Totally didn't forget to upload when work piled up... Haha, totally not me... This chapter was always here, what are you talking about?
Jokes aside, sorry for the delay! Even with the chapters completed, work and my other fics caused RS to slip my mind entirely, but on the plus side, I've had time to plan ahead with the new Todoroki family revelations in recent chapters! So I wanna give a great big thank you to FarFromTheSun, SilverWolf227, and RimK10 for your reviews, and everyone who followed and favourited the fic so far! It really lifted my spirits seeing the feedback and email alerts!
IV
She was two years old when he finally took her to Endeavour Agency. With Yayoi tucked against him, dressed up in specially-made flame-retardant clothing, Endeavour strode into the building with his fire at full force. People moved aside for him, greeting him and giving him puzzled looks all the same thanks to Yayoi's presence, but Endeavour just continued to walk to the elevator and ride it to his office.
Sidekicks greeted them with what she assumed was their usual pep, and it took them even less time to figure out that the little girl that looked like Endeavour was, in fact, his spawn.
Enji didn't leave much of an introduction in his wake. He just sat down at his desk, plopped Yayoi on his lap, and began his work as usual. She was used to this happening in his office at home, but things were starting to get more competitive for the Pro Heroes with official rankings coming out soon. Of course he had to take Yayoi in with him to work—how else would he keep the failures away from at least one of his potential successes?
She kicked her legs up and down as she waited for him to finish his work for the day. Sometimes his work kept him in his office at home for an hour, two at the least, but some days Yayoi was away from everyone else until sundown. As much as she wanted Enji to focus on her instead of Shouto, to reduce the trauma somewhat, she had to admit that the long days of being alone were so boring. Enji paid her no attention—Father of the Year, right there—and just left her to her own devices, and if she hadn't been reborn with a college-level education, Yayoi was certain she would've been mentally stunted by this point in her development. Children needed stimulating, and what Enji did was anything but.
"She's very cute, sir," one sidekick cooed, peeking around Enji's desk to look at her. Yayoi looked over at him and gave him a blank stare, and he just cooed even more. "Ah, she even has your steely gaze down pat!"
Weirdo. She made a mental note to avoid him in the future.
Yayoi inched away from him and closer to Enji. It was enough to make Enji wave dismissively at the man, and the sidekick scuttled away back to his desk. At least Enji was good for something, she thought.
She was almost ready to fall asleep when another sidekick approached, handing Enji paperwork to sign and look over. She hadn't noticed the time pass by, snuggled against Enji, but when she did, she saw the way the sidekick smiled down at her. This one didn't fawn over her "steely gaze" like the other one, instead whispering to Yayoi as Enji worked that she liked her dress. Yayoi, ever the actress, clutched at her dress and rocked back and forth with a big smile on her face.
As far as Yayoi knew, Endeavour hadn't really planned anything when he brought her here. It was like the days spent in his office at home—stay put, stay quiet, stay a success. Not the hardest tasks to see through, but God were they the most boring tasks to give to a toddler in the middle of a Pro Hero Agency. In the middle of Endeavour's no less. He could've at least brought Mariya with them or told one of his sidekicks to take care of Yayoi while he did work. At this rate she was going to be begging to be thrown around to spare her waiting for it in the future.
The clock on his desk ticked slowly away, his hands moving from paper to paper with ease. Even with the apparent work he had to be present for today, it really was no different to being at home. Yayoi was just on his lap instead of in the playpen she'd long outgrown, and as nice as the change of pace was, she had to wonder if this was a good thing when it came to him.
10:30. Yayoi clicked her tongue and watched another sidekick leave paperwork for Enji at his desk. Yet another sidekick who either complimented her dress or made note of how similar she looked to Enji. No reaction from Enji outside of a dismissive wave of one gloved hand. Bastard was lucky she had breakfast, or else Yayoi would've been making this even more difficult for him—more than kicking her feet up and down onto his knees with her polished, brand new leather sandals clearly hitting his kneecaps each time. Not that breakfast was filling, despite how early they were up. Enji rose with the sun, and his morning meal was brief to keep him from lingering too long at home. So Yayoi, with her baby teeth and chubby little hands, was treated to the same protein-rich breakfast he was served.
Like hell that granola bar was going to sate her until lunch, though. Breakfast was far more fun when it was with Rei, and the last thing Rei was allowed to serve her was baby food.
Yayoi looked up at him with a sour expression. Enji didn't even look down at her, just gave her a short, "What," as he continued to work on his files. Sidekicks in the office came to a halt, watching the father and daughter eagerly, and for a moment Yayoi considered how rotten of a baby she could be in this moment. Her parents in her past life, much as she loathed them now and even then, had many a complaint about what her brother would do when he was neglected for a time. She had a whole library of things to draw from, and as she stared up at his flaming beard she furrowed her brows in contemplation.
One chubby hand gripped his suit, dragged her to her feet on his lap. Enji was forced to look around her, leaning with a scowl, and Yayoi huffed out her cheeks like she was about to throw a tantrum as, with a silent prayer she was fireproof despite not having a Quirk yet, her other hand flew up and smacked Enji on the cheek.
A stack of papers dropped to the ground near the desk. A small gasp rang out from someone further back in the room.
Enji stopped scrawling and gave her a dark, dangerous glare from the corner of his eye. "What"
"Yaya wanna eat," Yayoi huffed. As much as she hated being called Yaya, it was apparently still impossible for someone her age to say it yet. Thankfully she knew how talkative to be as well, having raised her brother way back when, but it was so hard not to launch into rants when she was stuck with Enji. Summing her feelings up into three simple words or less at a time was hellish.
"You already ate."
She smacked his cheek again. The fire didn't seem to be burning her, though it was hard to tell if that was genetics or Enji's doing right now. He did have total control over the temperature, after all. "Now!" she whined.
"I said no," Enji growled, "and that's final."
"Yaya!" Another smack. "Wanna!" Another. "Eat!" Another—
He snatched her hand by the wrist. Yayoi's stomach dropped to the first floor of the building. She definitely pushed it.
That was what she thought, until he lifted her up by the arm and, despite the ache of being dangled from one limb, Yayoi found herself standing by his chair in one piece. Enji was clearly annoyed, flames flickering more than usual, but he just set Yayoi down and pointed to one of the sidekicks nearby. A woman in a costume that reminded Yayoi of a risque devil saluted and went rigid at the attention.
"You," Enji growled at her. "Entertain my daughter."
"Y—Yes, sir!" The woman scurried over, her stack of papers forgotten—passed on to the person behind her, even—and she wasted no time picking Yayoi up. "I—Is she allergic to anything—"
Enji's glare only told the sidekick Yayoi shouldn't have any allergies. Yayoi almost wished she did have allergies to trigger them on purpose and make a point to him. What that point was, she wasn't sure yet, but boy howdy would that be a press field day if Endeavour's kid was in hospital because he neglected her allergies.
The sidekick was quick to carry Yayoi to the elevator, wished luck by her peers as she did so, and she hadn't even picked a floor before she jammed her thumb onto the door close button. Yayoi gave her an almost stunned look. Well, exposing his assholish nature was out of the question if they already had an idea of it. Back to the drawing board, she supposed. Besides, she had time. Far too much time for her liking, but time nonetheless. And if she was being left alone by him for today, kept in the care of his sidekicks, then she was practically a princess roaming her castle.
No limits. She slammed her chubby little hand on a random floor's button.
"A—Ah, right," the sidekick laughed, nervous, as the elevator began to move. "Yayoi-chan, it's nice to meet you. I'm Faust. I'm one of your papa's sidekicks."
"Papa's kick," Yayoi repeated childishly. The sidekick looked at the floor like Yayoi wished she could do right now—like her soul just ejected from her body at the double meaning to being called a kick, like she knew Yayoi knew Enji pushed this newbie around.
"Papa's kick, right," she agreed, voice quiet. "So what did you wanna eat, Yayoi-chan?"
Yayoi gave her a big smile. "Yaya don't wanna eat."
The way the colour drained from her face, like it was a sin to lie to Enji, just made Yayoi smile even wider. "Yaya wanna play."
"Okay—" The sidekick looked at the elevator doors as the small space came to a halt, the doors opening to reveal what seemed to be a support department. Yayoi sat patiently in her arms as she waited for the sidekick to move. "But let's… not tell your papa where we went today. Okay?"
Yayoi mimed shushing herself, still smiling.
"Again! Again, please!" She rocked back and forth on the little sled, a wide, genuine smile on her face for once. She wasn't sure if it was fate or something, but being put in the care of Faust and happening upon the support department of the agency had given her memories far better than anything the estate and Enji could ever give her.
Faust gave one of the developers a thumbs up, and the area was cleared again. Yayoi clung to the sled, watching with wide eyes as the little beacons on the floor lit up again and the underside of the sled began to match their hue with a soft glow. It was supposed to be a controlled levitation device, utilized for rescues, and right now they were experimenting with smaller models for children. Yayoi had, of course, asked if they could go faster and wanted to try them out, and a whole space had been cleared for her to give one a test drive.
The sled was rather stable, if she was honest. Sharp turns that would've otherwise flung her off resulted in the sled tilting, keeping her in place so she didn't fall off and playing with gravity for its own use. And when they put the beacons in a circle, the speed she accumulated doing laps was amazing. Yayoi laughed loudly, screaming with joy as though on a rollercoaster, and eventually that's what they turned the device into. Beacons were put on the walls, on desks, and before she even realised it she'd been riding the sled for hours.
Now this was a good perk of being taken to Endeavour Agency. Didn't quite make up for having an asshole for a dad, though.
After the latest lap, Yayoi collapsed onto the floor in a fit of giggles while the sidekicks and developers all cleaned up the beacons. Her hair was a mess, pulled out of its pigtails and strung about, and her dress had so many creases thanks to the wind battering it so hard. For a while, everyone looked just as happy as she felt thanks to the high dose of fun; but even as Yayoi still caught her breath on the floor and giggled every so often, the sidekicks and developers eventually just… fizzled back into their serious work selves.
No more fun allowed.
"What do you all think you're doing?"
With the arrival of Enji, a deathly silence fell over the entire floor. Everyone was holding their breaths, watching and waiting for the punishment to be doled out for their tomfoolery. They knew they'd been slacking off, but it wasn't their fault.
Yayoi sat up and, with her best excited-toddler-seeing-daddy face, called out to Enji, "Papa! Papa, Yaya was flying!"
He slowly turned his attention from the developers to Yayoi, where the sled laid beside her on the floor. It was no longer turned on, prone and ready for showing off. "Were you, now?" he asked slowly. That dangerous lilt was there, like if Yayoi said something wrong everyone else suffered for it.
"Yaya never fell off! And—And Yaya was so fast!" She got to her feet and clumsily ran to him, sled tucked under her arms. "Try it Papa! It's like flying!"
Enji stared down at her for a moment. His eyes flitted to the board. Slowly, he asked her, "You never fell off?"
"Not even when Yaya went on the wall!"
He quickly glared at the developers. They shrank away in an instant.
"That's good to hear. Give the sled back to the developers so they can keep making more."
Was that a good thing? Was the department safe? Yayoi scurried back to Faust and handed the sled to her, and she quickly turned back to Enji once she was done.
"Bring Yaya back!" she demanded, hoping to make herself more trouble than the developers were right now. "Yaya wanna come back tomorrow!"
There was a pause, even as she stomped over to Enji, and he was silent as he reached down and picked her up. She kept trying to get his attention, smacking his face again like the petulant child she was trying to be, but Enji just kept his gaze on the developers.
"How quickly can you make larger models? Large enough to fit an adult?"
The lead developer stood upright, squeaking, "W—Within the week, sir!"
"Good. Have a prototype ready. I want them out in the field as soon as possible for rescue missions."
They were back in the elevator before Yayoi could even realise what had happened. Did she… get them off the hook? Spare them Enji's wrath? His beard wasn't even flaring up anymore, in fact it was almost calm. Yayoi stared up at him, wary as the elevator hummed and a large finger pressed the ground floor button. Something was off… Surely the other shoe was going to drop any minute now.
He was silent for the most part, even as the elevator arrived at the ground level, and he was stoic as ever as his agency bid him farewell for the day. Yayoi could feel the sweat beading on the back of her neck, slowly on her forehead as well. Even as he approached a limousine waiting outside the building, he was unreadable.
Yayoi was set on his lap again once the limo began moving again. He grabbed at her wrist, turning the hand over to examine it, and then let out a noncommittal hum.
"You said you were hungry," he scolded her. Yayoi well and truly broke out into a sweat, but kept her indignant baby mask up.
"Hungry for fun!" she insisted. "Papa boring!"
Another noncommittal hum. He pressed a button on the middle console, and the window in front of them was lowered. The driver, without turning back, asked, "Yes, Endeavour?"
"Contact one of the nearby restaurants," Enji said, gruff as ever. "Have them reserve a private booth."
"Shall I have them prepare a high chair as well, sir?"
Enji gave Yayoi a glance. Yayoi stared up at him.
"Very well," he sighed. The window slid back into place, and Yayoi was even more confused than before. Enji didn't seem to be clearing things up for her, but he did at least tell her before leaving them in silence for the rest of the trip, "You've helped the support department make progress today. We can use those devices sooner than I'd anticipated."
She blinked at him. No way, was this… a reward? Did Endeavour himself just praise her? He didn't actively tell her what she did was good, or that he was pleased, but this was surely him rewarding her, right?
Yayoi beamed up at him. She played the part of innocent daughter, throwing her hands up happily as she did so. "Yaya help!"
All she got in response was a grunt.