Garou never thinks about family. He never had one. He can't remember his mother, and sometimes he wishes he could forget his father. The old fart was the closest thing to a family he's ever had and like an ungrateful bastard he left and even became a monster. Guess that door is closed now.
So, no, Garou has no such thing as a family, and he doesn't think about it at all!
He doesn't think about an almost forgotten ghostly embrace. He doesn't feel a tight but warm feeling in his chest when he sees kids playing and having fun with their grandparents. He definitely does not shiver when he remembers bruises and cold, lonely nights. That would be silly!
Garou is a an outcast, a menace, a monster!
Mosnters don't need families! Garou doesn't need a family!
Monsters only need themselves and their strength! And that's what Garou is, that's what he does! He fights and gets stronger and he doesn't care about anyone!
Untill... Well...
He happened!
That insufferable, stupid, bull headed, crazy, strong, interesting... sexy... JERK!
Him and his ridiculously cute pompadour and his dumb highschool uniform and his fucking 4 foot wide shoulders. Goddamnit!
It started as nothing at all, just two very strong people meeting to fight with each other to finally decide which one is the strongest. Their first match had remained incomplete after all and Garou wasn't one to back out of a fight without coming out victorious.
They never finished the first match, or the second, or the third...
Of course it was for a valid reason; they were both too tired, Bat-face got a call from his sister, somebody found them and tried to "assist" the Hero, not that Bat-face needed it, and more things like that.
Yes, very reasonable.
Until one day Bat-face didn't come to fight, he was dressed casually, a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt under a black leather jacked and his stupid hair was not in it's normal dumb shape but falling on both sides of his face and Holly Fuck he looked so h-, his trusted bat was nowhere to be seen.
They went for some takoyaki and walked around the city, surprisingly not getting recognized by anyone, maybe that pompadour was how they usually recognized him.
By the time they were back to their meeting place Garou felt like he was in some kind of dream, they had talked for hours about everything and he didn't remember shit but Bat-face looked so much cuter when nibbling angrily at his food.
He would die before admitting this to anyone, but he had fun, he actually liked hanging out with the dumbass surrounded by other people, which was unexpected, since he hated people in general.
Things got even more surprising when the wannabe delinquent invited him to his fucking home for dinner! Him. Garou the Human Monster.
Of course, for no other reason than to fight on his veranda where no one would find them and interrupt this time. Makes a lot of sense. Yes, of course.
Garou liked the house, it was warm and cozy looking and clean. It seemed like it had been recently cleaned through and through. The place sparkled for fucks sake! He couldn't resist pointing that out and the bastard's ears colored pink.
His little sister was home, she looked at him suspiciously, like he tried to her candy or something, and then smiled. She was friendly, which was weird 'cause he literally tried to kill her brother a few weeks ago, but he wasn't gonna complain. He shrugged it off under the logic that kids are dumb and that's it.
They didn't fight that night either, with the excuse that Zenko was studying and needed quiet. They watched a movie, he hadn't done that since he was a kid, let alone with someone else. It wasn't too bad, not the movie, the movie was horrible; something about an Egg man trying to become a hero and meeting this Toaster man who follows him around beating mosnters and shit, but sitting with Bat-face, eating popcorn and making fun of the bad CGI together, that was actually fun! Until Zenko joined them and they ended up watching this Sweet Mask dude sing and be a snobbish bastard for an hour. Bat-face looked just as annoyed as he was feeling but didn't even try to change the channel.
Garou left the heroes house after dinner, feeling something weird in his chest. Some little voice that sounded suspiciously like the old fart tried to whisper the answer in his ear but he shut it down. Garou doesn't feel things like that, he's a monster after all...
He visited them, more often than he thought he would. He got to know Zenko better each time and by the fifth visit he reached two important conclusions:
1. Zenko is NOT a dumb kid and
2. S-Class Hero Metal Bat is utterly whipped by his seven year old sister and is 100% obsessed with her.
Hundreds of pictures of her in every pose, place and outfit imaginable were enough proof. The kid's room was covered from pavement to celling in posters of that Sweet guy, God knows how much all that cost.
Badd, yes he uses his actual name now fuck off, has nothing to say for himself. If his salary as a high ranking hero wasn't so high he would have gone bankrupt years ago with how much money he spent on her.
Another "memeber" of this family was this god awful pest that meowed angrily and tried to scratch him. The cursed thing was a fucking nuisance but she could calm down after a while and not try to murder him every second. Zenko called her Tama but he called her a fucking asshole.
...
Sometimes Garou wakes up on the heros couch and wonders why his chest feels so warm. Sometimes he walks by Zenkos school and she sees him and waves at him and he waves back at her and his smile isn't quite a smirk. Sometimes he and Badd talk for hours and he makes him laugh and Garous ears turn into tomatoes when he thinks 'cute'.
Garou isn't very good at dealing with his own problems. So he doesn't interfere with Badds. He doesn't kick doors open since Badd asked him to stop. He doesn't ask why their house has no other photos than Zenkos and a few of Badd himself. Garou doesn't tease when Badd gets too clingy with Zenko or worries about her for no reason. He doesn't need to be told, he gets it. And Badd never asks why he hates heroes, never lets him isolate himself completely for more than a few hours, he doesn't walk on eggshells around him even though it's clear that he's not as strong as he lets himself believe. Badd never asks and neither does Garou. He knows he will one day, but they'll deal with that together when the time comes.
Garou doesn't know what to call this feeling, but he wants to protect them, to keep them close, soak all their strangeness and attention and... love.
But he's afraid he'll fuck it up like he does with everything, like he did with the old man.
He needs them so bad, now that he knows what he was missing this whole time. Them, he was missing them, yes even the fucking cat, he needs them.
He needs to lay close to Badd and watch movies with him, to ask Zenko about her favorite Amai Mask song and help her out with homework, to fight with the hero until neither of them can stand anymore and eat dinner with them and go out and eat street food with Badd and... Maybe he fucking loves them GOD DAMN IT!
OK! FINE! Garou loves them, he loves them so much he can't say with words because he's shit with words anyway.But he realizes now, that this whole time, maybe he was more human than he thought...
One night he's at Badds house, watching TV, a movie with that Sweet Mask dude as the main character, Zenko sits cross-legged on the carpet in front of them, her eyes sparkling, completely distracted by the movie. Badd leans on him comfortably, as if he fully trusts him. Maybe he does, 'cause he turns and looks at him dead in the eye like he just remembered to do something very important, his cheeks are pink and his brow is furrowed and he looks mad but Badd looks mad all the time so he's probably not mad but his face doesn't know how to express whatever he's feeling. Garou is about to ask what's up when the bastard leans in and all he can feel is the pressure of his stupid lips on his and his entire face goes numb as his head spins and he can't think anything but how fucking beautiful Badd looks. The kiss, or the face crushing to be more exact, lasted a few seconds but to him it felt like time had stopped and he was floating above the sofa where he had been sitting this whole time. Badd leaned back and when he looked at him he was smirking, his warm brown eyes were challenging, the bastard looked smug. Like he had won some unspoken match. Not if he has anything to say about it.
Garou leans in and this time he's sure he knows what heaven tastes like.
Garou doesn't think about family, he doesn't need to. He has found one and he's finally home.