Fukuda has always been good at playing along.
It had been a skill he'd developed in childhood, playing along with whatever game would earn him the most friends. Whichever kid wanted to spend time with him at the moment. One year he'd be into sports, another year music, another year Godzilla, another year anime, and so on and so on until middle school. Playing along had netted him what he now could see were shallow friends, the kind that ultimately saw through him and left him lonely when they were done with him, the kind that left him wishing for a real friend.
Any real friend. Even Suzuki Touichirou.
Suzuki had been the first person like him that he'd ever met in his life. The first person he could ever show his powers to. The first person who ever could have understood him…boy, had that dream died fast. Instead it had been him who'd had to try and understand Suzuki, he who'd had to play along. He who'd taken a game that should have ended years ago and turned it into…this.
He who was still playing along but this time with Suzuki's children.
"Miss Suzuki-" said Fukuda as he rose from his desk. He had really only summoned, yes summoned, Sho. He had to get to the bottom of all of this after all. He had expected only Sho to come up, and he to have had to tell Sho just how badly he'd messed up, and then the two of them spending an afternoon together trying to do whatever damage control that they could. What he hadn't been expecting was Sho to come in accompanied by Shigeko.
Willingly.
"Mob." Said Mob. He never called her what she wanted to be called. Only Serizawa got to call her Miss Suzuki and that was only because that was what he felt comfortable doing. He had only met her as Miss Suzuki. Fukuda knew her as Mob. He could have called her that but he chose not to.
She knew that she wasn't supposed to think mean thoughts about people but she couldn't help it…he was kind of a jerk.
"Alright then, Shigeko-" said Fukuda. He was going to play along. He was going to be respectful, let her think she had the power here, and then as soon as she left he was going to talk to Sho and figure out what had gone wrong. He didn't seem to be in distress, he was just standing there…and if Fukuda hadn't known better he could have sworn that Sho was giving him a look.
A mean one.
"No, Mob." Said Mob
"That's not…fine, Mob. What…what brings you here?" asked Fukuda
"What do you mean? You told us to come here." Said Sho. His memory better not have been going in his old age. Sho knew he was a lot older than he looked, nearly as old as Dad, and…wait, was Dad old or just an adult? Sho wasn't sure. He didn't think that it mattered, if Fukuda's mind was going they could have just had someone else help them. It wasn't like they didn't have any friends and, besides, Big Sis was on their side. With her there they might not have needed any other guys.
"No, I said that I wanted to speak to you. Your sister is free to go." Said Fukuda
"You said that you wanted to talk to me about-" said Sho
"There are some things that are best discussed in private, Sho." said Fukuda tersely.
"Yeah, but not in private from Big Sis. She says that she wants to help." Said Sho
"I do." Said Mob
"I don't know what-" said Fukuda
"I want to help you guys take down Dad." Said Mob
"Miss…Mob. I don't know what you think that Sho told you but we're…we're not going to be doing anything like that because that would be treason and your father hates traitors. I think that you might just be tired or-" said Fukuda
"Stop lying to me, I know what Sho said, and I said that I wanted to help." Said Mob
"Yeah Fukuda, come on, don't be an asshole now. You're always an asshole to Big Sis and, I don't know, keep it in your head or something? This is important! The fate of the world rests on this so, yeah, go be an asshole somewhere else if you can't control it." Said Sho
"I'm not being…anything. I'm just worried about your wellbeing, both of your well beings. What you're talking about, destroying the organization that your father spent most of his life building, is…not something that you just do on a whim. This is serious and...and we shouldn't even be talking about this right now." said Fukuda, his eyes darting around the room. He couldn't feel Hatori but that didn't mean that he wasn't there…listening….
"When then?" asked Sho
"I…I don't know." said Fukuda with a sigh. He didn't know, there was just so much happening…if he just had a moment to himself he could he figured out what he was supposed to say about any of this! What he was supposed to do! What would…what would fix all of this…
"You and I have been talking about how we were going to take Dad down for years! Stop acting like this is just something I came up with right now. You want to take him down just as much as I do so just stop it already." Said Sho
"I want…I want what's best for everyone and maybe involving Shigeko isn't the best thing right now. Maybe you and I got ahead of ourselves, before. What we were talking about…it just started off as a way to comfort you, I never expected it to go this far and…and for our own safety we should drop it." Said Fukuda. He hated himself for crushing Sho's dreams but he had to. He hadn't thought that it would have gone this far…he hadn't expected anything to have gone this far. It was absurd, someone taking over the world, but it was happening around him. This entire building was absolutely stuffed to the gills, packed to the rafters, with espers all following Suzuki. They were all getting ready for what Suzuki called 'the uprising'…the day he was going to make his move. He was scheduling things, even. He even had a tentative date.
Shigeko's birthday.
"Drop it…drop it! What the fuck are you talking about, drop it?! Dad can't win! Do you have any idea how he's going to treat everyone, everyone in the whole world, if he wins? It's probably going to be just as bad as how he treats me or…or even worse and…and he shouldn't get to win! He doesn't get to win! People like him don't get to win!" said Sho
"Sho, no, people like him get to win…they win all the time. They win because they're just…Sho, there's no way to stop your dad. Not without killing him. We both know it and we both know that neither of us has it in them. We both know that neither of us has it in us to kill him and we both know that he's not going to let go of the thing that he spent his entire life, over thirty years, building-" said Fukuda
"You were there too." Said Mob. He was staring at her now…right, she had said that out loud. She hadn't been able to help it. She had spent her whole life hearing Dad's stories, she knew that Fukuda had been there while Dad had been planning all of it, and she knew that he had helped Dad so many times in the past. He had been there, right there.
Claw was as much as fault as it had been Dad's.
"What?" asked Fukuda
"You. You were there. You were there all of those years with Dad helping him every step of the way. You guys decided when you were my age that you were going to take over the world. Stop acting like you weren't there, ok? You were and…and I feel like maybe you're changing your mind now because you secretly want Dad to win so it doesn't feel like you wasted your life." said Mob
"Why you little-no. You are just…you're just…" said Fukuda
"Don't be an asshole." Said Sho
"I don't care if he is or he isn't, I'm just including him because of you, little brother. I don't really need him. I have plenty of friends that can help, we both do, mostly because we pretty much just know the same people." Said Mob
"Fine, you know what, how about we talk about what brought this on? I know that there's something else happening here and I won't stop until I know what it is that's happening." Said Fukuda.
"What do you mean?" asked Mob. She knew that things were happening around them, in the building, but she had no idea what Fukuda cared about all of that for.
"I mean why are you suddenly so against your father? Do you honestly expect me to believe that you woke up one morning and just thought to yourself that you were going to destroy everything? That you didn't think this through? I know you, I know you have some other motive." Said Fukuda
"Big Sis isn't like that, Fukuda, and I don't know why you think that she is. She never did anything to you, she never did anything to me, she's never done anything to anyone in her entire life. I don't know why you always have to be such an asshole to her." Said Sho
"Because I know her, Sho, I know her because I know your father. She's just like him. She may not be…she's just like him. She knows that if Claw falls apart then she'll lose everything. She knows that her life is going to be over…and so will yours. Neither of you has any kind of education past kindergarten and the first grade, neither of you has any idea how the world works, neither of you is socialized enough to talk to people, and neither of you…neither of you has had anything approaching a normal life. Sho…I want what's best for you and…and maybe I was too hasty when I started planning this thing with you. Without Claw I don't know…I don't know what's going to happen to you." said Fukuda. He didn't even know what he wanted anymore. He wanted this whole thing to come to an end and he wanted, too, for Sho to be provided for. For Sho to have a chance. He messed up raising Sho, he messed up badly, and without Claw he didn't know how Sho would survive.
Unless Fukuda took care of him.
There was a thought that he'd had many times over the years. He would run away with Sho, find Masami, and then they'd raise their little family alone in some far off place where they didn't have to worry about Suzuki finding them or…or anything. Sho could live a normal life, make normal friends, have some kind of a future. He and Masami could live a normal life, too, together. Cooking dinner together every night, having kids of their own, a little house somewhere…a life. But he knew that none of that was going to happen.
If Fukuda did destroy Claw then Suzuki would hunt him to the ends of the Earth.
"So you were just…you were just lying to me this whole time?" asked Sho, taking a step back. Fukuda was a liar, he had been the one to teach Sho how to lie, but Sho had never once guessed that Fukuda would use his lying skills against him…he was such a moron! Of course Fukuda had been lying to him. The way he had always talked about Dad over the years, how he still talked about him like they were friends even though Dad was a dickhole's dickhole, it all made sense…
Fukuda was a liar and Sho was a moron…and it hurt.
"No! No, no, no! Sho, I love you and I never lied. I just…I just never thought it through, that was all. I thought that…I wanted to bring you to…" said Fukuda
"Bring me to where? You already brought me so many places! When I was little we went so many places and…and you told me that I had to go with you because if Big Sis knew she'd tell Dad but…but were you lying to me then, too? Did you just want to hang out with me and not with Big Sis? Why were you trying to get me away from h-" said Sho as he took a step back. Not enough of a step back, of course, since Fukuda was so much taller than him and his arms were so much longer and it wasn't any effort at all to pull Sho into a hug…and then cry on him.
A lot. With boogers.
"Sho!" said Mob as she reached out and tried to pull them apart with her powers. Fukuda wouldn't let go! She tried a little harder and accidentally pulled away part of his sweater. She hadn't meant to do that. She was starting to lose control…she could have taken his skin off by accident. She knew that he healed but she didn't want to hurt him.
She didn't want to hurt anybody.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" asked Sho as he tried to pull Fukuda off of him. He didn't budge. Sho didn't try with his powers. He didn't want to hurt Fukuda. Fukuda could heal but Sho didn't want to hurt him. Fukuda was an asshole but Sho didn't want to hurt him. Fukuda sucked but Sho…Sho couldn't bring himself to hurt him.
Because he was a moron.
"I wasn't trying to get you away from her, I was trying to get you away from your father! I promised Masami that I'd protect you, I promised her that I would take care of you, I promised her that I wouldn't let your father turn you into a smaller version of him! I couldn't bring you to her so I did the next best thing, alright?! I did the best I could with what I had!" said Fukuda through racking sobs. He wasn't going to let Sho go, not now, not ever. He wasn't going to fail her. He was going to protect her son, he was going to take care of her son, and since he couldn't bring her son back to her he was just…he was going to take care of him as best as he could. Sho was trying to get away. Shigeko was trying to pull them apart. He wasn't going to let go. He was going to take care of Sho…he was going to do his best…
Even though he knew for a fact that his best wasn't good enough…that it had never been good enough.
"Fukuda, let me go and stop crying and stop talking about…about…" said Sho as he tried to pry Fukuda off of him. He got weaker and weaker as his brain took up more and more of his energy in an effort to remember the crying that he had been actively trying not to listen to. Fukuda had said something about his Mom…Fukuda had said a lot of things about his Mom…things that made no sense….things that made it sound like…
"Wait…did you…did you help Mom?" asked Mob. The room shook. The desk beside her splintered into a bunch of little pieces. She hadn't meant to do that. She hadn't meant to lose control but…but it was hard to keep control. Fukuda had been the one to help Mom leave, it sounded like, and…and she knew that she shouldn't have cared about Mom anymore. Mom was kind of a…kind of a bitch.
She knew it was a bad word but it fit.
Mom had left them. Mom had been mean to her when they had still been a family. Mom had kept them locked in the house, pretty much, because she had been tired all the time. Mom had never liked her. Mom had just left her all alone one day…broken their family and left Mob to pick up the pieces and put it back together and…and Fukuda had been the one to help her leave! Fukuda had-had-had-
-had helped Mom leave, not made her leave.
Conceal, don't feel. Power was nothing without control. She wasn't going to lose control here. She was going to keep calm before she brought the building down over their heads. Fukuda wasn't worth it, Mom wasn't worth it, they were both nothing. On their own and together. Zero times zero equaled zero. Tsuchiya had taught her that. Mukai's mom…a real mom. A mom and a friend. Someone who was there for Mob…she had a lot of people there for her. Her friends…her family.
Her friends were more family to her than her family had ever been. They weren't worth losing control over.
"You helped Mom! Admit it! Admit it before I make you admit it!" shouted Sho as he shook Fukuda back and forth. Now he did want to hurt him. Now he wanted to make him feel every terrible thing that Sho had ever felt since Mom had left…since she'd ruined his life. She'd left him and Big Sis all alone with Dad and…and Fukuda didn't count! Fukuda was a liar and a dickhole and an asshole and-and-and-
And Sho couldn't move.
"Don't do it, Sho, it's not worth it. He's not worth it." Said Mob as she used her powers to keep her little brother in place before he did something that he'd regret. She knew why Sho loved Fukuda, because he had always been nice to him, and she knew that if Sho accidentally hurt him so badly that his healing powers couldn't fix it he'd never be able to forgive himself. She wasn't going to let that happen to him. She knew that it must have hurt, it sure had hurt her for a moment, but Mom…she wasn't any more real anymore than the version the spirit had shown her. Fukuda…he hadn't even shown up in her dreamworld…
They were both nothing and they could both be nothing together.
"He lied to me! He lied to you! He lied to-" said Sho as Big Sis pulled his hands off of Fukuda. She took his hands in hers and shook her head.
"Sho, no. I know that what he did was wrong and I know that I lost control of my powers but I don't want you to lose control, ok? Fukuda…isn't the person we knew when we were kids and neither is Mom." Said Mob
"We don't know Mom at all. We don't know because he took her from us and-" said Sho
"She left on her own, Sho, he probably just distracted Dad or something. Like how he used to help you sneak off to see Mukai. He's just sneaky like that, a sneaky jerk, but Mom's worse because…because she was supposed to take care of us." Said Mob
"She just…she wouldn't have left if he hadn't helped her…" said Sho
"Sho…I don't think that she ever loved us…or at least me. She was always nicer to you but…but do you remember how she would always pretend to be tired so she didn't have to spend time with us?" asked Mob
"She didn't pretend to be tired, Shigeko, she was tired. She was tired of the life your father forced her to live…and the fact that you can't see how depressed she was…the fact that you were so wrapped up in your own life-" said Fukuda as he climbed to his feet.
"I was six, my life was school and playing dolls." Said Mob. Part of her wanted to feel bad but then she remembered Mukai. She was only four, a year younger than Sho had been when Mom left, and she never could have seen herself expecting Sho to care that much about her feelings let alone their parents. Mukai was so little she forgot other people even had feelings sometimes…that was just how little kids were…and that was just what they had been back then.
Little kids.
"Stop it…just…just stop it. I don't want to talk about Mom anymore. She's…she gone and…and we need to worry about Dad! So stop trying to make us freak out and…and stop trying to come between us. The world could end, Fukuda, if Dad took it over. Do you get that? We can't let that happen so…so you're either with us or you're against us." Said Sho
"Ok, ok, let's all just calm down before we start making hasty decisions here." Said Fukuda as he held both of his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender. It wasn't enough, not in the face of the sheer force that was Sho and Shigeko when they came together.
"What's it going to be?" asked Sho
"I want us to sit down and talk about-" said Fukuda
"Answer Sho. Either you're on our side or you're on Dad's side." said Mob
"I want Claw destroyed as much as you do-" said Fukuda
"I don't want it destroyed, I just want Dad stopped." Said Mob
"What…what are you talking about?" asked Fukuda
"I think that Claw could do a lot of good for the world without Dad in charge. He told me when I was little that he made Claw to bring espers together, and to put them in charge because we're better than everyone else and he's the best person who ever lived, but if we ignore the part about being better than everyone else we can do a lot of good. We can make it so that people don't have to hide their powers, so that none of us ever have to feel alone ever again. I remember how alone I used to feel when it was just me and Sho…and then how much better my life got when I met my friends. So that's what's going to happen. We'll still be Claw but I'll be the one in charge." Said Mob
"You…want to depose your father? You want to be President Suzuki? And…and what, this just came to you in a dream or something?" asked Fukuda
"Sort of. I got possessed by a spirit and it tried to break me down by showing me a terrible world where I didn't have powers and it almost did but then Serizawa saved me but while I was in there I learned that without my powers I'm nothing so I might as well try to do something good with them so…so here I am." Said Mob
"You were possessed by a spirit…I'm assuming the one your father's been trying to capture for some time now?" asked Fukuda. He wiped his eyes and stood up straight. He'd lost control there. Now he had to reclaim it. Shigeko wasn't in her right mind, it seemed. Possessions were nasty things, he'd seen enough of them over the years, and tried to heal the damage they left to be able to think otherwise. Shigeko was not well and…
And he had to get Sho away from her somehow.
"I'm with you both all the way, and I'm sorry for the way I acted before. It won't happen again…President Suzuki." Said Fukuda as he played along. The kids seemed to accept his sudden change of heart. Smiles from Sho, not the bright one that lit up his entire face but a smile nonetheless. From Shigeko something much smaller and more subdued…something unreadable. He didn't care, the hostilities were over, that was all that mattered. Now all that was left was to play along until he could save Sho and figure out his next course of action.
That was what he did best, after all, play along.