Being Suzuki's son wasn't that much different than being his friend.
They still hung out just like normal, they still played old 2D games from before people had taste, and they still argued, too, about the same stuff. It was the same, but also different, in a lot of ways better. Not much had changed, really, his name was even still Hatori Nozomu…but for some reason it felt like maybe everything had changed. Like maybe hanging out meant something now because he was hanging out with his Dad. That maybe playing old games wasn't as boring because he was doing it with his Dad. That maybe even the pointless fights that never went anywhere were alright, and less stupid, because he was having them with his Dad.
Dad.
He hadn't had one in a while…or a Mom. It had been a freak accident, an electrical fire, the sort of thing that happened when you plugged too many appliances into one outlet. The fire had started in the kitchen, the fireman had said, too much plugged into one outlet. Hatori knew what he had been talking about. Most of their house was taken over by either the shop on the first floor or all the supplies that they had to store on the second floor. There hadn't been much room for living and their kitchen had been tiny, so tiny that there had only been one outlet. One outlet for the microwave, the coffeemaker, the tea maker, the toaster, and the electric cooktop. Mom must have been getting started on dinner, they'd said, when the whole outlet tree had just shorted out. With how cluttered and crowded their living space was it went up pretty fast. The building had been old, too, and not up to code they had said. It had been an accident waiting to happen, they'd said. A freak accident, they'd said.
They hadn't been able to make up their minds.
A freak accident, an accident waiting to happen. It was all the same. Hatori had woken up that morning with a house and parents and gone to sleep in a group home with no parents. Mom and Dad had both been the only children of only children, all of his grandparents had died before he'd started middle school, and it wasn't like the courts were going to let a fifteen year old live on his own…it wasn't like Hatori had even been able to live on his own. He hadn't been able to do much in the beginning. Everything had been gone…Mom and Dad…all of his stuff….his math book that he'd forgotten on his desk….everything had just been…gone.
He'd been alone.
Dad had told him to come straight home after school. That was the rule for most days. His powers had just shown up, then, and he hadn't been able to use them for more than cleaning out viruses on computers. Even then he'd still had to touch the keyboard…he'd been such a kid. If he had been on his own now he could have, in less than ten minutes, set himself up with a new name, history, and bank account with just enough money to keep him happy and alive but not enough that people got suspicious. He could have found a place to buy, sped the paperwork along fast, and then he could have had a house and all of his stuff back…but he would have been alone.
It hadn't always bothered him.
He'd been too numb to be bothered by much of anything. He'd mostly just thought about the very last thing that Mom and Dad had said to him. Dad had told him to come straight home after school and Mom had told him not to buy any snacks on the way home because she was making a big dinner. He had stopped for snacks, of course, because Doritos were the best food that mankind had ever come up with and he needed his after school Monster or he would have passed out as soon as he'd made it home. He needed his after dinner Monster, too, to stay awake to do his homework…and games, mostly games. Mom had been pissed at him, the night before she'd gotten up for water around midnight and seen that his light had still been on…he hadn't apologized…
He should have apologized.
But it had been too late and he had been all alone in the world. The aloneness hadn't bothered him much, it was more the lack of Mom and Dad. He hadn't been thinking about what he was going to do for work once he got too old to live in the home. He hadn't even been thinking about how he was going to adjust to going from being an only child to living in a room with ten other people. He hadn't even thought about how he was going to adjust from waking up to breakfast and…and his clothes laid out…and his bento all packed…to eating grey slop three times a day. He hadn't even thought about how he was going to adjust to the lack of snacks…he hadn't been thinking at all.
He hadn't been thinking, too, when he'd gotten adopted.
The home had been happy to get him out. Too many people in too small of a space without enough money to take care of them, or something. He hadn't been paying attention. He'd just woken up one day to the room head telling him to pack up and that he was being places somewhere. Technically the person who adopted Hatori didn't exist, and technically he'd emancipated himself as soon as he figured out how, and technically he had joined a cult but it hadn't mattered. Nothing had mattered.
It was amazing how fast four years could go by.
Serizawa had told him, once, that he hadn't felt himself getting any older when he'd been in his room. He had covered up the windows, he hadn't had a mirror in his room, and he'd disabled every single calendar. He had even made sure to never look in the bathroom mirror. It had always snuck up on him, he had said, how much older he'd gotten. How much bigger he'd gotten. He hadn't even felt it. Time hadn't meant anything…Hatori had never been a hikikomori before but he kind of got the whole losing track of time thing. He had gone from fifteen to nineteen without even noticing. He'd gotten a little taller but that had been about it. He'd honestly not even noticed when his birthday had passed. Mob hadn't been around to celebrate his birthdays back then.
Little sister-sama.
She actually was his sister now, which he hadn't seen coming in a million years. She had just been this kid, before, this lonely kid without a lot of friends and a little brother who was kind of an asshole. She'd also apparently had a massive crush on him…but they didn't talk about that. He couldn't believe that she was his actual little sister now, and also kind of his boss too, but also his little sister. Mukai too…she was ok. Kind of loud and she did break his stuff sometimes but she was a cute kid. Sho on the other hand…he was less of an asshole than he'd been when they'd met and he still didn't deserve half the shit Suzuki gave him…Touichirou gave him…Dad gave them?
Dad felt weird.
Touichirou even felt weird sometimes. He was Suzuki. He used to be President Suzuki, he was still President Suzuki, but just Suzuki felt better. Maybe because Hatori had spent so long being afraid of him…he was a scary guy. His aura was way too big and he could and would leave you in a hole to die…but he was nice, too. Kind of funny. Weirdly thoughtful. Insanely annoying. He was a lot of things…but he wasn't Dad. Dad had been…Dad. He'd always been this guy who had every all figured out. He'd been so cool, tall enough to help Hatori on the monkey bars and strong enough to push him so high up on the swing that he nearly went over the bar. He had been good, really good, at videogames. He had known how to get every single Pokémon including missingno. They'd stayed up all night watching Pokémon movies…even invited Mom…he had been cool like that. Dad was Dad and he was…gone…there was never going to be anyone like Dad.
But Suzuki…but Touichirou was still pretty great. Things weren't that different right now but they were still pretty great…mostly.
"Nozomu, take that ridiculous thing off." Said Touichirou. Hatori looked down at his shirt mid yawn. It was too early for this…or too late? They'd been on another long plane ride. They'd left at sunset and now it was sunset again…so had they gone full circle or what?
It was way too early for this, Suzuki always got up way too early, but that and everything else about this was normal.
"Too tired. Do we have cereal?" asked Hatori as he poked at his shirt. He knew what Suzuki meant about this shirt, but it wasn't like anyone was around to see it, and it wasn't like they hadn't cropped out all the good parts already anyway.
"Yes, but not for you until you change. I don't even know why you chose to put that horrible thing on in the first place." Said Touichirou. Hatori shrugged and walked over to the counter. Suzuki stepped aside….he was a lot nicer these days…or maybe he was just nicer to Hatori. If he had been Sho then he would have been smacked upside the head at least…wait, no, he didn't really care that much what Sho did these days. Sho could be kind of an asshole sometimes but he didn't deserve that…he'd talk to Touichirou about this later.
Right now he needed to wake up.
"I was wearing it under my sweater already, do we have Frosted Flakes?" asked Hatori as he went through the cabinets. Nothing was in a language he knew, but there were pictures on the front. Suzuki pulled a box of what looked like cornflakes down with his powers and set them down on the counter. He got Hatori out a bowl and spoon, too, and the sugar,
When Hatori reached for them he pulled away.
"No, we don't you'll have to sugar your own cereal, but after you change. I can't believe you're still wearing that shirt when I told you to your face to burn it." Said Touichirou. Hatori looked down in case he was wrong…no, that was a new shirt. He didn't get what his problem with these were. They were really funny and kind of cool, and it wasn't like they were that bad. It wasn't like he was wearing them around Mob or Mukai, that would have been weird, it was just them. Besides, Suzuki's undershirt had ketchup stains all down the front and Hatori never said a word about those even though it looked like someone had finally successfully stabbed him…a scary thought.
"I did, this is a different shirt, and it's not that bad. They cropped out the good parts anyway." Said Hatori
"That doesn't change the fact that you're still wearing pornography. Cropped pornography is still pornography and-" said Touichirou. His phone vibrated on the table, his personal phone. The one that nearly nobody had the number to…no name….oh. That was Minegishi calling…
Why?
Did something happen to Mob!? Panic gripped him like it always did. He never just got a little scared, it was always a full body thing. The room was way too big. The grabbed the counter and held himself steady. He wondered if he could have fit under the sink. He was a pretty short guy and it did look safe…inviting…and cozy…
Touichirou hated it when he did that.
"It's Minegishi." Said Hatori, finding his voice. He took a deep breath and held it in for four like Tsuchiya had said. It didn't help. One breath led to two…he had to hold them in better. His eyes danced around the room, stopping on the Space Invaders pattern on Suzuki's pajama pants. He couldn't look up. ketchup reminded him of blood and blood reminded him of death and death reminded him of how Mob could die or his other friends…his other siblings…and how he could die and how big the room was-
-Suzuki poured him a glass of water.
"What? Have you seen anything? Very well then…act with discretion and use your best judgement…" said Suzuki as he used his powers to pour Hatori a glass of water. Beside him on the counter a bowl of cereal poured and sugared its self…though Suzuki put the milk on first and then the sugar and then the cereal…he focused on the pattern. He shook a little less…the water glass Suzuki shoved into his hand helped…
He was going to be alright.
"…and Shigeko cannot know of my involvement. Goodbye…and Happy Christmas, I mean Merry Christmas." Said Suzuki. Hatori had felt them hanging up before Suzuki could finish his sentence. That was good…he wasn't freaking out. That meant that Mob was ok…he finished his water.
He stopped shaking.
"Wh-what happened? Is Mob ok?" asked Hatori as he let go of the counter. He could stand on his own, now. He was fine…he was ok. That was just him getting freaked out over nothing again.
"She is now. Minegishi needed my permission to dispatch with someone…but that's neither here nor there. It's being dealt with as we speak." Said Touichirou. Hatori nodded. He kind of knew who he was talking about. Mob's new friend…the guy that Hatori was now under obligation to beat up…with his powers….by releasing his entire search history or something! That was just what big brothers did.
And even if he hadn't been related to Mob now he still would have ruined that guy's life because, really, hanging out with someone Mob's age was weird as fuck.
"You want me to help? I could-" said Hatori. He had to do something…he wanted to do something. He hadn't been able to protect Mob from Shimazaki, and he hadn't been able to figure out where the information leak that put all of them in danger was coming from, but he could at least do this. Any secret that this guy had, any three in the morning shameful search, anything that he'd thought nobody without the right password could see, everything that he'd ever saved and then deleted…Hatori could have released it all.
Or he could have drained this guy's bank account and put him on Interpol's most wanted list, too, but that wasn't nearly as fun.
"I want you to do as I've asked of you before and change, and never wear one of those shirts again." Said Touichirou. They were back to this now? Hatori had no idea how Mob put up with this. For a guy who said that he had no business criticizing another person's fashion choices he sure spent a lot of time criticizing other people's fashion choices.
"I can just wear it under a sweater or something. I don't know why this is such a big deal. We've got a lot more going on, you know." said Hatori. Suzuki gave him a look that, just a few years ago, would have sent him running. Now he knew that when Suzuki rested his aura and eyes on you like that, and turned his head like that, it didn't mean that he wanted to kill you. It just meant that you were, at best, mildly annoying to him.
"I am completely aware of what is going on in Claw. This, though, is an issue which requires my immediate and complete attention." Said Suzuki
"Really? Even more than the thing with ants at the Second Division?" asked Hatori
"Yes. Even more than the ant infestation at the Second Division." Said Suzuki
"Why do you even care so much? You never get on Sho about what he wears…but he does pretty much wear the same thing every day now that I think about it." asked Hatori. Sho pretty much wore whatever Mob bought him. Hatori didn't get it. That had been the only good thing, really, about being alone in the world. He finally got to dress however he wanted. Mom had hated him wearing things with logos because she said that they made him look like a billboard, and she'd hated it when he wore character shirts too since they looked cheap or whatever. He didn't even want to think about the big fight over the 'down with homework' shirt…being on his own had sucked but at least he got to wear whatever he wanted to now and anyway, he was an adult…something else that hadn't changed.
No matter what happened Suzuki was always going to treat him like a kid.
"Because I can't stand the sight of it, first of all, and second of all no son of mine is going to walk around dressed like that so go and change." Said Suzuki. He took the cereal bowl back with his powers. Hatori had no way of arguing…and he didn't want to. He was weirdly happy…Touichirou had called him his son. He'd been saying for years that he wanted Hatori to be his son, wished that Hatori had been his son, and maybe Hatori had wished for the same thing. To be his son…to have….not to have Dad again but a Dad…or just someone to look out for him and stuff like that. Touichirou could be kind of an asshole, and he had no room to criticize other people's clothes, but he was still a nice guy…still a good friend. Things hadn't changed that much between them. They still hung out, they still had breakfast together, and they still had those same pointless fights that went nowhere.
But now, somehow, everything was just…better. Hatori hoped that it never changed.