A waffle strike was not the same as a cooking strike.
Shibata had no problem making pancakes for everyone. Normal ones, not soufflé ones. Mob wanted to save those for Sho's birthday….he was going to be so happy! Shibata couldn't wait. He couldn't wait to see the look on Sho's face when he sat down at the table and there was a big plate of fluffy, light, soufflé pancakes in front of him. Twelve since he was turning twelve…where had the time gone? Shibata…he used to be able to pick Sho up with one hand and toss him in the air…well he still could…but Sho was getting too old for that. He was nearly twelve…and in ten years he'd be nearly twenty two…and then Shibata would be dead….well not dead but a lot older….time just kept on slipping right by….the kids were getting older and one day they'd be adults and they'd be out in the world living their own lives and they wouldn't need him anymore…
But they needed him now. They needed him to make pancakes…so that was what he was doing.
He grabbed the mix from the cabinet. He didn't feel like making them from scratch right now. He had too much to do today…and he'd had too much to do yesterday…and the day before. President Suzuki had been working everyone pretty hard. They were getting rid of some yakuza family, and entire family, because some of their members had shot at Mob. Good. They deserved it. Shibata wasn't a particularly violent man, especially not by Claw standards, but he could agree that anyone who tried to hurt the kids, any of the kids, deserved whatever was coming to them…even getting hit right into the afterlife.
They'd all brought it on themselves.
Mob was a powerful esper but she was still just a little girl. Well not as little as she used to be but she was still so small that he could pick her up with one hand and toss her in the air. She was so small and fragile and helpless….and she shouldn't have even been out where people could shoot at her in the first place. She was so little. She may have been a powerful esper but she was still just a little girl and she didn't need to be shot at like that…or ever! Shibata sighed and poured the pancake mix into the bowl. Getting angry wouldn't do any good…it wouldn't have been good for anyone.
Not like pancakes. Pancakes were good for everyone.
He could feel the house stirring. The energy of it shifted as everyone got into various stages of waking up. Doors were opening and closing. Someone slammed the bathroom door shut. That wasn't good. Serizawa was right by the bathroom and this was too early for him. Mob usually got him up in an hour or so and heated up his breakfast. She was such a good little helper, always thinking of her friends like that. It was about time someone in this house thought of someone other than themselves-
No, everyone was fine.
Too much mix. Now he needed more water…the whole ratio was off…but it was what it was. People were getting up and nobody was particularly cheery in the mornings. No, Claw was not made up of morning people at all…he cooked faster. He added however much water it looked like would be enough. He really should have been more precise but he was racing a clock, now, it seemed like. He had to get breakfast on the table before everyone got up or else they'd start fighting again and he was so sick of the constant fighting and bickering and whatever the fuck Shimazaki was on about. He'd been teasing Mob again and Hatori and just being…weird…like the thing with the giant sandwich that was currently taking up most of the fridge. Nobody was going to eat that much sandwich, nobody needed that much vinegar on a sandwich, and if Shimazaki wanted to bring home food he could have brought home something other than a giant sandwich swimming in vinegar. He never thought about anything or anyone else other than himself and Shibata was getting really sick of that-
"Earth shake! Earth shake!"
Shibata could never get sick of that.
"Earth shake! Earth shake! Over there!" shouted Mukai as she ran into the kitchen. She slid a little as she ran. He reached out and held his hand out to her. She didn't take it, she just got back up again and kept on running. She ran around the kitchen with her hands above her head. She kept on shouting about an earth shake, which he knew meant earth quake, but he was going to go with earth shake since that's the word she wanted to use. She didn't fully know how to speak yet but she was getting better at it...she was so cute! She was the cutest two year old he'd ever met in his life.
Well she was the only two year old he'd ever met.
He didn't have any brothers or sisters or kids of his own…and that was alright. Mom was still sick and anyway she and dad were too old to be having kids. He wasn't ever going to have a kid and that was fine. He didn't know any women who would have been interested in him, women were scared of him most of the time, and anyway he didn't have the time to meet them. Not with how he lived, how often he moved around, and all the work President Suzuki had been giving him.
That was ok, though, he'd made his peace with that long ago.
"The earth shake is over Mukai, you're ok." Said Shibata. Mukai wasn't listening to him, no, she was too busy running around with her hands above her head. He was glad that she was alright. That earthquake must have been so scary and confusing for her. They hadn't had one in a while, a long while. Even he'd been a little freaked out. Not as bad as when he'd been through his first one, he'd thought that the world had been ending the first time he'd been through an earthquake, but…well it had been scary that last time…especially since President Suzuki had been the one to cause it.
Though, really, someone had shot at his daughter so Shibata could forgive him for nearly shaking Tokyo to the ground.
"Earth shake! Earth shake! Earth-owie!" shouted Mukai as she ran into his leg. It was his fault, he shouldn't have stood in her way like that. He should have just gotten out of the kitchen and let her have it. Sure everyone would have been hungry, probably starving, and of course some fight would end up breaking out since everyone in the house didn't just get hungry, no, they got hangry. Well they didn't matter. Mukai wanted to run around and that was what she was going to do.
Well it was what she had been doing.
Now she was on the ground….and she was crying…her little eyes were watering and her lip was quivering. She was about to try...and he had no idea what to do. He couldn't pick her up, she was too small. He couldn't just reach down and pick her up or he'd end up crushing her bones….on accident! It would have been an accident…it was always an accident! He had never crushed a kid on purpose…and…and that kid had gone on to live a normal life! That kid had gone on to live a normal life and anyway he hadn't meant it and…and the kid in front of him mattered. The two year old with tears in her eyes…the scared little two year old…the two year that he had no idea how he was supposed to help. He looked around…maybe she…maybe she needed a snack! Yeah, like how mom had always said. The right snack could fix any problem!
Even a sad….crying….Mukai….
"Hey, you want a snack? Snack time? You want snack time? You want….what do you want?" asked Shibata as he crouched down to her level. She kicked him…he didn't mind. She kicked him and cried…loudly. He shushed her even though he knew that he shouldn't have done that. He had always hated it when his parents shushed him…well it had been mostly dad. Boys don't cry, that was it, boys weren't supposed to cry…though the older he got the less dad told him what to do. He shouldn't have done that, he shouldn't have told Mukai not to cry…..
But he didn't know what else he could do.
"Do you want…cake? I'm making pancakes but I can make you a real one too…or…or do you want pudding? I mean it's Shimazaki's but he can get more. I can make you an ice cream sundae or some deep fried ice cream or…uh…crepes? You want some strawberry crepes? I bet Minegishi could make you some strawberries and-" said Shibata
"Please don't make her any cake, crepes, or ice cream." Said Tsuchiya. He hadn't heard her coming it…it was hard to hear anything over Mukai's crying. He had never been so relieved to see her in his life. She picked Mukai right up…she was so lucky like that. To be able to pick someone up…to always know her own strength. He always admired that about her…
Not that he would ever tell her that to her face.
She was so…he got back up and went back to cooking. He had been staring. That had been wrong, women didn't like to be stared at first of all, and second of all he had to live with her. He had spent many a night listening to the latest in Minegishi and Shimazaki's series of arguments. They were in love but even they could fight…and he and Tsuchiya….well even if he did have feelings for her and she had feelings for him he wasn't about to make things any weirder in the house than it had to be. Things were weird enough without him telling Tsuchiya that even first thing in the morning she looked really pretty…or that the scar on her face was kind of cute…or that she was a really good mom and he was jealous of her just a little bit….
Just a little. Nothing serious.
"I-I'll just stick to pancakes for now….um….you can't hear me. Sorry." said Shibata as Tsuchiya paced back and forth while bouncing Mukai. It worked…some things never changed. He remembered when President Suzuki first brought her home….well also he ran away but that didn't matter. He remembered how small she had been….how Mob and Sho used to walk around bouncing her when she cried…which was all the time….she had been a really unhappy baby…
But at least she was a happy kid.
It didn't take much bouncing to get Mukai to stop crying. She was just a naturally happy kid he supposed, sort of like how Sho and Mob used to be when they'd been little. They were….going through a lot right now. He wished, sometimes, that they had stayed little forever. Things were just so much better when you were little, the world was a lot simpler. Things made more sense. You were sad and then you were happy. When you were sad someone just came up and made everything better. Mukai was so lucky to have someone who cared about her so much….well to have so many people who cared about her.
He was making her pancakes just the way she liked them, with frosting on top and sprinkles.
He opened Shimazaki's cabinet and grabbed the chocolate frosting he kept in there. Yes, he knew that he was technically stealing but this was Shimazaki. He constantly stole food from other people. He tried to play it off like he didn't know what he was doing, like he couldn't possibly know that he was stealing other people's snacks, but everything in the kitchen was labeled now. Shibata had taken the time out of his life to learn braille and how to work the label maker without breaking it. Shimazaki knew exactly what he was doing…and Shibata…well he knew that two wrongs didn't make a right but….this was Shimazaki.
He knew for a fact that Shimazaki had most likely done more than one thing to deserve having his frosting stolen.
"Mama! Down! Now!" said Mukai
"Say please." Said Tsuchiya
"Right now! Now! Now! NOW!" shouted Mukai. She was back to normal now, that was what mattered. Shibata turned around. She was trying to get free. Tsuchiya sighed and put her down. She immediately ran over to Shibata and started pulling on his leg.
"Right now! Now! Now!" shouted Mukai
"Mukai, no. I'm sorry about her. I don't know what's gotten into her…actually that's not true. I know exactly what'd gotten into her." said Tsuchiya
"Now! Right now!" said Mukai
"It's alright, I don't mind her. She's so cute-" said Shibata
"It's not going to be cute in ten years." Said Tsuchiya. Shibata didn't know why she was worried about what Mukai would be like in ten years. That was a long time away. She was two right now and she deserved to be happy…he just had no idea how to make her happy. He had no clue what it was that she wanted but whatever it was it had to have been really important.
Even if it was just important to her and nobody else in the world that didn't mean that what she wanted was any less important than what anyone else wanted.
"She's cute right now Aren't you Mukai, aren't you?" asked Shibata
"I'm cute! Now earth shake! Cute earth shake!" shouted Mukai
"I can make the house shake, but it won't be cute. Um…hang on." Said Shibata. He had always made an effort to walk lightly. He knew how big he was and he was well aware of how much he weighed. He had always made the house shake when he walked, even when he'd been a kid. That was why mom and dad had moved from the apartment. He was about as big as three people and….well he accepted that about himself…and yes, the house shook when he walked. If Mukai wanted him to make the house shake on purpose then he could do that….
Though not everyone was awake yet.
He could feel Minegishi moving around and he knew that if Minegishi was up then Shimazaki was up too….joy….and Hatori might have just been talking in his sleep again. Serizawa wasn't up yet, though, and he startled so easily. He'd been practically inconsolable after the earthquake. Mob had barely gotten him out from under that umbrella…but Mukai wanted the house to shake….and she was only two years old. What she wanted….well that mattered a lot….
If he didn't do this for her then she'd get upset and the last thing that he wanted was for her to start crying again.
"Now!" said Mukai
"You don't have to-I guess you do." Said Tsuchiya. Shibata made the house shake once and only once. There. Now Mukai would be happy and the others…well the others would be fine. Hatori was definitely awake now…well he'd be fine…but just to be safe Shibata would make an extra effort to be quieter when he was home. He'd been so jumpy lately, even for him….poor Hatori. Shimazaki was definitely up too but…well maybe he was smart enough to stay away-
Right. Oh course he wasn't.
"What the fuck are you doing in here?" asked Shimazaki. He teleported right onto the counter and picked up the frosting. He smelled it before dipping his finger in and….well now that was disgusting.
"What the fuck?! What the fuck, mama!" shouted Mukai. Shibata ignored it. That was what Tsuchiya had told them all to do when Mukai said things she wasn't supposed to say. They were all just supposed to ignore it in the hopes that she stopped when she realized that she wouldn't be getting any extra attention. Of course it seemed, to him, that it would have made more sense for everyone to just stop saying those words around her, look at what happened to Sho, but of course there was no way that Shimazaki would have ever listened to him.
"Yeah, what the fuck? Who's been in my frosting?" asked Shimazaki as he dipped his finger right into the can again. That was….unpleasant. So, incredibly, unpleasant….he couldn't look. He wished that Mukai hadn't been looking. That was another bad habit that she did NOT need to pick up from Shimazaki.
"Frosting! My frosting!" said Mukai as she held up her little hands.
"Oh, you're the frosting thief? You're the little frosting thief? Well I guess I can forgive you just this once...tell you what, how about I go out today and get you all the frosting that I can carry? How about that? Good plan?" asked Shimazaki
"She doesn't need-" said Tsuchiya
"Frosting! All the frosting in the world!" said Mukai
"That sounds like it would take a while so, you know, you might want to get dressed and head out soon." Said Shibata. He was going to be nice. He was not going to start a fight. He was not going to stress everyone out more so than they already were. He was going to be nice. He was…he was not going to react to Shimazaki poking him in the side with the same finger he had been licking frosting off of.
Do. Not. React.
"Do you…maybe want a spoon?" asked Tsuchiya
"No, I'm good with this. Thanks, though." said Shimazaki. Shibata blinked. That…actually sounded genuine. Huh….maybe there was a gas leak or something.
"Please and thank you! Magic words!" shouted Mukai
"Hey, what are the other magic words?" asked Shimazaki. Mukai got that look on her face, the Suzuki family thinking look. President Suzuki had it, Sho had it, and Mukai had it. Not Mob, though, but he figured that she took after her mom. It was a cute look on Mukai and Sho…though when the President got that look on his face nothing good ever followed.
"About time!" shouted Mukai. Shibata made a mental note that despite how little and cute Mukai was nothing good followed her making that face either.
"Mukai, no. Shimazaki…come on, I just got her to stop saying that." Said Tsuchiya
"Why?" asked Shimazaki. Shibata wondered if he genuinely didn't know…actually that would have made a lot of sense. He was a man of many problems after all. His mind worked in ways that Shibata would never understand…so maybe there was no point in trying. Maybe he was like a magic eye picture. There was no point in staring. Either you saw the sailboat or you didn't…..either you understood the inner machinations of Shimazaki's mind or you didn't…and Shibata wasn't even sure if he wanted to at this point.
"Because it's incredibly rude…?" asked Tsuchiya
"Because she already learned enough from you as it is?" asked Shibata
"Eh, you're both crazy…or maybe I'm the one who's crazy…you guys….do you guys think I'm crazy?" Said Shimazaki. Shibata nearly dropped the mixing bowl. Could it be? Had he finally developed some basic self-awareness? Was this a turning point in his life? Was he going to take a long look in the mirror….or…whatever the equivalent was for him…..and now he was going to become a whole new man?
Probably not.
"I…think that you're someone who's had a hard life and…you can be a little….much…but I don't think that you're crazy." Said Tsuchiya slowly.
"I think that you need but will never get professional help." Said Shibata. He normally would have been a lot more…tactful…but this was Shimazaki. He didn't know the meaning of the word tact.
"This is Claw, we all need professional help. That's not what I mean. I meant that….I don't know. It's like…have you ever been really sure of yourself but then it's like you wake up one day and you don't know anything and it's like everyone moved everything and your powers are a little fucky and you haven't been able to find your favorite pair of socks for days and you have no idea where you hid them?" asked Shimazaki. Shibata and Tsuchiya exchanged glances. He tried, as hard as he could, to tell her that whatever she did she could NOT ask any follow up questions. He was never sober, not fully, even this early in the morning. He was talking nonsense again and the more you spoke to him the deeper you went until the next thing you knew six hours had passed and you knew the story behind that gunshot scar on his shoulder.
Nobody needed to know that story….or any of his stories….but Tsuchiya didn't really seem to get the message.
"Do you….want me to help you find your socks?" asked Tsuchiya. Shibata got back to work. This was nothing that he wanted to get involved in. He felt Mukai tugging on his leg. He bent down and held out his hand. She stepped into it, this was the only way he could pick her up, and he put her down on the counter beside him. He stood between her and Shimazaki. She didn't need to deal with any more of his insanity.
"No, no, I can do it myself. I can do things for myself. Toshi says that I can't, well they think that I can't, well I think that they think that I can't but I can. I'm not helpless and I'm not needy…or maybe I am." Said Shimazaki
"Um…" said Tsuchiya
"It's like….how many needs is a guy allowed to have? People have needs, that's what the whole economy is based on or whatever. People have needs and it's just….not even sex!" said Shimazaki. Shibata would have covered her ears if he hadn't been so annoyed with Shimazaki. He knew enough to know, right now, that he didn't know his own strength.
"Not even sex! Not even-" said Mukai
"Here, help me stir! You're the very best stirrer in the whole house, you know, yes you are." Said Shibata. He handed Mukai the mixing bowl and the spoon. She was going to make a mess, he didn't have to be clairvoyant to know, and…well this was fine. He could always make something else. He could always make….well he didn't really want to make anything else but….well if Mukai was happy then that was what mattered. She was happy and she wasn't saying things that she shouldn't have been saying.
"Could you maybe watch what you say around-" said Tsuchiya
"It's like…Toshi and I are great. If I want to fuck then, yeah, that's a need I can have but if I want to go out and…I don't even know….it's not like I ever did the relationship thing before, not really, but now…not it's like…I want to? I mean it always seemed so…like….artificial? If that's the word…Toshi would know…Toshi knows all the words…" said Shimazaki
"Maybe you want to talk to them about this?" asked Tsuchiya
"It's just…I would see people going out on dates and stuff and it was like…like just fuck already, you know? If two people are into each other then, I don't know, just get to it already but….it's not always a sex thing. It's like…ok….if she wanted to fuck then of course I would but it's not like I'd ever ask her to. It means a lot to her, you know, and I don't want to fuck it up for her…but it's not like that's the only reason I'm into her." said Shimazaki
"Only reason! The only reason!" said Mukai
"Her?" asked Tsuchiya. Shibata shook his head. Shimazaki was pretty much just talking to himself at this point. When he got like this it was pretty much like dealing with a grease fire. Sometimes the only thing that you could do was let it burn. Taking to him was only going to make it worse, like pouring water onto a pot of flaming grease….
Shibata had learned the hard way about…a lot of things.
"It's really more like…I don't know….I feel better about myself when I'm with her…but also worse. She makes me feel like I'm the number one game in town and…and nothing at all…like…I don't know. She makes me so fucking insecure…and it's not like….I don't know. I know she isn't avoiding me but it's not like…like she's….I don't know. It's complicated. The whole thing is just…kind of complicated…or maybe I'm just complicated….or maybe this whole thing is complicated and I spent my whole life trying to make it simple." Said Shimazaki
"Life is…complicated?" asked Tsuchiya
"I mean…I thought that it was all so simple. You met someone, you fell in love, and then you fucked a lot. Sometimes you wound up together and….and I never wanted that. It all just felt so…artificial? Like you were doing all of that shit just so other people looked at you and saw that you were doing that and they were all….yeah, you're doing it right…and I hate being told what to do…but also it's like…it's fun, you know, being out and…and not just that. It's not about going out and getting fucked up and hanging out. It's about…about how when she looks at me its like…man, Ryou, you're a great guy…and then it's like my insides are replaced with…frosting? But not this shit. Warm stuff." Said Shimazaki
"I…can get you a spoon…if you want…" said Tsuchiya
"When she's near me it's like frosting is melting inside of me…and it feels good…and if it feels good then, yeah, do it…and…and we're good together. We're really great together and…and I feel like I fucked it up…but I have no idea how I could have possibly fucked it up. I mean she's always busy but….I can help her…but she doesn't want my help and….and I don't even know." Said Shimazaki. Tsuchiya reached a hand out and held it over his back. Shibata shook his head. Mukai did the same.
The last thing Shimazaki needed was to be touched right now.
Shibata…he knew Shimazaki. To a degree. He got like this sometimes. Well he had after the one and only time they'd….made what turned out to ultimately be a mistake. Shimazaki was a person with a lot of layers, like an onion, and like an onion you did not want to go peeling back those layers. There was nothing good there. There was nothing even approaching anything good the deeper you dug. His life…he hadn't had the best life...and when he got like this the last thing he needed was to be touched.
The last thing any of them needed was Shimazaki freaking out.
"It's like…I don't know. I'm not useless. I can help her…but it's like she thinks I'm useless…or she just…I don't know. Maybe she likes him better than me…maybe she likes everyone better than me or…or maybe I'm just making something out of nothing. I do that something…see? I can acknowledge my flaws…I'm nothing but flaws! I'm nothing but flaws and that means…I can admit when I'm wrong…and that means something, right?" Said Shimazaki
"I…I don't know…" said Tsuchiya
"I don't know! I don't know!" said Mukai. That snapped Shimazaki out of it. He lifted his head and stared at her…and then he smiled. His aura got back to normal. He tossed the empty frosting can across the kitchen.
"Well you know what I know? I think that I know I owe you a shit ton of frosting." Said Shimazaki before he teleported away. Shibata and Tsuchiya sighed at the same time. Mukai followed a few seconds later.
"Sleepy time!" shouted Mukai
"Yeah, I agree. That was…exhausting." Said Tsuchiya
"He gets like that sometimes. The thing is just not to talk to him. The more you talk to him then the more he talks to you and the less sense he makes…and he hardly ever makes sense as it is." Said Shibata. He knew how he sounded. He knew that he sounded like an asshole…and he knew what she must have thought…but this was good advice that he wished that he'd gotten when he first met Shimazaki.
"Is he…ok?" asked Tsuchiya
"Who knows with him." said Shibata
"I know! I know!" said Mukai
"He just…he sounds like something's really bothering him. I mean if he's opening up to someone other than Minegishi…though, and I know this sounds bad, I can't imagine anyone ever opening up to Minegishi." Said Tsuchiya
"He does that sometimes, just kind of says whatever's on his mind, but most of the time it doesn't mean anything…at least I think that it doesn't. The less time you spend talking to him the better." Said Shibata
"Alright…if you say so….um….hey, are we calling Minegishi 'she' now?" said Tsuchiya
"Not if you value your life." Said Minegishi as they walked into the kitchen and made a line straight for the coffee maker. Mukai reached out to them but they just walked right past. They were immune to the cuteness….or maybe just exhausted. It must have been exhausting having to deal with Shimazaki day in and day out.
"Do you want some pancakes? Mukai and I were just in the middle of getting some going." said Shibata
"Pancakes for me!" said Mukai
"No thanks." Said Minegishi as they poured themselves a cup of coffee...and then made a weird face and spat it back in the mug.
"Sorry, that's from yesterday." Said Shibata
"Nobody thought to warn me?" asked Minegishi
"I didn't know…and I'm still kind of reeling from….hey, is Shimazaki alright? He just kind of came in here and…said some things." Said Tsuchiya. Minegishi shrugged and opened the refrigerator.
"You'll have to be specific, Ryou says a lot of things….who the fuck drank all the canned expresso?" Said Minegishi. Shibata…was not going to throw Hatori under the bus on that one. Apparently he was trying to switch to coffee since President Suzuki, apparently, could smell the sugar from the energy drinks on him and it was driving him crazy.
"I…have no idea." Said Shibata
"No idea, Mine, no idea." Said Mukai
"Uh-huh, well it better not have been you. You have enough energy as it is." Said Minegishi
"President Suzuki won't stop giving her Pepsi…anyway, Shimazaki…I think that there's something bothering him. He came in here and said a lot about….you? I think. He kept on saying 'she' which made me think that we were calling you-" said Tsuchiya
"Still they." Said Minegishi
"Right. I'll….I'll be sure to remember that. Anyway Shimazaki came in here and he…I didn't really follow it that well…but there was something about frosting and some woman, I'm guessing, who….I think is trying to give him the brush off…it's really none of my business." Said Tsuchiya
"You're right, it's not. Who Ryou's seeing or whatever is none of your business and it's really none of mine either…now let me wake up and someone stop Mukai, she's eating raw pancake batter." Said Minegishi. Shibata gasped and took it away…too bowl flew from his hands and across the room…great…..
And then Shimazaki teleported into the middle of it…with what must have been all the frosting in the city….double great.
Shibata spent the rest of his morning cleaning it up. Tsuchiya had wanted to help but she had her hands full with Mukai. Shibata really didn't mind. He was on a waffle strike, not a cleaning strike, and a cleaning strike would have been completely out of the question. If he didn't clean up then these people would end up living in complete and total filth. That was Shibata's job, to take care of his friends…and Shimazaki.
There was no going on strike from that.