Sorry.

Chapter 24

Third person pov

"Wow." Hoshi said, blinking in a relatively dumbfounded manner at the flushed pro hero before him. "And here I thought I was a piece of shit."

"Thank you for your words of encouragement. That's just what I wanted to hear." Endeavor couldn't recall the last time he'd been this openly sarcastic with anyone. He couldn't even remember if he'd ever been able to talk to someone in the way he had with Hoshi Kansai, the broke, stoner college student who just so happened to be his soulmate. The flame-hero sniffed slightly, shoving an entire muffin in his mouth without shame. He just felt so relaxed and... he didn't know. There was something about being in a small coffee shop without someone you couldn't help but be completely lax around that made him melt like a crayon in a hot car.

"Hey, in my defense..." Hoshi trailed off, and Endeavor watched his brows furrow as he tried to come up with something witty. He'd been here for hours now, the both of them sitting near the back so they could maintain some form of privacy. No one had come up to the Number One Hero, so Enji assumed it was working. Hoshi finally snorted. "I have no defense. I'm ust obnoxious."

"I don't think so. I would've left, if you were." Endeavor said truthfully, because he really would've. That was simply the type of guy he was. Hoshi probably should've irritated him, at least a little. But he just... didn't. There wasn't anything more to it. His unstructured ramblings full of disorder and the dumbest topics, filled with the most idiotic memories and bizarre stories, were something Enji felt he could listen to for hours upon hours on end. In fact, he wanted to listen to them for hours upon hours on end. He'd messed up things so horribly with Rei and with his family. He'd kept secrets and had been, in general, total shit. Now he wanted to be open. It felt right to pour it all out, and it was like a weight off his chest.

"You're my soulmate. Nothing you say counts." Hoshi said in a matter-of-fact tone. "That shit doesn't matter now. You're fucking hot and clearly a good person deep, deep.... deep down in there somewhere, so-"

"What does me being hot have to do with anything?" Endeavor interrupted, smirking in a cocky manner. Hoshi stared at him for a moment, unperturbed, before decidedly ignoring him and continuing.

"Anyway, I'm going to help you with your anger issues and uh... coach you." Hoshi waved a hand about as though that explained things. Endeavor felt doubt well up inside him, his lips pressing together as he thought about it. He'd learned a lot about Hoshi in the past few hours, and vise-versa, but they still didn't know each other. Not really, anyway. How good would he be at helping, truly? Maybe it was rude of Enji, but he somehow didn't have much faith in the skills of someone who quote-on-quote 'only had one brain cell', soulmate or not. That being said, what other options does Enji have?

Something in him almost wants to resign as a pro-hero. He lost so much in his endless pursuit to gain, but with All Might's fall fresh on everyone's mind, heroes, civilians, and villains alike, him admitting to being a total piece of shit would probably snap society like a stale pretzel. People are counting on him to be good. To be better. All Might left a mess in his wake. Crime rates have skyrocketed since he retired, and Endeavor has been working overtime with other heroes to try his best to combat it and help maintain peace in Japan. So how does he atone for all he's done, if not confessing in the court of law?

"Don't worry. I watch enough anime to know how to deal with this." Hoshi's words instilled absolutely no confidence in Endeavor, but he leaned forward to listen closer anyway as Hoshi cleared his throat. "This is going to be a long road. We're going to have to start with a few things."

"What kind of things?" Endeavor sort of wanted to brush some of Hoshi's curls out of his face. Were they soft? Fuck, and to think he'd been a homophobic piece of shit before this. Was this what they called a gay-awakening? He needed to apologize to Shoto as soon as he could... as if his son would ever believe it. Besides, he wasn't even allowed to see the teen right now... he'd really fucked things up, hadn't he?