The place was full of very loud people, all looking a lot like Mitsuki Bakugou. Well, there were other people there as well, but they seemed to fade into the background next to the blond haired, red eyed, vehemently dynamic element. They all stopped their commotion for a second just to start uttering loud sounds of awe when they saw that the Number Two indeed was going to join them on New Year's Eve. In a second he and Izuku were surrounded by all of them, comments on his hero activity, sweet words to his son, requests for signing hero merchandise for their kids all blended together. Izuku was grinning happily, apparently familiar with all of them, but his eyes were searching eagerly for Katsuki. The boy did not join the welcoming crowd, which did not surprise Enji. It was obvious his boy's friend was still jealous about Endeavor being Zuku's father, if the word 'friend' was even still applicable. Izuku stubbornly called the brat that, but Enji honestly would prefer if the boys stopped meeting altogether, considering Katsuki always managed to bring Izuku's mood down, as far as Enji had noticed.
Gifts exchanged, the crowd dissipated a bit and Mitsuki-san led them both to the table.
"Where's Kacchan, auntie?"
Mitsuki-san rolled her eyes.
"He's having one of his moods and sitting in his room. I'm gonna bring him downstairs in a second, sweetie."
"I've got a cool gift for him!"
"I'm sure you have, sweetie."
They sat down by the table and Enji took out his smartphone, eager to spend the evening in a most productive and least annoying way possible – answering the job related mails that piled up before the holiday hit. He was sure people would comment on the fact he was working on New Year's Eve, but he couldn't care less. Better to seem a workaholic, then a slacker. Better to work than to think about the rest of his family spending the New Year's Eve together, without him.
His Izuku started talking animatedly with one of his 'uncles', who apparently was employed in one of the hero support companies. The man, unlike Enji, seemed less than happy to have to talk his work on his free day, but Izuku's enthusiasm – unsurprisingly - quickly melted the initially worn and reluctant attitude and before a quarter passed they both seemed to enjoy discussing some state of the art improvements in new generation of heroes' gauntlets.
With Izuku happy and Enji no longer bothered by anyone, the evening promised to be bearable, if you shut out the loud conversation and shrill laughs. The more effusive members of this family were, thank heavens, evidently used to people who prefered to pass time without too much interaction (he had noticed more men like him in the vicinity) and did not try to force him into any conversation, too busy loudly exchanging all sort of family news between one another.
But, of course, it just couldn't be that nice.
"Kacchan!"
"Deku," the blond growled angrily.
'Deku'? Enji immediately growed pissed. "My son's name is Izuku," he said extremely calmly. It had worked perfectly, everyone immediately froze at the sudden drop of the temperature in the room. Endeavor growling and barking at people they all had seen many times in the media, they were probably used to it being his style, but Endeavor speaking with perfect, arctic cold calmness in his voice, every sound very carefully pronounced, most likely sounded like a blood red alert. Just as intended.
The boy however feared no gods. "He is Deku! Crying, useless-"
"Katsuki! Enough! You little jealous brat-"
"Not jealous!"
"Yes, you are! Zuku brought you a nice gift and either you're gonna behave or you're not going to Herocon this year!"
This shut the little terror up. Enji ruffled Izuku's hair reassuringly. His boy did not seem moved by Katsuki's behavior, which was actually odd. Then again he always stubbornly defended the brat, mulishly claiming they were 'best friends'. Enji could not understand Izuku's obsession with the other boy, especially now that he had new and much better friends in Enji's agency's preschool.
That weird determination was easily seen throughout the whole evening, during which Izuku obstinately tried to chat Katsuki up, undeterred by blond's growls and scowls, smile always plastered on his tiny face, words full of praise spilling, undercurrent of almost desperate need to get any positive attention from the other boy clearly tangible. Enji didn't like it. Izuku deserved better than having to fawn over the brat who clearly was not only not interested in being friends, but was outright showing he loathes the very idea. He had tried to gently suggest Izuku there are better kids out there, to skillfully maneuver him into spending more time with other children from his agency, not leaving much for anyone else, but the boy would always notice when there had been too much days since the last visit at Bakugou's and would make those big sad eyes whenever Enji tried to say no to another visit.
Which left him with the other solution – if he couldn't uncling Izuku from Katsuki, he could try again to work something out with his parents. Especially since it was his responsibility as a hero to help those who needed help.
So he approached the sensitive subject while they were leaving and Izuku was busy saying goodbyes and hugging everyone.
"So, have you thought about taking Katsuki to a specialist?"
Bakugou immediately got visibly irritated.
"What's your problem? Why are you so fixated on this? You couldn't fix your own family, so you've made it your mission to fix others'? If so, then find those that really need it."
Anger flared at her careless words again, but he suspected this was what she wanted. To get him pissed enough to drop the topic and never approach it again. So he quelled it. His therapist would be proud.
"My problem is that my Izuku cares deeply for Katsuki. Your son is like a brother to him, and a very dear brother too. And Katsuki's behavior hurts him."
"Don't get me wrong, Todoroki-san, but if you think you're entitled to voicing your opinion on my raising Katsuki, then so shall do the same. Izuku is the sweetest thing in the world, but... he needs to grow some backbone and balls."
What?
"Look at him. He's like a girl."
Now Enji's anger started to truly blaze in his chest. He made a huge effort not to let it show in actual flames.
"And what exactly is wrong with behaving like a girl, whatever that means? You're a woman, Bakugou-san."
"I'm a woman with balls and backbone, and that is how I intend to raise my Bakugou. To be tough, strong, capable of fighting his way through life. And your Izuku? He's too soft. Inko-chan was the best friend and the sweetest mum, but she had spoiled Izuku sick. If he's gonna be like he is now you will have to go to the specialist with him, because the life's gonna fuck him up sooner than you'd expect."
Enji hesitated. A part of him, the one he cultivated for years would agree with Bakugou – that you needed to be tough and strong and emotionless (unless the emotion was anger, anger was a great propeller to greatness), because the world was a horrible place, always happy to use you and hurt you. And where had this led him? To losing his children.
"I've been tough, strong and capable of fighting all my life and-"
"-and you're the Number Two, nobody fucks with you, people respect you-"
'People fear and hate me.'
"-so don't tell me it's a bad way to raise your kid."
"I'm telling you exactly that. I-"
"Dad?"
He shut up. He wasn't going to talk about these things in front of Izuku.
"Think about it, Bakugou-san."
"You think about my words too, Todoroki-san. Thanks for visiting us and the gifts, Zuku!"
888
Izuku held his All Might tightly, his little hands crumpling and twisting the plushie's arms, head bowed, eyes on his faithful toy. Enji knew by now it meant the boy was nervous or scared or worried about something. It crossed his mind he didn't know what his other children used to do in times like this. How could he not know that? But he didn't. He had not paid enough attention, swallowed up in his grim emotions. Did they have their comfort places, toys, pastimes, when they were scared? They'd hide in their rooms, he knew only this. Some father he had been... apparently Rei was right, Fuyumi was right...
He sighed. Now it wasn't the time to dwell on this, now he had Izuku to concentrate on and to take better care of.
"Penny for your thoughts, Zuku?"
Izuku kept quiet.
"Hey. What's up in that broccoli head?"
Izuku twisted the plushie's arms some more.
"But what if she hates me?" he finally asked. Again. They talked about it when the media started to write all over the internet about Enji's affair and divorce. And his Izuku, being a hero fanboy, would of course stumble upon it on hero forums and internet groups. He had repeatedly reassured the boy that it wasn't his fault Number Two's family fell apart and that it had been thanks to Izuku he wasn't all alone. And, come to think of it, there truly was something to it. He didn't know how much longer Rei would have put up with his behavior. He didn't know if the divorce hadn't been coming either way. Though in such a case it would have definitely ended up in the court, cause Enji would have never consented to it, and whole hell would have broken loose. Izuku had actually prevented all this. He was to be thanked, not to be blamed. Of course, he couldn't explain everything properly to a child so small, but he thought he still had done his best. And indeed Izuku most of the time seemed very happy to be with him, no longer crying at night or at anything that would remind him of mum.
"She won't, love. Fuyumi is like you, a very good person. She wants to meet you. I told her all about you, how awesome you are." He did tell her more about Izuku when she'd been asking. And she had, with clear worry in her eyes, a worry that obviously meant she feared for the child's wellbeing. It pained. Still, he of course hadn't been elaborating too much, he hadn't wanted her to feel replaced by some kind of perfect loving child, since that was how it would have probably sounded if he spilled some gush of praises about his extramarital child.
"Mhm," Izuku did not sound very reassured. Admittedly Enji himself felt quite nervous thinking about the first time any of Rei's children was going to meet Izuku, but he had faith in their good natures. They both had such golden hearts after all.
He heard the sound of the car stopping in front of the gate. He hugged Izuku.
"Don't worry, it's going to be great. You'll be best siblings, you'll see."
"Hold my All Might?"
"Sure."
Izuku took his gift for Fuyumi in one hand and put the other hand into Enji's large one, and they went onto the engawa. His daughter noticed them immediately and waved. Izuku immediately waved back, previous nervousness giving way to his usual amicable nature.
"Hey, there!" she said, smiling as she made her way up to them.
"Hello!" Izuku grinned.
"Fuyumi."
He'd swear her brows rose slightly when she noticed All Might's plushie in his hand, but she did not say a word, just hugged Enji. One of the realizations he had had, when he had started to try to think objectively about his past with his children, was that they never hugged him, not for many years at least. It was only after the divorce, after they had left him, that Fuyumi began to reach out to hug him on her own will. What a painful irony.
He shook himself away from depressing thoughts. He wanted this day to be pleasant to both of them.
"This is Izuku, my dear son, your little step brother; and this is Fuyumi, my dear daughter, your big stepsister. Be a good little brother to her, Izuku."
"Of course!" he exclaimed as he put forward his gift. "This is for you, sister!"
"Aw, thank you so much."
"Dad said you love tea!"
"I love it, that's true!" she grinned. Enji felt relieved. He was pretty sure those children would get along, but a pessimistic part of him had been still worried, whispering the dark, ridiculous scenarios. Of course it seemed none of them would come true, he thought as he watched Fuyumi chatting easily with Izuku. She always loved children and was so gifted in that field. She had been always saying she wanted to be a teacher in the future.
They stepped inside the house and Fuyumi stopped abruptly as she noticed five pairs of eyes watching her curiously.
"You...'ve got cats now?"
"They're awesome! Eraser Head gave them to us! I named them Spark, Ash, Firefly, Kindle, Flare and Blaze!"
"These are very nice names. Did you choose them with dad?"
Enji felt his ears going pink, as warmth filled his heart as the memory of his Izuku telling him he had given all the cats names that had a connection with fire flashed in his mind. He had thought back then that maybe he had not deserved this sweetest child and that thought dwelled somewhere in the grimmer back of his mind ever since.
"No, it was Izuku's idea."
"Cause you know, fire is warm, and lively, and so are they! Well, maybe not Blaze, cause he is a little old, but I'm sure he is young inside! And they all love dad's Quirk, cause he's warm, and they lay on him all the time!" True. There was no longer a place in this house where Enji could sit down without any cat immediately climbing on his lap and he had to remember to use his Quirk whenever he left the place or else he'd go out covered in cat hair.
Fuyumi smiled warmly at the boy and then looked at Enji.
"Didn't know you were a cat person, dad."
Enji wasn't. He always preferred dogs – they were so simple and obedient; it wasn't complicated to make them love you, even if you weren't the best owner in the world. But cats? Cats were like people and he had always been bad at people. But he would never say that out loud with Izuku near. So he circumvented, "It seems that young and talented underground, Eraser Head, is a volunteer at the cat shelter. We met him once, me and Izuku, and for some reason he decided Izuku would love some kittens."
"He was right!"
"So, you ended up with six cats?" Fuyumi looked highly amused.
"Well, he said they would use socializing with adult cats."
"He seems like a brave man."
He couldn't help but smile at that. "He certainly is."
"Shouto and Natsuo both love cats, but we never thought you'd approve."
That stung. "You- you could have just asked."
Did Fuyumi's smile falter in the slightest way or was he just seeing things he wanted to see, as always?
"Well, you've always wanted Shouto to concentrate on the training, right? And it wouldn't be nice if only Natsu got a cat."
"Dad's going to train me to become a hero too!"
Now Fuyumi's smile disappeared and it wasn't his imagination.
"We- we haven't started yet," he rushed to say, his heart thumping wildly for some reason.
Fuyumi said nothing to that. Enji felt horrible.
"What's wrong?" asked Izuku, watching them worriedly.
"It's nothing, love."
"It's not nothing," the boy protested. "Does Fuyumi-neechan think I can't be a hero cause I'm Quirkless?"
Fuyumi stared at him startled and then looked at Enji appalled.
"Dad, Izuku's Quirkless and you're training him to be a hero?"
"I thought so," said Izuku quietly and took his All Might from Enji's hand.
Enji was torn for a moment. He knew very well what Fuyumi was thinking about – that he was repeating what he had done to Touya and Shouto combined, a harrowing training that would scar him and end up in the boy's death. But at the same time Izuku wasn't Touya, wasn't Shouto. He had no heart to take away this dream the boy had, the dream that was born out of his beloved mother's death.
"Zuku's mom died because there was no hero to save her. Izuku wants to be there for people that need saving."
Izuku lifted his head. "Yeah! I'll be there for everyone!"
Fuyumi looked grave.
"It's not impossible, Fuyumi-chan. There are many types of heroes out there."
"...I, I thought you've been working to get better. To not repeat the past," she said quietly.
"I- it's- it's not going to be like before. I will consult everything with my therapist," he replied, his throat dry, pain throbbing in his heart. "I won't- I will be better. I will."
A small sigh escaped Fuyumi's lips. "Okay, dad. Just... keep Izuku's wellbeing in mind."
"I'm okay!" protested Izuku.
"I know, Fuyumi." It hurt. It hurt she'd think he would still be like he had been before. That knowing that he had harmed his children he'd continue on that path. He wasn't like that! He just... had never really understood, had never really tried to put himself in their position, had never tried to see through the thick mist of horrible emotions that clouded his mind. But now that he finally opened his eyes, he'd never!
Izuku watched them both with wide eyes, trying to understand what was going on and why the atmosphere went so oppressive.
"I will be a great hero, Fuyumi-neechan," he decided to say what probably was the worst thing to say, all things considered. "You'll see! I'll be like All Might and dad!"
She smiled weakly. "Of course, Zuku-kun."
That made his boy look sad. "Mom was saying it the same way. She was sad, when I was saying I want to be a Quirkless hero. But I will be!" A couple of small tears appeared in the green eyes, so he took the boy up into his arms and kissed both emerald pools. "You will be, Zuku. Come, let us eat something." He could feel Fuyumi's eyes on him.
"American food?" she asked surprised as they sat on the zabutons around the small table. Apart from the food Fuyumi loved, there were indeed some American dishes like mac and cheese or fries and nuggets, that Izuku worshiped.
"American food is the best!" exclaimed Izuku, a little perked up at the sight of his favorite foods.
"Is that so?" Fuyumi smiled at the boy, but then her eyes lingered a bit on Enji's face, thoughtful. She knew Enji hated American food. She refrained from commenting, thankfully. Zuku would probably be appalled that anyone might not like mac and cheese.
"Mrow!" demanded Ash decidedly.
Enji sighed. These goddamn beggars.
"They just ate."
Fuyumi chuckled and he immediately felt grateful for the cats' presence.
"Well, I'm sure they consider it rude that we're eating without them."
The conversation thankfully took that turn and the previous tension lifted as Izuku started to enthusiastically relate all about their cats' characters, habits and eccentricities. Then they moved onto Izuku's preschool and friends, making Enji hope the rest of this visit would pass pleasantly, far from more sensitive and painful topics.
But then, of course, Izuku had to switch onto his favorite subject, heroics.
"Come on, Fuyumi-neechan, I'll show you my collection!"
Enji did not groan, but it was a close call. But the boy was so proud of his hero merch he wouldn't have the heart to stop him.
So they were standing now in his completely buried with All Might and Endeavor merch room (well, mostly All Might, since Enji wasn't known to be fond of hero worship, so his merchandise was scarce), Fuyumi taking it in with wide eyes.
"Wow, this is some... huge collection."
"Thanks, Fuyumi-neechan!"
"Pics were all over the internet," mumbled Enji recalling the disastrous visit at the biggest hero merch shop. But his Izuku had been in seventh heaven, so profit outweighed loss.
"You've never been... fond of this."
"I'm not," he admitted quietly while Izuku happily chattered about the rarer specimens in his collection, rummaging through things, removing kittens from everywhere, completely lost in his little happy world now. "This job is... very dangerous. And... can be devastating. I do try to remind him of that, in small words." He sighed. "But he's lost so much and he's still so little. He can have these if he wants too."
Fuyumi watched him wordlessly, smilelessly, and he immediately felt bad, though he really had no idea what he was doing wrong.
"I'm trying to be a... better dad?" he added, almost pleadingly. 'Stop looking at me so judgingly, Fuyumi, please, I'm really trying!'
"It's just..." She hesitated, then she smiled. "It's great, dad. I'm really happy."
No, she wasn't. It was one of her forced smiles, he had seen them so many times. Learned to recognize them, because he could compare them to those of Izuku, and because he finally had started to pay attention.
"Fuyumi, please, tell me. You really don't need to... be afraid anymore."
"It's really nothing, dad. I'm glad you're doing your best."
"Fuyumi."
She sighed. "Fine... But... don't take it the wrong way, dad, you know how I care about you, but..."
"But?"
"I look at you now, so different, all these pet names, endearments, cats, hero merch, you doing your best to make your kid happy..."
Oh, so she not only thought he replaced them with Izuku, but that he preferred Izuku? That he treated him better, because it was Izuku?
"Fuyumi, you all are my kids! I would- I'm going to be a better father to all of you! It's not about Izuku."
"I know, I know, I noticed. The day spent shopping with me? You'd never do that before." It hurt, but it was true. He never had been doing anything like that. He'd see no point. He'd just give her money. "Calling me 'love'? You never called me 'love' before."
"I- I never knew these kinds of things mattered! These are just words! I thought... I thought I showed you my love."
"Yeah, I understand, dad... It's just..."
"Just?"
"Why did it have to take a divorce to make you like that? Why did it have to go so far?"
Enji did not know how he could answer that.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
They realized Izuku was watching them.
"Are you sad because of me?" he asked softly, the All Might plushie in his hands again.
They both smiled their best, sincere smiles at the little boy who did not deserve to be ever entangled in Enji's fucked up life, in Enji's sins.
"No, Izuku, you're a great little brother, and you have no idea how happy I am that I've met you," replied Fuyumi. "Come, I'll give you the best hug ever. Only older sisters give hugs like that."
Izuku hesitated just for a second. Fuyumi always had been good at things like that. Guessing who needed what most, who hated what most. She kissed and stroked his green hair. "Take good care of our dad, okay? He gets sad a lot."
'Mad, you meant mad, Fuyumi,' a bitter thought crossed his mind.
"I will!"
"Promise?"
"Promise! I am his hero!"
888
"Ah, right, Fuyumi!"
"Dad?"
"If you want to take anything from your room, I haven't touched a thing. Jun said you did not take much with you."
They went to her room, the three of them, and five of cats who decided to supervise everything. All in all the whole visit went not nearly as bad as Enji's more pessimistic part tried to paint it. Izuku really got to like Fuyumi and was already bothering her to come again, her doubts about his hero training thankfully not creating any rift between the children, only fuelling Izuku's desire to become a hero and prove everyone wrong even more, but not making him resentful towards her. It made Enji so happy. Izuku did not deserve to be hated by his kids. He did feel a little guilty that the thought had even occurred at all, he should have known better than to let it cross his mind even for a second that his children were anything but good kids and that they might treat Izuku badly.
Fuyumi stared for a moment at her untouched room when they reached it.
"Have you left all our rooms like that?"
"Well, yeah... these are your rooms after all."
She was quiet. Then she turned to him and hugged him tightly.
"I... also hope against hope, dad. That maybe..."
His eyes widened.
"No."
She pushed herself away, surprised and hurt.
"No, Fuyumi. Think of your mother."
They couldn't be together. He could see this clearly now. They never were the best matched pair to begin with, and now, after all he had done to her? This would be a nightmare. She had run from him like he once had run from his mother. He could not imagine living with his mother, not even for a week. Never again. So, he could imagine how Rei was feeling. The thing that was still so hard to imagine and truly comprehend though was that it was him who had made someone feel that way. That it was him that had never even noticed he had been becoming more and more like Kazue Todoroki, just not to his kids, but to his wife. Wife who had been through enough even before he had married her. He had put all the blame for Touya on Rei and let himself unleash all the pain and hatred upon her, not caring at all about her as a person. He always had seen her as the mother of his children after all, never really as his wife, as a person.
"It would be horrible for your mum."
She looked so sad.
"I... I know, dad. I... don't really believe... I know this is the best." She sighed.
"But the rooms will be always there if you- if any of you wanted to, maybe, one day, stay longer?"
She smiled at him.
"I'll talk with mum. I'm sure you'd use help with Izuku."
Cold hit his heart.
"No. You can stay as long as you want, to spend time with us, but taking care of us is not your responsibility, Fuyumi. You... you no longer have to be a parent." Then a suspicion followed. "Right? Is your mother doing well, taking care of your brothers?"
Fuyumi's face immediately shifted into fear, so quick it pained.
"Yes, we're doing great, dad!"
"I'm... I'm not asking, because I'm planning to take you away from your mother, but Fuyumi, you're twelve. These are not your kids. This-"
"Dad, it's okay, it really is! We're doing very well. Much better..." she hesitated and stopped. 'Much better than with you around.'
"Okay, I'm just saying she can hire help. Fuyumi, you have to start thinking about yourself and taking care of yourself, not only thinking about the family all the time. Enjoy things teenagers enjoy."
Like he knew what those are. But he always wanted his kids to have a better childhood than the one he had.
"But I enjoy being with my family, dad. I love kids. You know that."
"Okay," he sighed. "But promise me you'll take good care of yourself. You can't take good care of others if you don't start with yourself."
She smiled. "Is this your therapist, dad?"
"Yeah," he admitted.
She smiled even wider. "I promise, dad. You take care of yourself too, okay?"
888
Bonus scenes, heh:
888
Enji stared at Eraser Head standing on his engawa in the early morning. With no appointment, previous message, anything.
"I know you're supposed to be an underground hero, but this is too m-"
"Eraser Head!"
Enji shut up.
"Hey, kid." Eraser almost smiled at the dishevelled, right out of futon boy. Well, the young hero's face definitely softened. Izuku really was something else to be able to make Shouta Aizawa soften his face. So far Enji saw this expression addressed exclusively to cats. "I've come to check up on the kittens."
"The kittens are doing great," replied Enji irritably. "You think we can't take good care of our animals?"
Something glinted in Eraser's eyes. It wasn't his Quirk. It was something much more... malevolent? Enji suddenly didn't like the unexpected visit even more.
"On the contrary, I was sure this was a perfect place for some poor homeless cats that need plenty of love." Enji suddenly knew where this was going. Animal maniacs all were like this. Give them your little finger and they'll snatch your whole arm. "Right, kid?"
Izuku grinned. Of course. Of course he was going to use Izuku against Enji. Eraser Head barely hit his twenties and already was one of the best underground heroes in Japan. You wouldn't get there if you weren't smart.
"This is one way to be a hero, even at your age, though not as dangerous as your dad's heroing," Eraser added and Enji knew everything was lost already. The easiest way to buy Izuku to do anything was to say 'be a hero'. Eraser truly knew what he was doing.
"But you could be a hero to even more cats."
Of course.
Of course.
888
Enji never had night shifts per se. As a head of one of the best and biggest agencies he worked mainly during the day, buried in paperwork even if he had plenty of people to take care of various aspects of hero agency management. Also, his Quirk wasn't really well suited to low visibility, making him an easy target during the night time and degrading his own vision. But there were of course emergency calls that would drag him out of his futon, there were carefully planned operations that needed to be conducted shrouded in the darkness. He was just coming back to his home after one of such calls, when he spotted Eraser Head. If he spotted Eraser Head from the ground level it probably meant Eraser Head wanted to be spotted.
'Oh, no', he sighed tiredly.
"How are the cats?" Eraser Head was smiling. He could as well wave the red flag over his head.
"Great. My son is also great, thanks for asking."
"Yeah, about him-"
"It's not about him, it's about cats."
"It's about him and a cat."
"We have five cats already."
"You have space for ten more."
"Aizawa." It was generally considered rude to call another hero not by his hero name if you weren't friends privately.
"It's not ten."
"Ah, that's fine then," Enji snapped sarcastically.
"Do you hate cats?"
"Don't try your little manipulation techniques on me."
"And look at who's saying that."
Enji glared at him. Eraser Head seemed completely unbothered by it. As usual.
"We have this very old cat. Very sickly. Nobody wants him."
Enji felt angry. Was Eraser really such an insensitive fool?
"The boy just lost his mother! You want him to watch his cat die?"
Eraser gave him a very serious look.
"The boy has already met with death, and in the worst way possible."
"That's not the reason to give him more pain!"
Eraser shook his head. "You have a bad approach to it. It's not about dealing more pain, it's about helping him understand what he has been through, what has happened. Helping him deal with it. Show him that even if death is unavoidable what matters is how you spent your life with someone before they died. Concentrating on giving good before everything ends."
Enji stared at Eraser Head. He never suspected him to be a person to give speeches about "giving good".
"He is too little. He'll just cry over his cat dying," he replied doubtfully.
"Don't underestimate kids. He had already been through the worst. This can only help."
Enji hesitated. If this could really help Izuku...
"I'll ask my therapist. He actually has professional knowledge about these things. Unlike us."
"You're seeing a therapist?"
Enji bristled.
"Too few people who should see a therapist go there," he snapped, repeating his therapist's words.
"I know. That's why I'm surprised. There are so many idiots in our field who ignore the fact that regularly seeing a therapist should be mandatory. I was simply surprised you're one of those who recognize it's important."
Enji decided not to share the fact that until recently he had been one of those idiots.
"I'll think about that cat."
888
Notes:
Again not much happening. You've been warned, this is self-indulgent slow paced family fluff and stuff story. Want something with actual action and quicker pace? Read my other BNHA story :D (shameless self ad, but I really am proud of that story, grammar setting aside).
Sorry the updates are longer, but one of my students bought me Skyrim for birthday, and I've always wanted to play that game, and it really sucks your mind and time in.
I hope you didn't find Fuyumi's bbehavior contradictory, she really wants Enji to become a better dad, but she is that person who always so badly wanted their family to be together and I think it really must hurt a bit to see that Enji WAS capable of being better and it must be hard for her not to think why couldn't he be like that before, hard not to think that if he did his best before their family would be still together. I remember I've read this endhawks story, unfortunately I can't recall now the title or author, and there was this line of Shouto's there 'Why couldn't you be like that before?' or sth like that and it really hit me hard. Like, it's all great you're a better person now, we really support you, but at the same time, why couldn't you be like that before you broke our family?
Also this is not the end of Eraser Head appearing in this story, the stubborn man has his plans put in motion now, and who am I to stop Eraser Head from anything.
Also this is getting unbelievably long. Izuku is still five! Lol