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He has 3 years left, he decided.
With the League defeated, even if he wanted to come clean about his past and what he did to his family, especially after the Dabi/Touya drama, the full story doesn’t go out and he was still somewhat number 1 hero.
▽
“No, Endeavor.”
Enji gritted his teeth, usually, that face alone made people tremble but not the president of the Hero Commission. No one knew her quirk, what she was truly capable of, but from the little he had heard from Hawks, he wasn’t the only one who was ready to do it all for their own goals.
“I can’t just stay at the top when my son is in prison.” He added.
“Your son,” she replied, tone crisped, “killed too many people, heroes and civilians alike. It’s better for him just to be a story less Dabi.” Enji was about to retort when she added: “Besides, you might think you are done with the League gone, but think about your other children. Think about hero Shouto. Son of an abuser and brother of one of the biggest villains of the League? Do you really think society would trust him?”
“Shouto is nothing like Dabi,” nothing like me, he almost added.
“But society won’t see that. You know very well how much families of villains suffer.”
Yes, he had seen it first hand how much the families could be bullied by the media, by their peers, so much that some were left into madness.
“The story stays as it is and you are to stay number one hero until somebody overcomes you. It might be closer than you think...”
3 years, he thought.
△
Rei was living with the kids.
He still waits for the divorce papers. He said so to Rei in his latest letter which she replied could wait. Why he didn’t know.
▽
“We told mom… about Touya.”
Enji was surprised Natsuo was also here. They hadn’t met since he had announced he’d buy a house for them to live with their mother.
“How did she react?” Enji asked unsure he wanted to know the answer.
They stay silent until Fuyumi said: “She cried.”
“There’s no way to meet him?” Natsuo asked, almost pleading.
“They won’t let me.” Enji sighed.
“They won’t let me either,” Shouto replied.
Enji turned to Fuyumi. “You could ask Hawks, he still has more power on this case.”
Fuyumi frowned. “They won’t let him either.”
They stayed silent, all feeling a phantom limb pain.
Fuyumi, ever the gentle soul, made dinner and they all ate together, perhaps for the most serene dinner together in years.
△
He had 3 years left before Shoto, Midoriya or Bakugou goes into the top ten and eventually dethrone him from his spot. Heck, even Suneater or Nejire-chan will be soon on his heels.
3 years before he sells the house and disappear in the woods in solitude. No one will miss him.
□
Fuyumi was getting married.
It didn’t come in surprise, Hawks and she had been together for a while now and even lived together. He still felt a hinge of sadness he knew he shouldn’t feel. He didn't deserve a daughter like Fuyumi, who has been nothing but forgiveness and love.
It came also in no surprise that Rei asked him to meet her. They still haven’t seen each other in person for years.
□
The first time was awkward, to say the least. They have both their therapist with them, and Rei refused to look at him.
They both just stay there as the therapists silently observe.
□
The second time was better. Rei finally looked at him. They still do not talk much but the therapists were hopeful.
□
The third time, there were no therapists in the room but they were just outside.
“I’m sorry,” Enji finally said. He had written in letters but he wanted to say it out loud.
Rei didn’t reply.
□
The fourth time, Rei invited him to her house. Even if he was the one to pay for it, he hadn’t checked how it looked like. He barely knew where it was.
The kids weren’t there and it was truly only the two of them.
“You are not the blame for Touya’s actions,” Rei finished by say after a few pleasantries.
“I was the one who pushed him too far.”
“Yes,” she paused, “but he could’ve chosen otherwise. He could’ve come back for his siblings, he could’ve become a better hero.”
“A better hero than I am.”
“Than you were. Shoto proved us that.”
Enji cried as he got home.
□
The fifth time, everything seemed okay. They could talk, Rei babbling about her new hobby for gardening when she dropped a plate. The plate shattered in millions of pieces and Enji was about to ask if she was okay until he saw the terror in her eyes.
Ten years ago, it could’ve set off his temper. Dread went down his spine. They both did not move.
“I’m sorry,” Enji finished by say. “I should go.”
“No.”
Enji looked at her.
“I should clean it and bring more cookies.”
“Rei…”
She didn’t pay him attention as she went to the kitchen, probably to fetch a broom. She came back with a little broom and a dustpan.
“Let me help,” he said, reaching his hands towards her but waiting for her to give him the broom.
She stayed a moment just staring at his hands before she put the broom and dustpan in his hands. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I’ll go take the cookies.”
□
2 years left, and Endeavor was still the number 1 hero.
Shouto was number 11.
“I’m proud of you.”
“I got beaten by Midoriya and Bakugo,” he deadpanned.
Enji looked at his son, a hand on his shoulder. “Shouto, I am proud of you and your accomplishment. You are a better hero, a better person I could never be.”
Shouto seemed shocked by the words. “It’s not like you put the bar up,” he finished by say but the little quirk of his lips was all Enji needed to feel the tears in his eyes.
○
Endeavor is no more.
He leaves his agency to Burnish and his other sidekicks.
Fuyumi has her first daughter. Tsuru sleeps like an angel as Fuyumi brings her to his arms. Enji does not hide his tears as the baby sleeps in his arms. How could he even forget that once upon a time, his kids were that small too?
Natsuo invites him to his wedding. That surprises him a lot but Natsuo even smiles when Enji manages to say: “Thank you.”
He smiles at Shouto, proud of his son, the number 3 hero this year. Shouto destroys the house to rebuild one at his taste and Enji moves to a smaller, cozier cabin at the edge of the city.
As Rei is the first to come with a housewarming gift, her favourite flowers, babbling about Tsuru’s first words that weren’t words but just her father exaggerating things, Enji smiles.
Endeavor had 3 years. Enji seems to have more to come.