Whew so this has been a long time coming. I finally did it, I hope you like it.

Also I've gotten around to write less and less recently, so I'm not sure, if I will be able to keep up the posting schedule as regularly as I currently do for the coming months. Just so you're warned. I still plan to, but it's getting a bit tough with my schedule.


A Day And A Life

Shoto announced himself for Saturday morning.

As expected, the bell rang just after Enji stepped out of the shower. The boy wasn't alone. There was another right next to him, with wild and dark green hair. Enji recognized Midoriya Izuku at once.

The last and – really – only time they'd interacted was during the Sports Festival, when the kid had glared at and challenged him. Enji didn't remember that interaction fondly, but – in hindsight – he understood what Midoriya had been trying to tell him when he said Shoto wasn't him. Still, now that he looked down at the boy again, he almost regretted having told Shoto that he could bring a friend.

He really did not look forward to more verbal humiliation. He remembered Midoriya as challenging, defiant, and a little insolent — almost insulting. Thus, he was more than a little weary when he glared down at the boy.

"You… ah," Shoto started scratching his head in embarrassment, "remember Midoriya?" He seemed somewhat uncomfortable, and Enji glanced at him in confusion. Only then did he realize that while he of course knew about the kid, they hadn't been formally introduced yet. Then Shoto looked at Midoriya and waved towards his father. "Eh… and you know my father, so…" Still scratching the back of his head, he looked away.

Whatever he had expected from Midoriya, however he remembered him, well — this kid seemed very different now. As soon as Shoto's half-assed introduction was over, Midoriya bowed deeply. And he didn't just bow once. Instead, his head and neck bobbed up and down so fast, Enji expected him to get whiplash from it. He bowed at least four times, his head turning beet red.

"Endea…Mr. Todoroki!" He quickly caught himself, before saying his hero name, but his head only turned a darker shade of red. His voice was hectic. "Nice to meet you! Thanks for having me."

It was obvious that Midoriya too remembered their last encounter and was rather embarrassed by it now. When he stopped bowing, he started shifting from one foot to the other, looking between Shoto and Enji, as if hoping one of them would say something.

"Can we come in?" Shoto finally broke the silence, glaring at Enji impatiently.

That finally pulled Enji out of his stupor. He quickly stepped away from the door.

"Of course. Of course, come in. Do you want something to drink?"

But Shoto declined immediately, stating he didn't have much time, and that they should probably start with the roof right away. Midoriya, who had already opened his mouth to answer, closed it again quietly. Enji just snorted, amused. It was obvious that Midoriya wanted to politely accept the offer, when Shoto took the decision out of his hands. Shoto seemed to realize that too.

"Or do you want something?"

"No, no, Todoroki!" The green-haired boy quickly shook his head. "Let's start with the roof. What can I do?"

Rather happy with their work ethics, Enji led them up to the attic. There still were some crates and boxes he didn't have time to move yet. He had spent the days before almost exclusively working in the dojo.

"If you don't mind, you could carry those boxes down into Fuyumi's old room for now. There's still some space." He looked at Midoriya.

"Of course, where…?" but before Midoriya even finished the question, Shoto already pulled him at his sleeve back down to the second floor to show him Fuyumi's room.

Five minutes later, both boys were back up in the attic, and Midoriya curiously peaked into one of the crates.

"That's…" His eyes sparkled a little, when he glanced at Enji as if asking for permission and then opened another crate. "That's merchandise!" The way he exclaimed it made it sound as if the boy had found a secret treasure.

Enji shook his head in surprise. He hadn't expected the boy to be a fan… Then again, it was not just strictly Endeavor merchandise in those boxes. There was a lot of stuff from his current and former sidekicks, and some from the Hero Association, depicting him in ensembles with other heroes.

In fact, it was one of those team wallpapers that the boy now pulled out of one of the boxes and rolled up in front of their eyes. Enji didn't quite remember how old this particular piece was, but he thought it might have been from the Hero Billboard Charts at least seven years ago. It showed him, All Might, and the now retired Crimson Riot, the top three at the time. There was another wallpaper rolled up with this one, showing the entire top ten, including a young and promising Best Jeanist.

"That's so cool!" Midoriya's eyes sparkled excitedly.

"If you find anything you like, keep it," Enji said, not really interested in the wallpapers.

"Really?"

He realized both Midoriya and Shoto were looking at him. Midoriya, with childish excitement, and Shoto, almost thoughtfully.

"Sure." He waved the boy's uncertainty away. "But maybe only search through them in Fuyumi's room." He added, already turning away from the kid. He really didn't need him spreading that garbage everywhere in the attic while he and Shoto were working on the roof. "And you, Shoto, maybe you could follow me and look at the roof, so that you can decide how to best stabilize it?"

Shoto looked at his friend for a moment before giving a casual shrug and following Enji back outside.

Working with Shoto was simultaneously better and worse than working alone. He liked spending time with his son, but they constantly got in each other's way.

Shoto might have had some experience holding up crumbling buildings, but he didn't actually know the first thing about how to stabilize the roof. It took them the better part of an hour to figure out a method. Shoto would freeze parts of the roof together, stabilizing loose tiles, rather than support the whole structure from the ground. It was very meticulous and detailed work for him which seemed to wind him more than just creating the huge ice structures he was used to.

In passing, it occurred to Enji that this was probably even half-way decent quirk control training for Shoto. He didn't know if he should speak that thought out loud, though, until Shoto did it himself.

"You didn't mention this would be so hard," he joked, balancing on the scaffold with his right hand pressed against the side of the roof, concentrating on the tiny ice structures he had formed between tiles. "Good way to train my ice. I normally don't use it that way."

"Please concentrate!" Enji warned when he could hear the ice crack under his weight. "I don't want to fall because of you congratulating yourself." He could hear Midoriya rummage down in the attic below him.

"Sorry, sorry." It got a bit chilly, and then Enji's foot froze to the tiles below him.

"Shoto!" He warned loudly.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Shoto yelled back. "Just give me a…" But he had trouble controlling his heat for it to only melt the ice around Enji's shoe, instead of bringing down the entire roof. "Why don't you melt it?" He questioned impatiently. "You can do it too."

Without another comment, Enji heated his foot just enough to melt the ice around his shoe without damaging the leather. "Just stay focused." His voice was a little annoyed. He grabbed his drill and took out the screws of a damaged rafter.

"Midoriya!" he called down. "I'm unfixing the first rafter. Stay away so that it doesn't fall on your head."

Instead of staying away, the head of wild green hair suddenly appeared right below Enji, peering up at him. "I can catch it, if it falls."

"No, I got it."

"It would be easier than for you to take the screws and catch the beam while balancing up there."

Enji had to admit that the boy made sense, and the wood was rather light. Nothing compared to what Midoriya could easily carry with his quirk. Still…

"I have super strength," Midoriya laughed when Enji was still hesitating.

Finally, he relented. "But keep your head safe. I don't want Aizawa complaining if you get a bruise."

A few minutes later, Enji and Shoto were back down on the ground, catching the damaged beam that Midoriya handed them through the window. They measured it before sawing a new beam of wood to the same length.

"You first," Enji offered, when they made to climb the scaffold again. "Don't forget to re-freeze the roof."

"I know what I have to do." Shoto quickly climbed the metal scaffold, leaning over the banister. "Give me the beam, I'll pull it up."

Shoto put the wooden rafter so awkwardly on the scaffold that when Enji climbed up after him, he had to duck under it.

"Don't complain," Shoto warned. "That was the easiest way to put it."

Enji doubted that, but instead of complaining, he climbed onto the roof after Shoto had frozen it solid again.

"Just hand me that rafter," he said, when he reached the position where he had taken the beam.

They had already made visible progress. Enji had lifted off many loose tiles and smaller parts of the wooden frame. Step by step, they made their way across the entire roof to where Shoto was waiting, still focused on keeping the part where Enji stood stable. Sometimes Enji was crouching more on actual ice rather than the tiles.

He was too far for Shoto to reach, so when the boy lifted the wooden beam up again and put it on the roof, Enji couldn't quite reach it yet. Shoto gave it a decisive push, making the wood bump uncomfortably against Enji's leg and almost sliding right back down the slope.

Enji decided not to comment, but he took the beam with a pronounced roll of his eyes.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"You're thinking something."

Enji clamped his mouth shut to not admonish the boy for being careless or purposefully difficult. Instead, he grabbed the beam and put it where he had taken away the burned one. He was already reaching for the electric drill and screws next to him when he finally answered.

"It's nice working with you."

Shoto didn't say anything for a while. Then he sighed

"Yeah."

Again, he paused for a moment, the only noise being the buzzing of Enji's drill. Even Midoriya down in the attic seemed to go quiet. Or maybe the other boy wasn't even in the attic anymore, because when Enji glanced down to check, he couldn't see anybody, nor any boxes or crates left.

"Shame we didn't do this kind of stuff before," Shoto continued then.

Enji had already decided that it was probably best not to answer when his mouth worked on its own.

"Yeah." He stared at the beam in front of him, screwing in the last screw, before wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. It was another cold January day, but he was still sweating from his work.

Searching, he looked up at the white sky, looking for the sun hidden behind a layer of soft, cold clouds. It was already afternoon.

"We should make a break," he decided. "Get something to eat and then finish up with this part before you boys need to go."

"I can continue," Shoto said after a second of consideration.

"Sure, I know." He still climbed down back to the scaffold and then to the ground, with Shoto following him reluctantly. "But I won't have your mother call and complain that I didn't feed you properly." Neither he nor Shoto mentioned that Rei would not call him, of course. She would just not allow her son to visit if she thought Enji didn't take proper care of him. Enji already knew it must've taken everything out of her to allow Shoto to visit by himself in the first place. Truth be told, even he didn't quite understand why she had allowed it. He was thankful, though.

"Midoriya!" Shoto called up the stairs, after he entered the house. When his classmate didn't respond immediately, he glanced back at Enji.

"Go on if you want. I'll call you when lunch is ready."

Enji was even a little grateful when Shoto went up the stairs leaving him to prepare the meal alone. He was inexplicably nervous at the mere idea of cooking for his son and his friend. Not having Shoto behind him, looking over his shoulder and watching every step, was rather preferable. He didn't want his son to watch him bumbling about in the kitchen.

He didn't have time for an elaborate meal, but he had everything prepared to quickly whip up three bowls of ramen with pork, eggs and vegetables. It still took longer than expected as he took a while chopping the vegetables.

Finally, it was a success, and he set the table. After that, Enji went up to look for the boys. As expected, he found them in Fuyumi's old room, searching through the boxes of merchandise.

Fuyumi's room was in utter chaos. Shoto was sitting on her futon and Midoriya sat on the ground next to one of the crates. There were wallpapers and figures, teacups and baseball caps, T-shirts and postcards strewn all across the floor. A small shoe box was set in the middle, which Midoriya and Shoto had filled up with stuff they wanted to take with them. Protruding out of it was a calendar of three years ago, prominently featuring the then top three heros: All Might, Endeavor, and Best Jeanist.

The two boys had their heads together looking through what Enji assumed was a stack of postcards. They both looked up as he entered the room. Enji was about to tell them that lunch was ready when their looks made him stop. Both of them looked almost guilty.

Confused, he looked from the two boys to the crates around them. First, he suspected they were worried about the chaos they had created.

"Don't worry about it," he said, pushing one of the boxes aside with his foot. "I'll clean up later. Lunch is ready."

"Eh…" Midoriya made an indecisive sound, glancing at Shoto, who didn't react at all.

"What's up?" Enji asked when it became clear that the chaos was not the cause of the boy's discomfort.

For every second that Enji looked at the two, Midoriya squirmed a bit more, while Shoto didn't look quite as uncomfortable. In fact, Shoto just glared back at Enji. Then, Midoriya's eyes quickly flashed to one of the bigger crates and back at Enji, as if he thought Enji didn't notice it.

Frowning, Enji stepped over to the box, opened it, and pulled out the first item. He immediately stopped short.

"Oh… I didn't know that this was up there." It was a stuffed toy, old and worn out enough that it was difficult to distinguish between a bear or a dog. He glanced back into the box. There was a dark brown leather jacket, a few books, a stack of papers, two thick and full folders, a photo album, some framed pictures, an old pair of sneakers and some CDs. There was some other stuff, too, but he didn't look too closely.

Enji really shouldn't have been too surprised that there was some personal stuff shoved away in the attic. Carelessly, he threw the stuffed toy back into the box and gave the open flap a little kick with his knee, so that it fell shut.

"Are you coming? It's getting cold."

Midoriya immediately jumped up. He was obviously relieved that Enji didn't admonish him for putting his nose into other people's stuff. Shoto seemed much less enthusiastic, though. He glanced at one of the pictures in his hands. The ones Enji had first thought were just postcards.

"Your parents," he stated matter-of-factly, turning the picture so Enji could see it.

He only had to throw a short glance at the image of the man and woman, and the black-haired boy standing all around a teenage version of himself. Teenage Enji was scowling into the camera.

"No," he said dismissively.

Shoto's brows furrowed a little. He turned the photo back so he could look at it again and flipped to the next one. "Then who's that?" It was again, a picture of a teenaged Enji with the same black-haired boy around the same age. "A friend? I've never seen him before."

"That's my brother." He crossed his arms impatiently. Midoriya now stood next to him at the door, waiting for Shoto to follow. He shifted from one foot to the other, as if he didn't want to listen in on this conversation. "Aiji. Your uncle."

"I didn't know I had an uncle," Shoto said quietly. "You've never spoken about him."

Enji shrugged. "We're not close." Finally, he stepped back out of the doorway. Midoriya followed, hurrying to leave the room as fast as possible. Enji could already hear him trample down the stairs only seconds later. "I think your friend is hungry," he joked, and indeed it finally got Shoto to stand up from where he sat on the futon. He didn't let go of the photos, though, even as he followed Midoriya. He was still staring at Enji, all the way until he finally passed him at the door.

"If you want, I can introduce you," Enji finally relented, when he realized Shoto was not happy with his response.

"Why did you never mention that you had a younger brother?" Shoto asked, annoyed. "We only ever met Mom's…"

"He's my older brother," Enji interrupted him, somewhat surprised that Shoto had guessed that he was the older one.

Confused, Shoto looked back at the picture. Now, glancing over his shoulder at the same image as they descended the stairs, he realized why Shoto had come to that conclusion. Indeed, Enji did look older.

The picture showed two boys around age thirteen or fourteen, Enji himself with his tell-tale red hair and his brother with dark black hair. Enji's jaw and nose were already strong for a young kid, while Aiji had a much more round and graceful face.

Back when he first saw Fuyumi with her shorter hair, it had been the first time Enji had seen the obvious similarities between the two. Now, he realized once more how feminine his brother's facial features were. The long hair that reached to his chin only added to that impression. The last time he saw his brother during their father's funeral, Aiji hadn't been quite as delicate anymore. He'd gained weight and cut his hair short.

Shoto shook his head after studying the picture for a while. "I guess it's like with Natsu and Touya?"

He had a point. Natsuo was four and a half years younger than Touya and had still towered above him ever since he was twelve.

"We're quite close in age, anyway," Enji said regardless, and almost regretted it immediately. He didn't really want to talk about his brother or his family.

"That's cool," Shoto said. He looked at the photo for a bit longer before finally putting it aside and sitting down at the table opposite Midoriya. "Sometimes, I wish I had a brother closer to my age. That would have been fun…"

Even if Shoto had a sibling his age, he might have never been able to play with them. Shoto not having any of his siblings as playmates as a child was not a product of their difference in age, anyway. It was as if both Shoto and Enji remembered that simultaneously, because Shoto stopped talking and Enji just stared into his ramen, which had already cooled down a little.

Enji sat down at the head of the table. Glaring at the broth, he put his hand around the bowl and heated it up with his quirk, until it was steaming again, but it didn't really help his appetite. Quietly, Shoto did the same, before also heating up Midoriya's bowl.

"I didn't have siblings." Midoriya blurted out in that moment, and immediately ducked his head a little, as if he had interrupted them. Still, when nobody took up the conversation, he continued. "It was really boring… I mean, Mom's nice, and I would play with Kacchan, until… well…" He stopped, glancing all around the living room but not at the occupants of the table.

Enji thought about whether he had stopped, because it occurred to him, that Enji had no idea who Kacchan might be, or if he had been about to say something embarrassing. Instead of asking, he just took up his chopsticks and stirred his noodles.

"Yeah, it is," he muttered without giving it a second thought. "I understand."

Shoto dropped his chopsticks with an audible clank. Once more, he glared at Enji, then he frowned looking back at the picture. "What do you mean, you get it?" he snapped, obviously confused. "You had a brother your age!"

Enji looked back up at him. This wouldn't go anywhere if he didn't start explaining some things, he realized. He had no interest to tell his entire life story. There was little to tell, really, but there were parts he had never told Shoto.

Self-consciously, he glanced at Midoriya. For a second, he considered throwing him out, or just telling Shoto to come some other time to talk without his friends around, but then pushed the idea away. He was, after all, not afraid of some teenager's judgement.

"If you really want to meet him," Enji started somewhat cryptically, "he'll turn 47 in February. He'll probably invite us. He sends an invitation every year." At least, ever since their father had died. Like he suddenly realized Enji was the last family member he had left. As if Enji cared for his brother's late sentimentality.

Shoto looked even more confused now. "He invites us every year. Me too?" Now his voice shifted to a more biting and angry tone. "Why did you never tell me?" He put his hand down on the table loudly. "Do I have cousins?"

"He has a daughter, as far as—"

He was interrupted when Midoriya suddenly coughed. Shoto looked at him in surprise, as if he had completely forgotten he was there, and Enji was getting irritated. He got even more so, when instead of just apologizing and quietly continuing to eat, Midoriya furrowed his brows in thought and said: "Wait, that can't be right."

"What can't be?" Shoto shook his head, not understanding.

Enji, however, already knew what Midoriya must have realized. By now, he had found out enough about the boy to know he was a big fan of heroes in general, not just All Might, which meant…

"You're born in August, Todoroki." He said quietly looking at his fingers as if counting the months. "Right?"

Enji grunted in acknowledgement.

"What are you talking about?" Shoto said a bit louder, clearly frustrated.

"It can't be right," Midoriya repeated. "Shoto, your father is born in August. And your uncle in February."

Now, it seemed the other shoe dropped for Shoto too.

"I said we were close in age." Enji felt the need to defend himself.

"That's only a six months' difference. That's impossible." Shoto finally caught up.

Again, Midoriya seemed quicker on the uptake than Shoto, because Enji could already see the realization dawning on his face. The surprise almost made Midoriya choke on his ramen.

Enji glared at Shoto. He couldn't be that daft, really. "My father was fooling around, while his wife was pregnant." He spelled it out.

"So, your brother," Shoto started thoughtlessly, but quickly corrected himself. "No, you… The woman in the photo?"

"Was Aiji's mother. My father's wife."

Enji was oddly aware about how Midoriya ducked his head, hunched his shoulders, and stared into his soup as if biting his tongue not to say anything. Or maybe he was imagining that, and Midoriya was just embarrassed that he was in the middle of such a personal conversation. He was also aware of how Shoto looked at him, opening his mouth and closing it again, with nothing to say.

Enji knew that the times had changed, and that illegitimate children were not ostracized anymore the way they had been just a few decades ago. Even back when he was a child, the times had already been slowly shifting. The more daily life and society was influenced by quirks, the less other aspects of life like marital or birth status seemed to matter. And in any case, his illegitimacy hadn't affected his life, nor had he even talked about it, ever since he graduated. But it was still a relic of the past, so he expected at least some sort of comment, and the sudden stillness in the room felt uncomfortable and itchy.

Ultimately, when neither of the boys said anything, he broke the silence himself. "I lived alone with my mother in Nasadaa for most of my childhood. Todoroki is her surname. I always knew my father, and when my mother got sick, I lived with him for a while. After she died, I became a ward of the state."

"What do you mean, you became a ward of the state?" Shoto asked, irritated. "Why didn't you continue to live with your father?"

"He promised my mother that he would take care of me, for as long as she was in the hospital. But he never acknowledged me as his. I think he couldn't wait to get rid of me." Enji shrugged, picking his chopsticks up again. "Honestly, I can't blame him. We only really met when I was already twelve, so no wonder he had a hard time growing attached to me. And I wasn't easy. Almost burned the house down twice, and his wife thought I was a danger to their precious son."

If the way he poked his chopsticks into his ramen was a bit too aggressive and harsh, nobody commented on it. "And anyway, when I got into UA, I couldn't wait to get out of there and live on my own. Well, I lived with two other boys, but…" He shrugged again.

Enji didn't mention that after everything, shortly before his seventeenth birthday, his father would acknowledge him anyway, and would even try to connect to his wayward son. Back then, he had just scoffed at the old man's half-hearted efforts. He had always assumed it was just an attempt to profit off of his son's promising career. He had been just a year before graduation and the newspapers already handled him as one of the great new upcoming heroes with huge prospects for the future. So naturally, he had rejected his father at every turn, and instead had concentrated entirely on his career.

Then, he had gone and married and sired his own pack of children to mistreat and… now he wondered about that.

His father, even after Enji had become famous and rich, had never asked him for anything. Not when he had himself fallen into financial trouble, not when his wife, Aiji's mother, had become terminally ill, and not once before he died. It might have been because they had virtually no contact, but still…

He hadn't even heard of his father's declining health, until Aiji messaged him about his death and that he couldn't afford the funeral costs, so Enji had taken care of that, at least.

Decidedly, Enji shook his head. His father had been dead for eight years now. He would never know if his old man had been serious about wanting to form a bond or not. Even if it was similar to his own situation now, there was nothing Enji could learn from him, because ultimately, his father had never quite tried hard enough.

He thought about Natsuo, then. The day Enji finally became an adult, he had told his father very clearly to leave him alone. His father, for the most part, had done as demanded.

Natsuo had told Enji the same.

And now, here Enji sat, wondering about what could have been or what might still be.


Tbh I thought long time about his past, whether to include it in this story at all and how to do it. I considered a flashback or sprinkling hints here and there. But ultimately, just hints were not enough. This is not the entire story, but it's the first big piece of the puzzle.

This is NOT a theory for Canon. Just me trying to come up with a fitting past that would explain how he ended up where he is. Especially the part about him being born of an affair, I am sure will not be canon, but I liked it so much, I had to use it. I also wanted to try something different from other fanfics. Something entirely my own. I don't know if we'll ever get a backstory of Enji, but I feel, this is one aspect where I can let my imagination run wild.

Here are a few parameters for how I came up with his past:

a) He did not come from wealth.

In many fics he comes from a rich family. I decided, it would fit better to my version of him if he were - at least to some degree - a self-made man. In fact, in terms of their 'station', Rei comes from a more influential background. In this story, Rei comes from a traditional family who fell into debt and saw this upstart as a chance to get out of their financial trouble.

b) Enji's father

I often hear that Horikoshi said something about Endeavor's father being worse than him. However, I can't find a source, so for now, I will treat it as a widespread headcanon. I mentioned before that Endeavor had a bad relationship with his father, but I didn't want it to be quite so bad. I like to compare Enji to Natsuo and it would be fitting if Enji's relationship to his father (like Natsuo's to him) is best described as 'non-existent and disappointing' rather than 'straight up abusive'. I wanted Enji to struggle through fatherhood without anybody to ask for advice or look at for inspiration.

c) His Mother's death

His mother died in his teens. And her death would be a reason for his wish to become a hero.

d) The House

I somehow wanted the house to be initially built as a comfortable family home. He only moved there when he married. I also found it curious that - although Shoto would have little good memories of the house itself - he still chose to decorate his own dorm room in the same traditional style. I guess Rei had some influence on the interior design, but since this is an Enji story and she doesn't live there anyway I decide he was the decision maker. So I wanted him to copy the house from his father's home. For that, he would live with them for a while, never quite belong but rather look from the outside in. Still it would be enough to see the comfort and try to copy it in the architecture of his own home.

e) Outcast

I wanted at least one aspect which would make him a bit of an outsider and a reclusive. It would help to explain the social awkwardness, the reclusiveness, the insecurities, and his general reluctance to appear in talk-shows or talk about his private life. Him being born out of an affair, seemed to fit. Japan still is rather traditional in this sense, though I suspect in the future - as in any other modern country - this will slowly shift. So, for Enji who lives a few years in the future from now on, while this would be a blemish, it wouldn't be crippling his abilities to advance in society too much. It also would be something that in many ways he'd be keenly aware of, while most people probably don't care. As I mentioned I'm certain it's not canon, but I really like it.

f) Quirk discrimination

I truly believe, that while in the current timeline of MHA flashy and powerful quirks are very much desired, I don't think that was true in the past. I think it was also stated in the manga, that Enji's generation is when quirks first started going a little wild. So, I think it makes sense that rather than praising such powerful quirks, people would be wary. Enji's quirk being called 'Hellflame' also seems to suggest that it wasn't necessarily seen as something positive. This also explains why his father's wife would be wary of having him (a ticking timebomb) in the house with her son.

g) On his own

I wanted him to be a ward of the state for at least his late teens/time during UA. I needed him to drift into his obsessive workaholic patterns and I feel a family would maybe help curb that behavior.

h) Apologist

I didn't want his past to be an excuse for his actions. I always dislike using trauma as excuse for a character's actions later in life. While I wanted to throw rocks in his way – by society, by his family as well as individual events – there were three outcomes I had to avoid: (1) nobody should think 'oh this poor man, no wonder he turned out as he did'. (2) nobody should think 'oh he had it worse than Shoto, Rei, Touya…'. (3) Enji himself should be (for the most part) past what happened and not blame his actions on his past either. All of this would also go against the purpose of this story, which is to redeem Endeavor NOT to excuse his actions. This is also the reason why I struggled for a long time on whether to include his past at all, but after 60 chapters I felt I had to.