, her cold hands touching my face. “Multiple times every single day. At least I know you’re still you: only my loving and adoring husband would shamelessly flirt with me like this at school.”

She removed the ice pack from my eye and replaced it with her cooling touch. Despite her cold fingers, I felt myself melt into her hand ever-so-slightly.

“Rei,” I said with a soft voice, “how many times do I have to tell you? I’m here to stay.”

“I know,” she whispered softly and sat down beside me. “I know you are, but that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about losing you. Especially if you get kicked in the head by Rumi and you end up being an amnesiac and you forget about me.”

She guided me downward until my head was resting in her lap, her fingers blanketing the side of my face with a cool breeze that reduced the pain to nothing.

“Our life isn’t that dramatic,” I let out a long content sigh as I enjoyed using my wife’s lap as a pillow. Technically I could ask her to do this whenever I wanted, but there was something special about her being the one to engage. “Am I going to have to cancel our HBO?”

“Hey, you’re the one that got us started on those romance stories you love so much.”

“And you all got addicted to them.” Movie night was often just whatever romantic comedy we could dig up from the internet. “Besides, even if I did lose my memories, All I’d have to do is see you to know that we are in love.”

“I thought you said our life wasn’t that dramatic.” Rei rolled her eyes and then looked me in the eye. “Besides, I don’t think anyone of those movies has their husband witness the death of their family and then destroy a historical landmark.”

“Hey, we’ve calmed down from the drama and now we’re in slice of life territory. It’s smooth sailing from here.” I grabbed her hand and smiled. “By the way, we should go on vacation.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere where I can see you in a bikini all day.”

“I can wear one of those at home, you know.”

“Yeah, but our kids will see, and I think most of them are traumatized enough with how often we flirt.”

Rei hummed, “Fine, fine. Where did you have in mind?”

For a moment I stared up at the ceiling and thought about all the places I could take Rei. There were so many places we wanted to go. “Hmm, Hawaii?”

“Mexico?” She countered. “They have better food.”

“True,” I shrugged. “But there’s more people there.”

“Hmm, true.”

I reached up and cupped her cheek and smiled. “I’m sure that wherever it is, so long as I’m with you, it will be amazing.”

Rei sighed and melted into the palm of my hand just a bit. “You’re such a sap.”

“And you’re sweet as sugar, so together we make syrup.” I gave a big toothy grin. “I’ll make pancakes this weekend.”

“Keep that up and I won’t be wearing a bikini.”

“Oh, I know a few ways to burn off the pancakes.”

“You know, we really shouldn’t be flirting like this at work.”

“Isn’t that the best part?”

She gave a wry, knowing smile before she leaned downward and gave me a soft, quick, loving, and oh-so-daring kiss. “It is.”

Before we knew it, our first year of teaching came to a successful end.

And we only got caught kissing twice!

It wasn’t my fault! Rei was just too irresistible! And it wasn’t like she never initiated.

XXXX

I wasn’t sure if teaching made time fly, or if growing older made time move faster, but it felt like three years went by in the blink of an eye, and now, I was standing next to Rei, as proud as could be as we watched Touya receive his diploma and official hero license.

The young hero Perseverance had officially been born into the world, ready to do his part and try to make things better.

Dressed in his graduation gown, Touya all but sprinted towards us, and I greeted my dyed-haired punk of a son with the mother of all bear hugs.

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks dad.”

Simple words.

Infinite meaning.

Chapter Text

There were many signs that I was getting old. The glasses were one, but also the fact that a solid two-thirds of my children were adults or they took after their mother and I and just pretended to be adults. If that was the case then I guess we did something right with raising them. Which honestly meant more to me than my previous rank as the number two hero ever did.

Touya would eventually get there, I was sure of it. Hell, he might take the number one spot depending on whatever the hell All Might did with his cured-as-all-hell quirk. It also depended on how well Perseverance could keep up with the likes of Hawks, it might just be that I’m old as fuck now but when I saw Keigo take to the field for the first time I hung my metaphorical cape up.

That wasn’t to say I wasn’t still involved with things, it just felt like I was doing more good at U.A. than I was on the field.

“How’s this?” Rei asked me, her entire weight was located on my back, which would normally be a sign of a good time, but part of getting old was having random pains and knots that didn’t want to go out.

“A bit lower—”

She pressed her palms against my back and then pushed hard.

I felt that pop with my entire body.

It felt fantastic.

“Oooh, yeah,” I let out the longest most content sigh in the history of the universe.

“Well, once again, you’re satisfied and I’m left with nothing.”

I scoffed and rolled over, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her to the ground. “Really? You’re going to play the ‘husband never satisfies me’ card?”

She stuck her tongue out and gave me a look that belonged in our bedroom, possibly the bath, or on that one beach, we actually went to for our twentieth anniversary. “Of course, you always get motivated when I play that card.”

“You’re you.” I leaned down and kissed her softly. “I’m always motivated to make you happy.”

“Does that mean you’ll give me a warm-fingered massage?” She flopped onto her back and kicked one leg up, hitting me in the butt. “I’m waiting.”

“Why did I marry you?”

“Because you love me~!”

Hard to argue with that. Even though we were in our forties at this point Rei hadn’t changed at all, she was a timeless beauty with a smile that brought me back to the very first time we kissed. It also helped that she already had snow-white hair, which was more than fine, I absolutely loved her hair. The rest of her was good too.

I began to rub her shoulders ever so slightly, heating up my fingers just enough for them to be felt, and watched as she began to relax. Teaching, while at this point we were both used to it was still stressful especially since we were both full-time.

“Mmm,” Rei let out a content moan, she turned her head slightly and looked up at me. “We should get a new bed.”

“Are you just saying that because you want to relive one of our first dates and then break in a new bed again?”

“I’m saying that because our bed is getting old, I mean, we only got it replaced when the house got destroyed that one time.”

“Aren’t they supposed to last longer?”

“Me wife. Me say we get new bed.”

“Me husband. Me agree.”

I continued the light massage for a few moments, enjoying the peaceful Sunday afternoon. It was a bit cold out, but that wasn’t anything Rei nor myself couldn’t handle. “We can go today if you want.”

“Hmm,” Rei moaned again. “Maybe, but, I kind of like the idea of not going anywhere.”

“It’s like you’re trying to get me to fall in love with you, over and over again.”

“Good,” She turned and smiled up at me, her hands going around my neck. “Because then we’d be even.”

We were about to kiss when we heard someone enter the living room.

“Woah!” Touya shouted, and nearly stumbled back out of the room. His face was almost as red as his hair used to be. “You two need to lock the door when you’re doing stuff like that.”

“We lock the front door,” Rei shot Touya a dirty glare. “Besides, we’ve been doing this for years, shouldn’t you be used to it.”

This broke our son.

I let out a grunt as I stood, and helped Rei to her feet. “What’s up Touya?”

“Oh, umm, well, I—”

Rei raised an eyebrow and looked up at me. “Is he okay?”

“Has he ever been?”

“Guh!” Touya grabbed at his hair, and I heard someone else laugh just beyond the door, our son peeked down the hall and said something back. “You’re not helping!”

“Touya,” I said in my best dad voice. “What is it, you know you can literally tell me everything.”

“Yeah, I know, but still, it doesn’t make this any easier. I mean, I’m like your only son and.”

Rei gasped. “He killed someone, quick, Enji get the shovel, I’ll establish an alibi, what’s Rumi’s number again? Oh, wait smartphone.”

“Why are you too like this?” Touya all but shouted.

I shrugged. “Love, but really, what’s got you so worked up.”

“Alright, well, here it goes.” Touya reached behind the wall and pulled out a short blond man that I recognized. “Mom, Dad, this is Keigo.”

Ahh.

I see.

“Umm, huh?” Rei tilted her head in confusion. “But, we’ve met Hawks before, he was a student of ours. And he’s been over for dinner before.”

Keigo just laughed, “I hope you don’t mind if I fly by for some food again, you guys are great cooks. And expensive too, I mean a lobster a week?”

Rei liked to torment my mental tenant.

“Oh, that’s fine, but, uhh,” Rei tilted her head to the side and looked at Touya and Keigo, and then towards me. “Huh?”

Touya opened his mouth but could only blush.

“Allow me to explain.” I walked over towards the two of them and extended my hand towards them both. Hawks took it first. “Take good care of my son. Also. Get your own place.”

“Haha, don’t worry, he’ll be moving in soon enough. But I’m serious about that dinner.” Keigo gave me a wide smile. He was still my number one fanboy.

I looked towards Touya and extended my hand. I cleared my throat and in my loudest inside voice ever I let out a “Hi, gay I’m dad!”

Keigo lost his shit and was on the ground rolling in laughter.

Touya looked ready to put someone six feet under.

“What?!” Rei rushed over to his side. “But. Rumi? You? Hawks? Keigo? Touya? Grandbabies!” Rei ran her hand through her hair and then pointed towards Touya’s pants. “Skinny Jeans!” She blinked and then looked up at him. “I love you.”

“I love you too mom.” Touya let out an awkward laugh. “But yeah, Kegio’s my boyfriend.”

“But still, how didn’t I know?” Rei looked between the two young men, and then looked up towards me. “Did you know?”

I shrugged. “I had a feeling.”

I mean he did turn down a total of twelve girls over his time at U.A. not to mention he never dated any girls and Keigo did stay over a lot.

Rei let her shoulder drop. “I mean, when did I become a bad parent?”

“You’re not, Touya’s just really good at keeping secrets.” I gave my son a wink.

“Oh!” A cheerful voice that was just filled to the brim with shit came out from around the corner and Fuyumi’s head popped around the corner. “Did Touya come out of the closet yet?”

Touya let out a sigh. “Yes, they know now.”

“Cool!” Fuyumi looked up to him with a big smile on her face. “I’m happy for you.” She then looked at both of us and with a completely serious face. “By the way, I’m bisexual and I’ve been dating Moe for months. Now I gotta go to a book signing! Later!”

And with that our second most troublesome daughter and published novelist ran out the door before any of us could say anything.

I looked at Rei. “Did you know?”

“Nope.” She looked up at me. “Are we bad at this?”

“SHOOOOKOOOOOO!”

I heard her stumble through the house before she showed up right where Fuyumi had been. She looked completely unaware that she was still in her pajamas and gave me a slightly sour look. “What?”

“Sexual orientation.” I pointed at her. “Go!”

“Uhh” she blinked at my finger and then shrugged. “I like whoever gives me Soba.”

I looked to Rei and then looked back at my first most troublesome daughter. “Maybe we are bad parents.”

Touya slammed us both with a hug. “No, you guys are the best.”

“Uhhh,” I heard Shoko start. “Did I miss something?”

“Your brother’s gay, I’m his boyfriend, and Fuyumi’s bisexual and has been dating some chick called Moe.” Keigo summarized things nicely, despite running the moment ever so slightly. “And we should have a barbeque.”

“Oh, that sounds good.”