PYROMANIA (Endeavor X Male Reader)

Chapter 24 - ENJI

Two days later, you stood alone in the kitchen. It was dark outside, the kids had gone to bed already and you really wished you were in bed yourself.

Maybe Aoi was right. A regular sleep schedule might do you some good.

The click of metal, heavy footsteps. Silence. You looked up, eyes meeting cerulean wells. "We need to talk, Sir."

He frowned, but sat down at the table,  pointing to the chair opposite him. You complied.

"What's this about?" He asked. You knew that expression. That paired with the refusal to make eye contact let you know he was either nervous or apprehensive. Probably a bit of both.

"Something that might call for an apology cake afterwards," you said, a wry smile on your face.

"That bad?" He mumbled.

"Mhm," you confirmed. God you just had to spit it out. "Sir, I'm going to say this as a friend - no don't give me that look, you let me say and do a lot of shit you normally wouldn't allow your employees to. Anyway, I'm saying this not only for your well-being but for your son's"

You took a breath. "Todoroki-san, that boy has the potential to be a really great hero. More so than you or me. You've realized that and that's why you've placed such a heavy burden on his shoulders,"

Endeavor looked away, knowing what this was about. You could tell he was ready to be as fucking obstinate as possible.

"Before you stubbornly decide how this discussion is going to end, will you hear me out?"

You gave up on using honorifics at this point. You'd apologize for it all with cake later, anyway.

He frowned harder but nodded.

"I don't think any person in the history of the fucking world has ever become exactly what their parents wanted them to be. We all fucked up somehow, or became even better than expected. Usually it's a mixture of both," you smirked.

"Your son is not going to live the life you want him to. He is going to fight against you at every turn and that is his right as a sentient being with autonomy. As I see it, you have two choices,"

He scowled properly now. You ignored it.

"Either, you let the boy live his life - let him become the amazing, compassionate hero he has the potential of becoming by his own choice - or have that happen anyway but have him hate you for the rest of his life."

You rested you head on your fist, observing the anger that hid the man's ingrained discomfort of emotional confrontation.

"I hate my mother. Still do, even if she's dead. I don't know my father. All I know is that he was scary. Let say, hypothetically, he was a supervillain. And my mom decided to train me to kill him since I was little. My only purpose being killing him. Fulfilling my mother's quest for revenge. Seen as a tool rather than a child who cannot grasp the concept of vengeance just yet,"

"It's not the same-"

"It is. Or it's close enough. Listen, I understand that there's something more behind your all encompassing desire to surpass All Might. Though I don't know what that is. What I do know is that you feel that you've passed the point of no return. That what you've done is so fucking terrible that you might as well continue."

He looked away, at a loss for words.

"You are not defined by your job, or your goal or even your past actions. And your kid sure as Hell isn't going to be defined by those things when they aren't even his own. Your status doesn't determine your worth. Your worth isn't even determined by the people around you. It's defined by how you value yourself and I can tell by the look your giving me that you don't think you're worth shit."

You ran your hands over your face, frustrated but not angry.

"Even if you were the number one hero in Japan, you'd keep reaching higher and higher until you found something unachievable. Because everytime you manage to succeed, you realise you still feel like shit. Feel that you're not good enough. Not working hard enough."

"I can tell that you feel guilty. That you wish you could change your relationship with your family. I see it in the look in your eyes when I mention your wife and in the uncomfortable way you interact with your children. The crazy fucking thing is - you can. But you have to start now. I honestly don't know if you could repair your relationship with Natsuo and if you don't act quickly, you'll lose Shouto too."

Ah crap. You were getting emotional too now.

"I know you feel vulnerable when you aren't hiding behind anger or aggression. But as long as I am working for this family, I'll protect it. Just like how I'm protecting Shouto now, I'll protect you. You're going to get a lot of shit from your family. They're going to be angry. They're going to shout at you. They're probably going to cry. But that'll be from a place of hope rather than hopelessness. Hope that you'll change rather than in fear of you.

You let out a breath, not daring to look up.

"You have hope. You're not worthless. Because you're Enji Todoroki and that's all that should matter. Fuck Endeavor.  Fuck your warped sense of self. As long as I'm here, you, Shouto, Natsuo and Fuyumi are going to have someone to turn to and I'm going to do my damnedest to make sure all of you stubborn Todorokis feel safe and happy. Pretty sure you guys have become my purpose. Much more than being a hero is. So if you're going to want to fire me after this you'll have to carry me out of this house."

You looked up, expecting to meet angry baby blues. Instead you were met with an Endeavor - no Enji Todoroki - who looked more vulnerable than you'd ever seen him.

He gazed at you in some form of stupefied wonder, his eyes glossed over. He met your eyes, opening his mouth and finding he didn't really have anything to say. Whatever determined expression you had vanished, leaving only a calm openness that you knew he needed right now.

You expected him to avert his eyes, to stand up and leave. Away from the source of his current emotional distress. Instead, iridescent tears slid down his cheeks. He didn't make a sound, crying like you imagine a robot would, his face perfectly still save for the water streaming down his face.

You stood up and walked around the unnecessarily long table, dropping to your knees in front of him. He started palming at his face - trying to simultaneously wipe and will away the tears. The motion was so similar to the way that Shouto did it that you almost smiled. You grabbed both of his hands, resting them on his lap in your grip.

"It's okay to cry, Sir."

He huffed. A broken rendition of his regular parody of a laugh. "Shit. At this point, you might as well call me Enji."

You blanched. "You swore."

"Yeah well, unlike you I'm not a fucking martyr," he muttered.

You smiled. "What kind of apology cake do you want, Enji?"

He huffed. A genuine one this time.

"Chocolate."

[A/N: Took me twenty-five thousand words but you're finally friends. When I say slow burn I mean slow burn. Like stolen lamb. Shit now I'm hungry]