I established enough of a routine so that, whenever possible, I found myself going to the market to speak with Teiko. At first we had the usual talks. What does a hero do? What was my favorite part of the job? These were questions I'd answer for anyone and had answered in many interviews. By the end of my second week, she threw me for a loop. "Why do you keep showing up?" She asked. Despite the brazen way of asking, her tone was not rude or dismissive.

I stared at her, my grin fixed into place. My body tried to betray me. It wanted to show my embarrassment by giving me a face as red as her hair, but I wouldn't let it. "It's the best fruit in town," I declared after only a moment of reining myself in.

"Are you saying my vegetables are no good?" She retorted, brows raised. Finally, it was her turn to be the one with a smirk on her lips. Her confidence reminded me of Nana, but the rest of her turned my thoughts far from my mentor.

"No, I-" I began, wanting to defend myself.

"How would you know? Are you seeing other carts behind my back?" Teiko saw the worry flicker in my eyes and lifted her hand to her mouth, pretending to be shocked. "And here I thought we were special. You're just a produce floozy!"

Rei ruined the act with her laughter. "Did you just call him a floozy?" She asked, casting a glance between her friend and me. I was too stunned at the abrupt turn to offer much conversation. My mind whirred to try to catch up.

"There's no other word for a man who eats so much fruit from so many places." She declared dramatically, only to toss her hair with the back of her hand. I couldn't help but watch the strands dance along her neck. Even in a white shirt, smock, and jeans, she pulled me in like a deer to headlights.

I managed to catch my breath and laughed along with the joke. "I would never cheat on your fruits or vegetables," I assured the women, though mostly Teiko.

"Perfect! Now that we have that out of the way, how about you ask me on a date? I know that you know that you like me." For all the confidence in her voice, she can't hide the nervous fidget of her fingers over the counter.

Once again, I found myself thrown for a loop. This woman was going to give me a heart attack! I took several seconds to consider before I finally had an answer. "I…" My grin faded and I took a step forward. "Todoroki Teiko," I said softly, my head lowered to look her better in the eye. I put his hand on the counter and was pleasantly surprised to find how quickly she set her palm over mine. "May I have this carrot?"

Rei burst out laughing.

"No, you only get a date," she countered.

My grin returned and he pulled his hand free to accept. Without looking, I was able to reach down and pull the overlarge berry from the appropriate basket. "Then it's a date." For the sake of my sanity, I decided it'd be best if I left at once.

"We'll meet at the train station tonight at five. Wear normal people clothes, if you can find any that fit." I grinned and was about to answer, when a nearby scream echoed around the city. I managed to give Teiko a thumbs up before departing. I jumped off to save the day, the back of my mind wondering what I'd just agreed to.

I didn't have long to think. Two bank robbers with quirks went literally flying out of a window, their bag of stolen money in a burlap bag. I found the sight so cliché that my grin suddenly wasn't forced. I jumped, ready to spring into action. Just before I could land, fire spurted out beneath me, engulfing the two men in a circle of flames. It was by sheer luck that I didn't crash into the flames, but into the ring and midst of the petty criminals. I afforded them no time to consider their options. My fist crashed against the first man's jaw, then into the gut of the other. In less than a few seconds, it was over.

Endeavor stood silently on the side, his arms folded and rage pooling out of him like pus from a festering wound. I grinned. "Thanks for the assistance." I put my hand out towards him, offering a chance to share the credit.

It was then that he said his first words to me. "Clean up your mess." Inwardly, I recoiled even as he turned and walked away, his anger nearly tangible. For lack of anything else to do, I picked up the limp, still living bodies, and did just that.

Once I'd handed the attempted robbers over to the authorities and ensured the money was safe, there was only half an hour to get to the train station. My mind picked up where it had left off and I began to wonder about Teiko. Over our weeks of contact, she had said little about herself. She had a brother, a pro hero, but ran a shop with Rei, who had only recently graduated high school. I began to be suspicious, as it part of my job. Could she be working with All For One? Was the request for normal clothes a way to get me off guard? Would the train take me to a date destination, or to a trap?

Why did any of those options sound more appealing than if she was telling the truth? I knew how to fight. I defeated the scum of the earth day in and day out, but didn't know the first thing about women. As a kid, none of them had ever looked twice at me. As a hero, they were too intimidated to do anything more than gawk or ask for an autograph. Not her. Maybe being a sister to Endeavor had made her immune to the stunned fangirl reflex.

I wrestled with the idea of not showing up, but that didn't seem to be particularly heroic. How could I be a symbol if there was someone else by my side that I constantly worried about? My feet seemed to make up my mind for me. I began to move faster on my way back to my apartment. I complied with her request without a second thought as I grabbed a plain white shirt and set of brown pants. As an afterthought, I grabbed a jacket and pulled my arms through. I had no idea where the final destination would lead us, but it would be a very disappointing evening if she were to get cold and needed a coat. While mine would fit her more like a cloak, it would be better than nothing.

With only seconds to spare, I arrived at the strike of five. Teiko stood at the train's platform, a smile present on her lips. At that moment, I pushed my doubts aside and decided I had made the right choice. "Fancy seeing you here," I declared, my grin never faltering. Not too deep below the surface, terror had me second guessing my actions. What was I supposed to do with my hands? Was it rude to stand so far? Should I be closer? Sweat beaded at my forehead as I continued to overthink the situation.

"I seem to have the best luck," she replied, the train pulling in behind her and causing her hair to flutter. "This is us." I looked up at the destination and felt confused.

"We're going out in the boonies?"

"That's generally where food grows," Teiko declared, her voice a playful laugh. Utterly embarrassed and not quick enough to catch myself, I felt my face blush. "Enji and Rei already went home, so it'll be just the two of us." Over the news, I'd heard Endeavor's name spoken, but hearing her say it so familiarly seemed to sew new doubts in my gut. Maybe this wasn't All For One's trap, but his rival's.

"Sounds great," I said, and then followed her to the open door. Thanks to my hair and size, I had to duck to fit in. Every seat was expectedly full. Being two young and healthy adults, we stood. Despite the fact that we were going to the middle of nowhere, a small crowd of people pushed their way in and drove our bodies closer together. I just barely managed to mask my shock. The normally triumphant grin I wore suddenly seemed lecherous as I looked down at Teiko, my left side pressed against her right. Was the tension all in my head? I looked for any signs of distress or discomfort, but couldn't seem to find any. Our ride began. The vehicle moved nearly silently, darting through districts quickly and efficiently while still preserving the landscapes. It used very little fuel and offered a gait so smooth that there was no chance of bumping into her.

Once we reached her stop, she gently nudged me with her hip and gestured to the door. I nodded and parted my way through the crowd easily enough, as some had started to recognize my face, and others didn't want to try to stand in a seven foot tall fellow's way. When we got free, we stepped off onto a cement step, then down to a surprisingly well maintained sidewalk. Lamp posts flanked either side of our path, leaving little guesswork to the path. "This isn't what I expected when you said you were a farmer," I admitted, showing just a hint of my negligence. Maybe my statement would help her to open up.

"Nobody expects it," she agreed with a chuckle. "They expect to see gates, cows, dogs, and vast fields." Before us was a line of eight green houses, two fields plowed in precise lines, and an irrigation ditch that encompassed the modest estate in a protective moat. "Rei lives a ways more to the south, but we're right here," she declared. It took me a moment to find the speck of a house hidden in the shadow of a forest. The seclusion of the place had my senses on high alert. Surely, this was a trap, and an obvious one.

"Do you live here by yourself?" I asked, masking my worry and suspicion in small talk.

"I do, unless Enji visits and decides to take up his old room" she said at once, as if the fact that she lived in the middle of nowhere was a minute detail. I figured that she was used to the seclusion, after so many years of nothing else.

"What does your family think of this?" I knew I was prying, but I was curious. What parents would want their daughter living all alone?

"I'm pretty sure they're okay with it, considering I inherited the farm after my mom and dad died," she chuckled, making light of the heavy words.

I'm felt like a fool. "I'm sorry," I apologized quietly.

Teiko didn't even turn as she walked down the slight decline. "It's okay, you didn't know."

We moved along the remaining distance in silence. For my part, it was awkward and heavy, but she seemed perfectly indifferent. The sun had begun to set behind us, bathing the slight slopes in sun streaked kisses of reds and orange. I took a moment to look down, able to finally gauge our heights without a cart between us. She was taller than I expected, nearly five foot ten. Considering Endeavor's build, I couldn't imagine anyone in his family being petite. Their farmer heritage seemed to fit the stereotype of strong, but still capable physiques. Teiko wasn't slender, but strong and ropy, well used to physical labor. She was not at all like a stick thin or plush city girl.

I didn't know a thing about first dates, but something told me that they didn't often move right to the girl's house. I moved my eyes upwards, determined to be a gentleman. She took me to see the sights and explain how the small farm operated. In the middle of one of her explanations, I thought I saw something move in the corner. My instincts jumped to high alert and I turned sharply, my hand lifted, and I quieted her. "Something's there," I whispered.

I turned to the culprit. The heap of soil and compost seemed innocent enough. I stepped forward once, then twice. When there was nothing exposed, I leaned down to peer at the pungent concoction. Was this the trap? Would there be a bomb? I felt dread pool in my gut. It was then that the soil exploded like a volcano, dousing my hair and shoulders in litter. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't destroy her dirt, nor did I know exactly why something had happened. This was nothing like a grenade. I punched once with only five percent power, hitting nothing.

All at once, it dawned on me. "You have a quirk, don't you?"

"Two," she admitted, lifting her middle and pointer finger in the air. "Terrakinesis and pyrokinesis." She explained and set her greenhouse to its former glory. The debris floated neatly as her quirk grabbed the dirt. For things like banana peels or apple cores, she cradled each in bits of compost. All at once, the matter dropped back into an organized heap. "That's the fancy way of saying I can light fires and move dirt."

To have one quirk was average, but two was nearly unheard of. I stared at the woman in awe. Suddenly, I felt painfully conscious of how little I knew about her. "Why didn't you sell the farm and become a pro hero, like Endeavor?" I asked at once. Back then, I assumed anyone with a functional quirk and set of morals wanted to become a hero. From what I could see, she had both in spades.

"The average age of a farmer is sixty six," she stated with a simple shrug, as if that answered everything. In some ways, it did.

"But – two quirks," I emphasized again, stupidly, as if she didn't know her own situation. I felt my grin slip, but couldn't find the will to glue it back on my cheeks.

"I'm aware," Teiko laughed, her patience infinite. "I've already had this talk with Enji once or twice," her tone implied it had been far more than that. I immediately felt guilty.

"That's enough of a tour. Would you like to come inside? I understand if you have somewhere to be."

"Inside sounds great," I agreed at once, dreading what a mess I had made things. Even though I had started the date looking for traps, I enjoyed the different perspective and lifestyle.

That was all it took for Teiko to effortlessly move on. "You can ask me anything, you know." She informed me as we headed out the door. For security, she put on a lock and slid a key neatly into the hole. A swift twist later, the crops were protected from mundane thieves. We made our way to the house, all the while my mind thought over the generous offer. We neared her front door and I expected her to pull out another key, but she simply twisted and pulled it open.

"Why don't you keep your house locked?"

"The produce can't fight back, but I can." She answered, grinning up at me. I raised my brows, astounded. Something about the stretch of her lips felt like a parody of my Cheshire smile.

"Are you mocking me?" I asked, feeling my mask slip back into place.

"Never, young All Might." She declared smugly, her taunt clear. We stepped through the doorframe and to the home. It was perhaps half the size of the greenhouses, with stairs leading to a second floor. I'd learn later that there were two decent sized bedrooms that had views overlooking the land. For the moment, all I saw was a small kitchen with a bathroom neatly tucked away. A single table with a corner bench offered the only seating. There was no television, despite the fact that the house clearly had electricity.

"What do you do for fun?" I couldn't imagine the long days of toiling.

"I sleep. What about you?" Something about her tone seemed to hint at triumph.

I was unprepared for the question. For a moment I paused and thought. When nothing came to mind, I shrugged. "The same." I realized she called me out on my hypocritical thought.

"That's what I thought," she declared. She grabbed a pan from a ceiling rack and opened her small fridge. "Do you have any food allergies?"

"None," I assured her, stepping closer to look. I was unsurprised to see produce fresh from the fields.

For me, a man who lived off American frozen dinners, I didn't recognize a third of what she grabbed. There was an onion, something that looked like fat grass, a root, some bulbs, eggs, and some spices. "Will you wash the rice, please?" Teiko asked. I moved forward to do just that, my hands swirling and draining the cloudy water until it ran clear. I took a chance and put the pot on the rice cooker base. Since she didn't say I was wrong, I decided I had done well, and flicked the switch down. "Thanks," she said once I finished my task.

I nodded, still considering what else to ask. "Did your parents have two quirks?" Did Endeavor?

"One each. Dad was the pyro, Mom the terra. They were the first around here to have quirks and were encouraged by their families to enter in a marriage contract to make the strongest kids possible."

"I'd heard that used to exist. Isn't it illegal now?"

Teiko finished chopping and set her mix of diced roots and whatever else into the pan. Within minutes, it smelled delicious. The honey of the ham seeped into the garlic and ginger, slightly crisping and caramelizing every bit. "It is," she agreed, "but that recently passed law didn't help us nearly three decades ago. Both of my parents were low-key heroes. Our shared family trait seems to be a strong dislike of attention."

I considered Endeavor's lack of interviews or his curt responses when a newscaster finally managed to catch him. "What was it like? Being raised with two parents in a contract?" It was a strange thing to ask, but something I was incredibly curious of. I needn't have feared, for she laughed easily enough and seemed quite at ease.

"In farm terms, I'm pretty much the prized bull that turned gay. They bought this land so Enji and I would have practice space. What's now planted used to be elaborate obstacle courses and fighting pits. Our parents told us that we didn't belong with the rest of the world. My mom and dad were ruthless to me, their best specimen. One night they told me to go to the woods and survive, so Mom put sand traps everywhere and Dad made my fire pit spark into what could have been a nasty forest fire. They spent more time on me than Enji, which made him jealous. Now he has the spotlight, but no idea how to handle it." As she spoke, she stirred and lowered the heat to let everything slowly sizzle and bubble together. The amount she prepared would have been enough to feed ten people. Did she think that I'd have a higher appetite than average, or was she hungry from a long day?

I wasn't sure what to say to her horrific past. My grin felt gaudy and mocking, so much so that I decided to slip into a more neutral pose. I stood, my hair only a few inches from brushing the ceiling. "The woman I considered to be a mother died in combat. She trained me as well as she could with the time she was given, but was gone too soon." It had crushed me, and I think Teiko knew it.

She stopped cooking long enough to turn and look at me. Her normally playful demeanor was rigid with our serious conversation. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said, staring up at me. An unexpected tension filled the air, like two sparks had ignited. I felt compelled to take a step forward, my face attuned fully to hers. She said this was a date, so did that mean I could kiss her? Teiko hadn't moved or looked away. Was that permission?

The door opened rather abruptly, releasing a cool draft from outside. The sudden breeze blew the moment away, but not our proximity. Endeavor glared at us from the doorway, his broad figure blocked most of the dim light provided by the outdoor lamp posts. He looked at me as if I were scum on his shoe. "Get out," he snapped.

"I invited him. He and I are having dinner together," Teiko interjected, taking a step forward. As she had been sandwiched between the stove and me, she had to brush me to get closer to her furious brother.

"Get. Out." The man growled like a beast, his words perfectly clear despite the fact that they came from the thin slits of his lips. His voice was dangerously quiet, which only added to the murder in his eyes. I had heard of siblings being protective over one another, but this seemed obsessive. I defaulted to my broad, beaming smile. He narrowed his eyes, none too impressed.

"That's not going to work, Enji. Use more words. Ask questions, converse," Teiko suggested, her tone clearly mocked him. I could see her words added fuel to the fire within him.

Though he spoke, each syllable came out as a chore. "What. Are. You. Doing. With. My. Sister?" He spoke like a man through punches. In his mind, he was surely throttling me.

"Your sister invited me." My words were an echo of hers. I started to wonder if maybe Endeavor had trouble hearing.

"Yes, I heard that," he snarled. "What do you want from my sister?"

It was a fair question. Many heroes never took the time to marry or settle down and have a family. I was trapped in my response. To say 'friendship' would surely anger one, though admitting 'something more' would infuriate the other. Thankfully, Teiko chose to use her quirk. Microscopic flecks of dirt were drawn from the wooden floor in a neat sweep and sprayed directly in Endeavor's eyes. He stumbled backwards, his fury expressed with a wordless bellow of anger. I wanted to tell Teiko she didn't have to harm her own blood for me, I even pivoted to say as much, but the look on Endeavor's face was mirrored on her cheeks. She looked ready to storm into battle and bring home severed heads for trophies.

Compared to the charismatic girl at the fruit stand, this was entirely a different person. I wasn't sure if I liked her ability to care for herself, or disapproved of how she used her quirk. Teiko stormed across the room and promptly slammed the door in Endeavor's face. She stood for a moment and took in a long, slow breath. When she turned to face me, she seemed to have regained herself. "This is why you don't meet family on the first date."