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The first time Enji meets her, he does not think he gives off the greatest first impression. Sir had him stuffed into a suit and dragged him out to the countryside on what was supposed to be his one day off from hero work. Not that he ever actually took advantage of days off, not that he was ever allowed to enjoy the luxury of a day off. But mandatory days off due to things like mental health and labor laws mattered to some people apparently. So here he is, 21 and finally making a name for himself on the hero scene, meeting her, 15, and annoyed at having to make nice with a teenager. Not that it’s her fault for being a teenager.
Himura Rei.
She sits prettily, traditional kimono folding and laying in all the right ways as she sits on her knees across from him, white hair catching the sunlight that reaches them through the sliding glass doors that opens to the zen garden that is the Himura Estate’s backyard. She’s prim and proper, everything a woman should be. Back straight, head tilted down in deference, cool grey eyes not daring to look into the eyes of the man before her, not speaking unless her father prompts her. Which he doesn’t. Himura Kori sits next to her, doing enough talking for the three of them, boasting of the power of Rei-san’s quirk, her range, her control.
He wonders why then, it looks like she’s never worked a day in her life, if her quirk is so powerful, and why instead she’s being offered up like a show dog for sale.
“Of course the wedding will not be until she turns of age.” The man across from Enji is still chattering, smiling like the cat that caught the canary.
Enji wants to punch it off his face. He instead raises an eyebrow at the man who speaks as if the deal is already confirmed.
Kori interprets it differently, “It’s only a year away, Endeavor-san. Do not worry. We just wanted you to meet early”
Well Enji supposes the deal has already basically been made, if Sir had anything to say about it. Him coming to this meeting was simply a courtesy at this point probably. Meet his wife-to-be and settle into the fact that this is the future he will have. Enji just grunts in acknowledgement because what else is he supposed to say, when the choice has already been made for him, for her, for the both of them.
~*~
It’s a paperwork and meeting kind of day today, no actual patrol. Running an agency and being the boss of everyone involves a lot more bureaucracy than hero work, especially with his being as new as it is. He’s in his office in a business suit, even though he could definitely just wear his civies or hero costume, either suitable for office work, being the boss and all, he’s allowed to do whatever he wants, but now he’s a little unsure of himself.
A text reads on his phone from Rei-san. Seems troublesome. I could accompany you on your lunch break, if you’ll have me.
Perfect grammar, no typos, prim and proper, just like what a woman should be. Enji doesn’t know if teenagers normaly text this way. She texts neater than how some of his adult employees email him, their own boss, who they’re paid to be professional with. Although nothing about this situation is normal, Enji supposes.
She’s making sure to be civil with him, making the best of her situation. Texting him semi-regularly, normal updates and conversations. But like everything about this situation he is a little unsure of himself. Unsure how to respond to her in a proper way, conversationally. Not too professional, not too clipped, not too rude, pushing to not let his anger and annoyance drive him. It’s not her he’s angry at, Enji keeps trying to tell himself, it’s mostly at Sir and a little bit at himself.
Alright, is Higoshiobase Park ok?
She responds with a smiley face and a thumbs up, which feels a little bit more normal to Enji. I will bring a bento box.
~*~
She does. It’s wrapped in a pink checkered patterned cloth, her own bento wrapped in a blue Cinnamon Roll patterned one.
Enji checks his watch. 1:24. He takes in her plain long dress, sleeves reaching just to the middle of her forearm, a blue scarf wrapped around her neck. He doesn’t know why he didn’t think of this earlier. “Do you not have school today?”
Rei-san shrugs, meeting his gaze, “High school does not seem to be in the cards for me. So what does it matter if I skip a day of school?”
A middle schooler, fresh faced and already snatched up before she can graduate, a future of being a stay at home mother. She knows how to cook, if shown from the homemade bento sitting warm in Enji’s hands, she probably knows how to do all the household chores required of her. Prim and proper, doing everything as a woman should. Enji doesn’t like that.
“You shouldn’t skip out on your classes.” The reprimand comes automatically and Rei-san drops her gaze, that ever present stoic look on her face.
Enji sighs and sits at the bench they stopped in front of. Winter leaves the trees bare and the frost biting, and nobody wishes to wander through the cold with no promise of snow. Nobody except the two of them, finding a moment to meet despite Enji’s busy schedule and their strange circumstances. Enji pats the seat of the bench next to him and she follows, obediently.
“Is that what you want?” Enji tries again.
Rei-san just shrugs again, “Does it matter what I want?”
Enji considers it. Does it matter what he wants? Does it matter what she wants? Enji knows what Sir wants. A legacy, someone strong to carry on the Todoroki name. He wants something concrete, embedded into society. He wants strength, power, acknowledgment. Enji thinks he knows what he wants. He has the ambition, the drive, the power. Enji wants to be the number one hero to cement the legacy that Sir wants. Enji knows what Himura Kori wants. Money, power, a connection to something great, riding on the coattails of the new number two hero, Endeavor.
Enji does not know what Rei-san wants.
So he asks, “If you want it, it matters. So what do you want?”
Rei-san looks unsure. Almost uncomfortable at the question, as if she was being asked a deeply personal probing question and not about the simple thought of what she wants out of life.
Enji unties the pink cloth delicately under his thick fingers. He opens it to rice with sauteed vegetables and a cutlet sitting on top, a puff of steam escaping the confines of the box. “Thank you for the meal.”
Rei-san quietly unties her own box, the same meal, a consternate expression on her face.
“You don’t have to answer now,” Enji says, much softer than he thought he would, “entrance exams are in about two months.”
“I-,” Rei-san cuts herself off, “Otou-san would never allow it.”
“He can’t say anything if I’m paying for it.” Enji grunts, annoyed at the mention of that man.
Rei-san twirls the corner of the patterned cloth with a finger. “Well… I wonder.” She trails off, probably not even meaning to say that out loud.
~*~
“Have you always wanted to be a hero, Enji-san?” Rei-san rolls her chopsticks in her hand, legs kicking idly and hitting the booth seat in an irregular rhythm.
If she were anyone else the sound would already have irritated him four minutes ago, then again, anyone else wouldn’t be having dinner with him on a random Wednesday afternoon. After that first meeting Enji wouldn’t agree to any lunches during school days but allowed the occasional dinner. Somewhere different every time, sometimes Enji picks, sometimes Rei-san picks. Today she picked an Indian place, coconut chicken curry, pork korma curry, and naan shared between the two of them. She has a penchant for foreign food, wanting to try something new every time.
“Yes,” he says, with a note of hesitation, the thought that he was never allowed to want anything else flashing across his mind, “everyone wants to be a hero, don’t they?”
“Ah, I see.” Rei-san nods like she understands, and maybe she does. She leans one elbow on the table, head in a hand as she lifts a piece of chicken to chew on with the other. “And if you weren’t a hero?”
If Enji wasn’t a hero? Who would Enji be without Endeavor? Enji sits, back straight, serving the same seriousness to the question as he would anything else, brows furrowed in concentration.
Rei-san turns and covers her mouth with a hand, a slight cough doing nothing to hide the amused crinkle to her eyes.
Enji thinks on the past few weeks, he has been trying so many new dishes, definitely outside of his meal plan, but he’s having trouble caring about it as much as he feels like he should. Everything before had been a focus on nutrition, calories, proteins, carbs. Enji could probably plan an exact diet and meal plan based on one’s needs and wants. But eating just for the flavor, like Rei-san enjoys doing, is a novel experience for Enji. She always makes him get something different from her so she can try a bit of his, just to taste, then she’ll share a bit of hers, just to taste. It seems strange to Enji, but he allows it.
Rei-san lets him think, knowing that silence isn’t him ignoring her, silence is him collecting his thoughts.
“I suppose these meals we’ve had have been interesting enough, and I enjoy trying new tastes,” the with you is left unsaid. Enji doesn’t know where he’s going with this. This is the first thing in his life he would consider a hobb, something he does in his free time, and his thoughts are half formed and unknown, but he feels like these thoughts belong to him, not to Endeavor.
Rei-san just tilts her head, short hair swaying with the movement, “You think so too Enji-san?” She pulls out her phone, typing in her passcode and opening it to something, “High school isn’t exactly a requirment, and well, I’m supposed to be child-rearing while you are heroing.” She turns her phone around to show a vocational school. A one year course for a culinary school in the city. “I’ll turn 16, then there’ll be only a few months of school left and I can graduate and take care of my duties after.”
“And after? What will you do with the certification?”
She shrugs, “Kind of hard to have two jobs.”
A job, because it is, isn’t it. For her, she’s being paid, or at least her family, is being paid for this, whatever is between them. Enji tries not to let it bother him. “And if we don’t have a child?”
She looks at him strangely, both of them knowing that isn’t an option for them, but entertains the thought anyways. She hums a bit as she thinks, “Probably get an apprenticeship. I don’t know what food I want to make but Japanese culinary artisans are always so picky with their foods. Oh you need 5 years to master the art of cutting fish, 3 years to learn how to make the perfect buckwheat noodles, you have to feel in your bones how much humidity is in the air to make the perfect melonpan.” Rei-san huffs at a strand of her bangs too close to an eye, “I could learn the business side and then try a hand at my own shop, cook whatever I want, serve whatever I want.”
“What would you name it?”
“Hmmm,” Rei-san tilts her head back and forth in thought, her whole body following in the movement, “I wonder. Will you come and eat at my restaurant, Enji-san?”
He nods.
She gives him a cheeky grin, the biggest one he has ever seen her wear, “Maybe I should name it Endeavor-san’s Lunch Spot. That’ll get people interested, right?”
Enji huffs with something like amusement at her answer, “Take that up with the copyright office.”
Then she giggles, quiet, like ice crystals shattering into fine dust as they twinkle and melt into air, eyes scrunched up and cheek smooshed against her hand as she leans against it, “You’ll help me with that, right Enji-san?”
Enji just rolls his eyes, Rei-san’s whole body shaking as she tries to contain her giggles, delighted at Enji’s banter with her.
~*~
Enji stands, broad, shoulders squared, arms crossed, seemingly at attention and at ease at the same time. People whisper, wondering what he could be doing here as they pass him by. He’s in his civies but The Flame Hero: Endeavor cuts an intimidating figure. Tall and proud but not personable enough for people to come up to and question. Well, except for one person.
“Enji-san?” Rei-san looks up at him, her slight stature only a bit taller than half his height, “What are you doing here?”
He meets her eyes, the muggy morning weather matching her dark grey, “You told me when your entrance exam was so I am here to wish you luck.”
She seems flustered at that, “Well-No I mean-I didn’t tell-You don’t have to-”
It’s the first time he has heard her so uncomposed, unable to string a full sentence together.
“Oh my,” Rei-san simply gives up and places a hand over her quickly reddening face, “Thank you.” She whispers.
Enji finds amusement in it. She has been doing that more recently, expressing herself. At first when they met she was stoic, passive. Prim and proper. Just like what a wife should be. But he knows there’s more to her. He wants to bring it out, one moment at a time, he finds himself wanting to find who Himura Rei is.
She stands and composes herself, clearing her throat to reset her mood. Rei-san motions for him to lean forward, like she has something she wants to whisper into his ears. He complies and bends forward, ear tilted to hear what she has to say.
“A good luck kiss for me, then.” And she quickly pecks Enji’s cheek before darting away giggling in the open front doors for examinees.
“Rei-san!” Enji stands quickly, face flashing with fire in surprise, watching her run off. He knows who Himura Rei is, a mischievous little brat.
~*~
Later he receives a text showing off Rei-san’s acceptance letter with a string of different happy emojis and kaomojis. Thanks to your good luck , she adds.
Enji huffs, I had nothing to do with that. You worked for it.
Celebratory dinner? I can show you what I cooked for the test.
Enji hesitates. He’s on patrol and technically not supposed to be checking his phone, but he knew the letter would be coming in today.
I end late today.
Plus by the time his shift ended and could even make his way to Rei-san it would be far too late for eating, his meal plan not anticipating eating at near midnight.
I can wait.
And that's how Enji finds himself sneaking into the Himura household like a teenage boy at the dead of night, except Enji never did this as a teenager, never allowed himself the frivolities he has been allowing himself lately. He didn’t even take the time to change out of his hero costume. Rei-san spots him coming in through the back garden and opens the mostly glass door to the kitchen, fluorescent light spilling over her back and onto the steps before her. The light is on the wrong side but he can see the slight tilt of her mouth and crinkle in her eye.
“Enji-san,” Rei-san stage whispers and beckons him forward, delighted that he actually came.
“Congratulations, Rei-san.” Enji hands over a wrapped gift, a thin ribbon crossing over the rectangular box.
Rei-san gasps at the unsuspecting gift, gently taking it in her hands, “Enji-san…Thank you, really. You didn’t have to.” She takes his hand and leads him inside, to the table attached to the kitchen. “Otou-san has been less than pleased but you were right, he’s not willing to do much to oppose you. Plus he seems satisfied that it’s only for a year.”
Anger simmers unpleaseantly in the back of Enji’s mind. If he had any choice on the matter she would be going to a proper school, culinary or normal, whatever Rei wanted.
Rei-san motions for him to sit, leaving the gift on the table with him as she moves lightly around the kitchen. “I’ve worked on this recipe for a bit,” she tells him as she gathers plates for the both of them, “Ever since you gave me the choice actually. When I decided on the school I wanted to go to.”
Enji feels pride ruffle in his chest as Rei-san plates a steaming bowl of hamburger steak and egg with a gravy dish on the side. He puts his hands together, “Thank you for the meal.”
“It’s Loco Moco, a hawaiian dish with some refitting and my own touches.”
Enji takes the gravy dish and pours an even amount across the sunny side up egg that glistens in the dimly lit kitchen. He breaks in, the yolk running down the layers revealing the juicy hamburger steak, the oils mixing down into the rice hidden beneath. He takes a bite and meets Rei-san’s expectant gaze. Enji nods and she brightens considerably.
She turns her attention to the box before her, carefully undoing the ribbon and unpicking the one piece of tape holding it together at the bottom, unwilling to tear the sleek black gift wrap, even though Enji could care less if she tore the wrapping open or not. She lifts the lid, revealing smooth steel, tempered waves making the light roll off it in a shifting dance, straight and narrow, coallesing into a dark oak wooden handle, smooth to the touch all over and so clean it makes a sharp noise as Rei carefully lifts it out of the box. A handmade chef’s knife, multipurpose, good for chopping, a basic necessity.
“Enji,” so taken away by the knife she forgets her niceties, Enji lets it slide, “it’s beautiful. This must have cost so much and you just learned I got in today, when did you have time to get something like this?” She carefully turns the blade in her hand, careful with the sharper than normal edge.
“I knew you would get in.” Enji states matter of factly. Like how he knows he enjoys eating for the first time in his life because of Rei-san. Like how he knows Sir would fume if he found out Enji was ‘neglecting his hero duties’ to spend time with Rei-san. Like how he knows the both of them have no choice in their place in the world but at least they can choose this, whatever this is.
Rei looks at him, eyes wide in bewilderment, jaw hanging slightly agape. Then she places the knife back into its box and makes her way around the table.
“I’m going to hug you now.” She declares and Enji barely has time to put his chopsticks down before he catches her, slight arms just able to comfortably wrap around his neck.
He hovers, unsure where he’s allowed to touch before placing large hands that cover the entirety of the small of her back.
~*~
Rei-san’s walk home from school just so happens to sync with Endeavor’s patrol route. She’s turning the corner, already finding no need in wearing a coat, just her cooking uniform and a light cardigan draped over her shoulders. Her bag slung across and she unclips her hair from its required updo while cooking. Some pieces stick in place, making her bangs a disarrayed mess and she combs her fingers through. She registers what she sees, finally, stopping in her tracks as she looks up at the man in all his flaming hero regalia.
“Enji-san?” Rei-san tilts her head, “Or Endeavor-san,” she tilts her head the other way, “what are you doing here?”
“My patrol just so happens to be that way today.” Enji points in the direction of Rei’s home.
She pretends to believe him, “Ok then, Endeavor-san. May I accompany you on your patrol today?”
Enji nods and turns, Rei-san falling into line with him as they walk down the street. This is a lot more public, a lot more obvious, people can see them, people definitely finding it odd a young girl is able to walk alongside the very obtrusive hero, Endeavor on his patrol and not get scared off by his scowl or brash nature. If Sir caught wind of it there would surely be hell to pay for him. Enji continues to listen to Rei-san as she chatters about class today. This was the first week they were finally allowed to really cook, the first few weeks being safety classes and obtaining food handling certificates.
“I’ve been using the knife at home, I think Otou-san noticed but he hasn’t said anything about it, but today I was able to bring it out in class and my deskmate got really excited about it. Enji-san! I knew this knife was expensive but what in the world were you thinking? This is something real pros work with because cooking is their life. That’s why it’s so expensive. Almost 50,000 yen?!”
Enji feels an unreasonable amount of pride well up at her incredulity. “You’ll get there some day.”
Rei-san smiles that soft smile of hers, like she doesn’t quite believe him, like she’s trying to let go of all the sadness and grief that her heart holds, Ok, Enji-san. Whatever you say.”
~*~
Its spring, muggy and rainy, far too humid and damp for a fire quirk user’s taste, making this time Enji’s least busiest period, patrolling wise. There’s still investigations, paperwork, directing sidekicks, managing the flow of work for almost everyone who works under him. But it's 3 something pm and Enji has somewhere to be, walking in the lazy drizzle of rain despite his dislike for the weather. The steady beating against his umbrella, droplets rolling off in fat tears against the black water resistant fabric, the sounds of cars splashing through puddles. Enji walks along the mass of umbrellas, his height giving him an overhead view of all the passers by.
He stops in front of the office building that houses the vocational school Rei-san goes to. He sees her, crouching just under the awning that covers the front glass doors, the same light blue cardigan over a black chef’s uniform. Her hair is still done up and tucked away under a pink checkered bandana. A cheek is resting on her knee as she watches everyone walk to and fro, an almost resigned expression on her face.
Enji stops next to her, combat boots stopping just shy of her personal bubble. She looks up at him, no longer surprised to see him after her classes, Enji stopping by a few times a week to accompany her to her train station. He raises an eyebrow questioningly, knowing she definitely forgot to bring an umbrella today.
Rei-san stands, stretching her arms up and back out of her hunched position, “Hello, Enji-san.”
“Evening, Rei-san.”
She takes in his more casual clothing with a long overcoat thrown over, “No more work for today?”
“Nothing I can’t finish at home with a computer.”
“You’re a bit of a workaholic, aren’t you Enji-san.” Rei-san tilts her head to the side.
“Did you forget your umbrella today?” Enji elects to not respond to that, diverting to a question he already knows the answer to.
Instead he studies the slight jut of her lower lip, how she crosses her arms almost defensively, and the slight furrow in her brow. Enji wonders if she’s pouting.
Enji responds to her non-response, just stepping closer and angling the umbrella over her.
Rei-san looks up at him, “My hero.”
Enji has been called that, hero, plenty of times in his life. It’s his lifeblood, what makes him push forward, what makes him rise to the challenge every time. He has to because he’s a hero. But he’s never been called it like that, like he’s someone to look up to, a soft whisper of affection tinging her words.
Enji swallows, attempting to alleviate the tension in his chest, “Are you hungry?”
Almost four in the afternoon and it’s a terrible time to have a meal but Rei-san hums an agreement anyways, “I could eat.”
Enji leads the way and Rei-san follows him without question. He tilts the umbrella, making sure she’s covered completely as she slips her bandana off and finger combs flyaway strands of hair down. He can feel a few drops of rain falling off the metal spokes and onto his slightly exposed shoulder, the opposite side of Rei-san, that he can easily ignore as they simply roll down, off his water resistant enough coat. Rei-san tucks her hair accessories into her sling bag, drawing out a purple knit beanie to wear, her bangs and side pieces peaking out. She glances up at him as they walk, tilting her head in the way that means she’s thinking. But it doesn’t seem as if she has anything to say, simply stepping closer, arm brushing against the fabric of his coat as they walk in tandem. Enji can tilt the umbrella differently and doesn’t feel the steady drip of rain on his shoulder anymore.
~*~
Let the record show that the only reason Enji agreed to come to this culinary event was because of Rei-san’s insistence that he knew would not let up unless he agreed, and nothing else. One lunch break is all Enji concedes to, even if he knows that his lunch break is probably going to go over.
Enji looks at the brochure he was given at the front before walking into the large open building with booths set up in rows and people milling about. It’s an assignment of sorts from what Rei-san has told Enji. The school partnered up with farmers to get fresh vegetables and promote eating healthy and local. Each student was randomly assigned a vegetable and was challenged to create a dish that is centered around that vegetable to showcase. Rei-san needs 200 visitors to eat her dish in order to pass but she has been secretive about what she was making, not letting Enji eat any of her trial runs. Although ever since the assignment was announced Rei-san has been taking them to eat at different pizza places all around the area that Enji suspects was research so he might have some idea on what she’s doing. But first he has to find her.
Enji makes his way up and down the booths, occasionally picking a dish that he thinks looks interesting enough. Stuffed cabbage, a pumpkin soup because Enji has never encountered a pumpkin that tasted good but he guesses they’re not at a culinary school for nothing because it doesn’t taste bad, an eggplant dessert because how does someone turn an eggplant into a dessert, then he sees Rei-san. Every booth is run only by the one student cooking, with them leaving their dishes out for display for people to take, the student’s score being tallied by the end of the day with how many empty dishes are returned to them. Rei-san’s booth is labled with the vegetable fennel and her dish being described as Roasted Fennel Flatbread. Enji picks a plate from her quickly emptying display table and she notices him as she turns to garnish her dishes before placing more.
Her face of concentration lightens as she gives him a slight smile, “Enji-san.”
Enji nods back in greeting, watching as she doesn’t stutter in her actions, squeezing a wedge of lemon and sprinkling what looks like crushed dill over the new batch before placing it on the display table.
Rei-san looks up at him expectantly and he takes a bite of the flatbread, tasting the zing of lemon, the way the maturness of the parmigiano cheese complements the sweetness of fresh fennel and how the flatbread crunches satisfyingly with each chew. He nods and watches as Rei-san enthusiastically returns to her work. Enji stays close, maybe going to a booth in the area but never straying far from watching Rei-san as she works. She looks in her element, balancing the cycle of cutting and prepping ingredients, asembling, checking on the oven, making enough to last her the wait time of cooking so there’s always a flow of fresh and crispy flatbread. Enji has never seen her cooking like this before, for more than just the two of them in a situation with actual stakes.
An hour passes and Enji thinks he has pushed how long he can stay. He stands a bit closer to the side and Rei-san notices, taking the time to pause in her work to talk to him for a bit.
“Do you have to go now?”
“Yes, good luck, Rei-san.”
“Thanks for coming. Good luck with the rest of your day too.” She smiles a bit wider, a bit hesitant, a bit like she’s unused to smiling like that. Enji thinks she looks happy.
~*~
The voices drone on and on, the music plays to loudly in the theater, the clapping and sharp whistling as people cheer for the hundredth time grates on Enji’s ear, and he can’t even drop the line of tension that clenches his jaw and muscles because Sir is right there watching his every move. Sitting at the same table as him is Ingenium and Captain Celebrity which Sir somehow perceives as a slight against him, giving that scathing look of dissaproval to Enji as if he could control their seating arrangements and force the event staff to switch them to a table of heroes that somehow meet his standards. Enji already knows the results of the rankings so he doesn’t know why he is forced to sit through this entire farce of an event when he could be working and he doesn’t know why this is the one event that Sir deigns to honor with his presence when he’s always telling Enji that doing anything but work was a waste of time.
His posture perfect, his face impassive, Enji feels nothing when he accepts the title as the number two hero in Japan. He forces himself to feel nothing as he refuses to look at Sir’s gaze, instead allowing its weight to sit on his shoulders for him to bear as he has done his entire life. He lets the rest of the night pass by in a blur of anger and hatred that he doesn’t understand nor where to direct. That thought angers him more. The scowl on Enji’s face deepens the more he has to wear this mask all night, Sir’s presence at his side a thorn he can’t just ignore. The moment everything is done he’s up and sends his father off for the night, not even allowing himself to stay any longer than he has to. Enji drives to his agency to catch up on paperwork he didn’t get a chance to work on because of the Hero Billboard Chart.
The moment he steps in his office and hears the door click behind him Enij’s jaw unclenches and releases his muscles, a little sore from how long he held them. It’s already late and he has to be up for another few hours still so Enji runs the coffe maker in his office, giving himself a moment of reprieve as he lets himself just stand there, the humming of the machinery and slow drizzle of the coffee accompanying the buzzing of tension and anger that still holds in the back of his mind. He takes the moment to empty his pockets and finally notices the text on his phone from Rei-san.
Congratulations on staying number two on the charts. I watched your speech. You really look so different in your hero persona, Enji-san.
You also got the award for most cases solved this year! That’s really impressive, Enji-san. You work really hard and I can see it pay off.
When do you want to have dinner? I can make something special for my number one hero to celebrate.
Enji allows him to let go of his simmering rage, allowing the memories of the day to wash away and focus on Rei-san’s words to him. Her number one hero. Enji pulls out his favorite mug that lives in his office, a birthday present from Rei-san, a plain white mug with the bold black font saying #1 Hero on it. Enji, a man who has been told to be the best, only accept the best, smiling into his favorite birthday present ever as he sips his coffee, a mug anyone could get for a few hundred yen.
~*~
Rei-san turned 16 today, the coldest day of the year. They go to the offices and sign the paperwork, legally binding her to him as Todoroki Rei, till death do them part. The wedding will take place on the weekend, when Rei-san does not have classes and Enji can take a day off.
“Would you like to go somewhere for dinner?” Enji is unsatisfied with the fact they must do all this on her birthday but is not sure how to express it in a way that does not make it sound like he’s unhappy to marry her.
Rei-san tilts her head and hums, “I’ve been trying a new recipe and I want you to try it.”
“It is not my birthday today.”
She smiles at him and gently takes his left hand admiring the shiny new wedding band sitting on his finger. Gold with a fiery red gem sitting flush in the band, unobtrusive and can easily slip beneath his hero suit. Rei-san’s slender finger slides along next to it, hers almost half the width of his, a sterling silver band this time with a shining blue sapphire sitting prettily within. “Indulge me.”
He does.
~*~
The wedding is a private affair. It is held at a small local Shinto shrine with only Enji’s and Rei-san’s immediate family present, ie. only the people who know of the agreement made between the Himura and Todoroki current patriarchs. Enji does not think he could bear it if any more people were present. He’s already almost at his snapping point, dealing with the overbearing nature of Sir, and Enji is sure Rei-san feels the same about her own parents. And mostly, he’s dreading what is expected of both of them after the ceremony.
Enji is standing near the shinto gate to the shrine, everyone falling into line for the procession to the altar, and he watches as Rei-san approaches. Her shining white hair is combed and tucked away beneath her white wataboshi, a hand delicately resting on her mother’s, holding her white kimono up with the other to avoid dragging it through the ground. Enji can see the way the shiny off white threads woven into the fabric lets the light show the cranes flying through the clouds against the stark white background. Her posture is perfect, head tilted low to allow the hood of the wataboshi to cover her eyes from Enji’s higher vantage point, her lips painted a dark red and set in her usual impassive line.
She falls in line next to him and Enji cannot help but whisper, “You look beautiful, Rei-san.”
Her lip turns a bit but she does not dare to look up and meet his gaze, not with everyone watching them.
The music plays and the procession starts, the shrine maidens and priest leading the much smaller than normal wedding ceremony and Enji and Rei-san kneel at a small table before the altar, their parents filing off to the side, expectations and anticipations not letting them look away from the pair for a second. Enji can feel the weight of those stares on his back as he kneels seiza and barely listens to the priest’s speech and prayers. Rei-san is perfectly still next to him, just like the day he met her, prim and proper, just like how a perfect wife should be. But Enji knows better now, how it’s simple compliance with her parents that make her quiet, make her still. He knows how she likes to fiddle with whatever is in her hands at the moment, how she kicks her legs when she’s sitting, how she hums and sways as she’s thinking. This prim and proper stillness is unervening.
The shrine maidens hand them both sake cups and Enji drinks it in three sips, Rei-san following behind. He does everything automatically, with that same calculated demeanor he handles his hero work with, organizing his actions by response and what is expected of him. At least he does not have to keep this up for a reception after the ceremony.
They’re presenting the offering of a sakaki tree to the god of the shrine, bowing twice, clapping, twice, bowing a final time, and it’s all over. The ceremony is complete, in just thirty minutes, and now in the eyes of the law and whatever god they just prayed to, Rei and Enji are tied together, forever, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, to love and to cherish, for the rest of their natural lives. Except not really. Can they really say that when this is all a transaction? An arrangement made by some people who have a supernaturally large ego with the ambitions to match?
Sir has made his expectations clear, the look he’s giving Enji a thing that makes the roiling sea of anger that always seem to crash in his mind turn into a thunderous tempest. He looks like what he demands will be given and that Enji will do so without complaint due to the simple fact that he’s Enji’s father and Enji has an obligation to fulfill every single one of his desires because he made him into the man he is today. And the fact that Enji will, because of his messed up sense of duty and obligation to his father, is what almost makes his anger tip over into molten lava that screams to be unleashed through his quirk.
Then Rei-san is there. The two of them are meant to take the car back to Enji’s estate. Rei-san is there finally looking at him, her grey an ever placid look of a calm drizzle on a lazy morning day. Her parents are already leaving, making their way to the main gates, backs turned. Enji lets the tension in his back go, unclenches his jaw, and stretches his fingers as they uncurl from a fist. The storm subdues into lapping waves against the shoreline and he turns to Sir.
Enji forces himself into a bow and grits his teeth, “We will be making our way back now, Sir.”
Sir nods his agreement and turns sharply, every movement made with military precision, each step perfect equidistance from each other, every swing of his arm controlled. Enji can’t remember why he ever thought Sir was the standard to look up to when he looks so constrained.
Enji turns back to Rei-san, that same gentle expression of hers as she watches Enji. He reaches forwards for her wataboshi, hands slow to let Rei-san stop him at any time. She doesn’t, her grey eyes looking up at him, a steady reassuring gaze. He moves the veil back, showing how her snowy hair is pulled back with blue flower hair clips holding up each gelled up strand.
“Hello Rei-san.” He says, much softer than he thinks he ment it.
She smiles that slight smile of hers, “Hello Enji-san.”
“We can take my car back to the house,” Enji says, like it’s an option of many for Rei-san to choose from, because he wishes it was.
She holds out her hand, the other collecting the dragging fabric of her kimono. He takes it gently, observing the way her silver wedding band shines as it catches the slight rays of light that make it through the cloudy sky. They walk, hand in hand to his car, Rei-san simply following without objection. A part of Enji is repentant, because she shouldn’t be so compliant, she should be screaming, running away from him, from this marriage. Finding any way out she can from this trapping. A part of Enji is guiltily happy that she’s still here, still looking at him with that clear gaze of hers, like she knows everything he’s thinking, willing to endure this with him.
~*~
Rei-san wanted to cook again tonight. It’s the same recipe as last time but it isn’t disappointing to Enji. She’ll do that, learn something in class then try a recipe as many times as it’ll take to get exactly what she wants. Some meals turn out better, some turn…not bad but not exactly good. She gets a little moody those nights even if it’s hard to tell from the way she barely lets her displeasure known on her face. She still wants his honest opinion, but only after spending so much time with her had Enji been able to tell the subtle shifts in her mood.
Tonight is Aigamo Duck with a sauce that Rei-san had been tampering with for almost a week.
“Rei-san, about tonight.”
His throat almost clams up when Rei-san turns her head to him. She had already changed into more casual clothes, in the privacy of the home that is now hers as well, her hair pins taken out and gel combed down, even if some strands are still a bit stiff.
He clears his throat, “About tonight, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I can call a doctor. She can guarantee discretion and help us with any child bearing. I don’t even have to be in the same room as you for anything you don’t want me to see.”
“It’s ok Enji-san.”
Enji can almost feel the wooden chopsticks seconds away from splintering under his grip because it really isn’t ok, she shouldn’t be ok with this. Yet she’s accepting everything with a grace that Enji thinks most adults could never hope to achieve.
She fiddles with the chopsticks in her hands, alternating between rolling them and holding them normally, clacking their ends together in a repetetive motion. “Because it’s you, Enji-san, that I can do this. You’ve been very kind to me this past year. I think… I really like my life with you, and I trust you. So, if you would have me… if that’s ok, Enji-san?”
Enji breathes in deep, willing to admit that he has enjoyed the past year with Rei-san as well. Her presence brings a certain measure of calmness that his chaotic job as a hero does not. Enji doesn’t know what he has done to earn her trust but he cannot deny the warmth that sentiment fills him with.
“Of course, Rei-san. If you will have me as well, if it’s ok with you.”
Rei-san smiles and walks around the table to Enji’s side. She stands before him, able to look slightly down at him as he stays seated. He doesn’t think he has ever let anyone look down at him, except for Sir. Rei-san slowly raises her hands to cup the sides of Enji’s face in her hands. They’re cold but it’s nothing Enji didn’t expect, even if he has a dislike for the cold.
“I think we can drop the honorifics at this point, can’t we, Enji?” She whispers to him, the distance between them so small it’s all she needs to do.
“Of course, Rei.” Enji agrees easily, because he doesn’t think he could deny her anything if she asked for it right now, not that it was a difficult thing to ask of him.
She smiles, one of her more genuine smiles, where Enji can see her upper teeth peek through her lips and where her eyes crinkle. She leans in slowly and Enji could stop her at any time, she’s giving him time to do so. He could turn around and change his mind, force Sir to break the contract and let Rei pursue a life in cooking like she has discovered she likes, let her find someone her own age, let her choose someone for herself and let them choose her back. But that’s exactly why she trusts him, isn’t it? Because even though neither of them have had a choice in the matter he has still tried his best to give her one. Gave her the choice of a school, the possibility of a future, a job she could aspire to have. She probably knows that he has been cutting down on his frankly insane work hours to spend more time with her, even if he didn’t have to because at the end of the year they would still marry, whether she liked spending time with him or not. She could turn away too, take Enji up on his offer, knows he would let her. But she hasn’t. So in their own way, they’re choosing each other, even if they have no choice in the matter.
Enji leans forward and meets Rei halfway. Her gentle hands and soft lips quickly warming to the touch against his skin. Rei kisses without hurry, caressing the edge of his jaw in a way that Enji thinks he has never been touched like before. Like he’s being cared for. Enji lets Rei lead him, however she wants him, gives her total control because as much as he’s scared to admit, he trusts her too. Endeavor is always in charge, the one on top because he’s supposed to be the greatest, the strongest. But for tonight Enji lets that go, gives everything of himself readily, lets himself be taken care of by Rei. And she takes it, everything Enji gives, she demands more. She holds him so sweetly, every touch a new sensation that he’s melting and pliant to her every push and pull. He becomes utterly and irrevocably undone for Rei, only ever for Rei.
~*~
Before Rei moved in with Enji on their wedding day he had prepared a separate bedroom for her for if she wanted. More than a month and she has never spent a night in it, but the option is always there for her. It’s new, going to bed and waking up with someone next to him. Rei is, surprisingly enough, a cuddler, or maybe she’s just leeching off his body heat unconsciously in the middle of the night, who knows. He doesn’t let her cuddle without a pair of sleeping socks anymore though. Not after he was rudley awakened by the biting chill of cold feet against his leg. So it’s new. Welcomed, but new. What’s also new is Rei ripping herself out of Enji’s arms and blankets to run to the bathroom, sickness emptying itself out into the toilet.
Enji jolts awake at that, sliding out of the covers right behind Rei. She’s kneeled over, right in front of the toilet bowl, gripping the edge as she bodily convulses. Enji doesn’t let himself panic, just sweeps the hair hanging to the sides out of the way and rubs her back as her diaphragm and chest do their best to squeeze everything it can out of Rei’s stomach. Eventually her movements and retching petter out, and she does her best to level her breathing.
“Rei.” Enji’s voice is still rough from sleep, never getting a chance to soothe his throat with water.
That seems to snap her out of her dazing, “I’m sorry,” she manages to wheeze out.
Enji furrows his brow, “What for?”
But she doesn’t respond, “Oh my god.” Rei sits up straight and turns to Enji, slapping one hand to cover her face and the other pushing at him. “Out.”
She pushes at his shoulder again, shooing him out the door. He settles her hair behind her ears before letting her push him out of the bathroom. The door clicks behind him and Enji is left to stand in the bedroom as Rei clatters around with something in the bathroom.
Baring the bathroom, Enji does what he can with his morning routine. Make the bed, drink some water, check his notifications, splash his face in the bathroom in the hallway. At least until Rei’s voice calls for him.
“Enji! Quick, come look!”
Enji skids around the doorframe of the bathroom into the master bedroom. Rei stands at the threshold of the master bathroom, staring at something she’s holding with a complicated expression. Enji draws closer and she turns the stick in her hand. Two little lines run through the display and Enji takes a moment to regist everything before the breath is almost ripped out of him.
“You’re pregnant.” He’s shocked. He shouldn’t be shocked. This is what they wanted after all, right? They knew this was happening. They’re supposed to be prepared for this. They’re supposed to be happy. But the way Rei seems to not know what to do with her hands, close to fidgeting but not quite, and how she's looking at everywhere but the ground and Enji gives him pause. He gives her time to figure out what she wants to say.
Rei takes a breath, turns to toss the test into the bin and washes her hands at the sink. Taking her time to soap and lather her hands, taking her time to collect her thoughts as she rinses everything and watches the suds disappear down the drain. Almost mechanically she dries her hands before finally returning the towel to the rack and turning back to Enji.
“This is good right?” Rei pinches the fabric of her pajama pants, rubbing them back and forth against each other. “The child. They’ll be ok here, right?” Will they be happy? Will they have to live a life of constriction and choices and non-choices like they have? Is what she’s really asking.
Enji doesn’t know the answer to that. The entire reason they’re together is because of a quirk marriage made by some people who have an ambition of power but could never get it by their own merit and strength, so they pawn off their own children and instruments to their “legacy”. Enji had never liked the thought, that he would need someone else’s strength to reach number one. Putting that ambition on a child, making them bear the full weight of a family’s desires and expectations… It was suffocating as a child and it’s still suffocating as an adult. Enji doesn’t wish that on anyone, least of all Rei and their now unborn child.
“I don’t want to be like him.” The admission is dragged out of him like a fishing hook pulling his guts out through his throat. He doesn’t want to put their child through what Enji went through.
Rei takes his hands, they’ve been doing that a lot more often now, touch freely given and taken. “You won’t be.”
Enji just stares at her, unsure what to say, never sure what to say.
She just smiles understandingly at him, always finding amusement in the littlest of things, the current thing being whatever expression lays on Enji’s face. “You’re not him, Enji. You’re your own person.”
He holds Rei’s hand, smooth skin, pale, unblemished, and slender, maybe a little dry from cleaning, against his own, thick, harsh, littered with marks and coarse hair. The hands of hard work, the hands of a hero, everything he has ever been told to be scaring the tissue of his hands that has held onto those ambitions like a vice grip. But his hold has been slowly loosening the more time he spends with Rei.
“You’re not him, you’re not anybody’s ambitions but your own. You’ll care for them, like how you care for me.” She tilts her head, “Won’t you, Enji?”
Enji reaches out to cup Rei’s face. She leans into those wretched scared hands of his, trusting him wholly to hold her gently despite the roughness of everything, and Enji swallows past the lump in his throat at the admission of his fears.
“I will.” He whispers with a promise, to both himself, to her, and to their new child.
~*~
Ever since that morning Rei has been sleeping in her own bed, for the first time ever since moving in with Enji. He can still hear her wake up in the mornings to dispel what’s in her stomach before going about her day. It’s fine, because that’s why he had the room made for her, she’s simply using the choice she has been given. But something about it bothers Enji. The way she’ll pretend that she’s ok throughout the day and erase all evidence of what’s happening.
He lets her be for the first few days, at least until he can see the way she’s shaking as she reaches for her tea in the morning and how her usually pale complexion takes on a sickly palor. Then he’s leaving bottles of water for her in her bedroom, in the fridge, in the living room. Bags of ginger candy, sour candy, and those minty smelling sticks for nausea. He never tells her it’s there but she’s at least using them.
It all comes to a head when he receives a call to his personal phone while battling against a villain with a cheetah transformation quirk who thought it would be a good idea to liberate their fellow prey animals from their cages in broad daylight when the zoo was in full swing, civilians milling all throughout the establishment. Staff and sidekicks are working double time to evacuate all and any civilians leaving only a few staff left who have some sort of animal or communication quirk to contain the animals within their enclosures and do headcounts.
The villain is doing some annoying speech with their annoying cheetah speed helping them to dart in and out of Enji’s attacks. “You think your fire can tame the wildness of nature, Endeavor? You’ll never be able to contain us, you make us a spectacle and expect us to sit and look pretty?”
Enji’s personal phone goes off and his annoyance ticks up a couple levels. Enji can’t let his fire go too high, with all the foliage making the zoo look as natural as possible, that’s just asking for a wildfire. So the best Enji can do is controlled fire walls to cordon the villain off and brute strength. It seems they’re an avoidant type fighter, more reliant on running away and avoiding hits rather than tanking damage. He needs to end this, and quickly. There’s only a few people who use his personal number and it’s not Sir because he would never dare to distract Endeavor while he’s working. The villain, Enji didn’t bother to remember the name they used to introduce themself with, tries to jump over the walls closing them in but Enji darts up and grabs their tail to pull them down into a proper grapple before slapping cuffs on the bastard.
It’s clumsy but Enji manages to pull his phone out at the last second before the final ring dies out and swipes to accept.
“What,” he bites out to whatever poor soul is on the other side.
“Hello, this is Wantabe with JCI. Is this Todoroki-san?”
Enji’s focus sharpens in on the phone, ignoring the villain complaining about him taking a personal call while arresting somebody. “What happened to Rei?” There’s not many reasons why her culinary school would be calling out of the blue and they’re usually not good reasons.
“Well she collapsed in class today and is passed out. You’re her only emergency contact.” She seems a bit startled at how he cuts straight to the point but answers in stride.
Enji didn’t know that he was the only person she listed as her emergency contact, or that she even listed him at all.
He quickly pulls his phone away to check the time, 11:28. “I will be sending a car to pick her up and take her home.”
Enji hangs up and is determined to wrap everything up in record time. He delegates sidekicks, some of them trained enough to already know what to do, and makes sure the police officer he talks to records his statement with as much information as possible to prevent anyone from bothering him with more questions about things he has already answered before declaring his lunch break. Enji leaves everybody behind and drives from his agency to home.
When he pulls in he sees Kurumada trying to support an exhausted looking Rei out of the car. Without another word he parks the car and sweeps Rei up in his arms, tossing the car keys to Kurumada, trusting him to park everything away properly.
“Enji!” Rei grabs onto his shoulder, a rare look of shock on her face.
Enji just raises an unimpressed eyebrow at her as he pushes the front door open and shuffles in. He didn’t take the time to change out of his costume before driving home and his hero boots are not just a toe off type of shoe so he shifts Rei to sit on one arm as he bends over and uses his other to untie his boots.
Rei gives a little squeak as she adjusts her hold onto his arm and neck, “You can set me down now, Enji.”
He doesn’t respond and makes no move to set Rei down, just moves onto his other foot.
She sighs and knocks her head in exasperation against Enji’s shoulder. He picks up a bottled water and ginger candy from the kitchen before moving to the bedroom. Enji stops before his bedroom for a second before looking at Rei.
“My bedroom, please.” She turns her head, finding it difficult to meet his gaze.
“I don’t mind you using my room.” Enji obliges, moving past the door to Rei’s room.
Rei absentmindedly pats against the fabric of Enji’s hero costume, “I know.”
“Why haven’t you told me that you’ve been sick.”
“It’s not something that you should be bothered with.”
Enji grunts as he slides open Rei’s bedroom door, “You should bother me with more things.” That’s why he’s here after all, to support her.
Rei doesn’t seem to agree with the sentiment, “This is different,” she insists, “ it’s…”
Enji places her down on her bed as she trails off, unsure how to finish her sentence.
“It’s… not pleasant. To be around, I mean.”
“Bodily human functions?” Enji speaks in a tone that lets Rei know that he thinks she’s being ridiculous.
“Yes, but there’s more, and it’s disgusting.” Rei seems to be teetering on distress as she forces those words out.
Enji doesn’t really know how to comfort but he hopes she understands what he’s trying to say, she always seems to. “Animals are generally disgusting creatures. When our child comes,” he reminds himself because yes they will have a child, “they will be loud, a lot to handle, they won’t know how to go to the toilet, probably vomit. And one can’t be a hero and fight villains if they’re squeamish about such things.”
Rei hooks her chin over a knee as she sits, looking to the side away from Enji, “You aren’t supposed to see that side of me.”
Enji wants to scoff at how ridiculous that sounds, “I never liked it when you acted all proper around your parents.” He always liked it when she acted more human, acted more like herself.
Fingers drum against her leg as she thinks, “I wake up having to vomit, and I get bloated a lot”
Rei looks at him as if studying his reaction but Enji just lets her speak.
“I crave weird food. Recently I scooped pineapple ice cream with pickle chips.”
Enji wants to wrinkle his nose at that, not even aware that was in the house.
“I have to pee more often, and it’s going to get worse as my pregnancy goes on. The baby is going to press against my stomach and bladder. My feet are going to swell and my emotions are going to swing a lot. Or so I’ve been told.” Rei was never a really emotive person in the first place.
Enji nods along.
Rei grimaces, “It’s not going to be pretty.”
“I never expected you to be.”
An expectant hand is held out and Enji takes it easily, kneeling to be level with Rei. She looks at him, hands a little clammy as the other cups along Enji’s jaw. Her hair seems a little mussed, bloodshot eyes, dark circles seem to be developing under her eyes. She seems a little less put together than usual, but Enji thinks she still looks just as beautiful as usual.
He kisses her forehead and whispers against her skin, “Get some sleep. I’ll do the rest.”
“Thank you, Enji.” Rei lets herself drop back onto her bed, uncaring that she’s still wearing her day clothes.
Enji leaves, turning off the light and closing the door behind him. He orders chicken congee for Rei and arranges for her to be driven to school and wherever else she needs for the foreseeable future, unsure why he didn’t do this sooner. Then he puts out feelers to look for a possible maid with experience in child care to help Rei with anything she needs. The house is large and it’s not going to get easier for Rei, with only a few months left before graduation. Enji wants her to do what she wants and she might feel better about it if there’s someone there to help her with everything. He leaves a text for Rei to read when she wakes up before going back to his agency to finish everything he needs for the day and possibly take his paperwork to do at home instead of in the office.
That night he returns and Rei looks much better rested, dinner already cooking. It’s apple bacon risotto, a more mellow dish that doesn’t offend Rei’s sensitive nose with nausea. Enji does his paperwork on the dining table, eating as he works, only taking a break to help clean the dishes alongside Rei before she turns in. When Enji finally decides he’s done and goes to bed, he sees Rei bundled beneath his blankets, white strands peeking out of his dark blue covers, almost black in the darkness. He slips in behind her, arms wrapping around Rei as she rolls into him in her half asleep daze.
~*~
Twins, they’re having twins. Two baby girls that Enji didn’t know to be overjoyed or worried that they now have twice the amount of children than they expected. Rei is holding the unrolled length of sonograph pictures and he can’t make heads or tails of the black and white blobs that’s printed so Rei points them out. They’re small. Very, very small. So small that Enji has trouble conceptualizing that they’ll become fully formed humans in around four months or so.
Enji kneels to carefully place a hand on the bump of Rei’s stomach where two little lives are forming. So gentle like he’s afraid of hurting them, and he is, a little bit. He doesn’t want to be like Sir, has promised to Rei that he won’t be like him. He won’t stop aiming for the best, for the top, but he won’t let his ambitions drive him, won’t let them hurt his family. His family. God, Enji wants to savor those words, because they’re his family just as much as they’re Rei’s. Not Sir’s and certainly not the Himura’s. Enji didn’t get to choose Rei, nor did she get to choose him, but in a way they still decided to choose each other and Enji is going to protect his family for all he’s worth.