Our Reasons

Chapter 1

Surprise! You didn't think I was done, did you? Nah, I got a tiny bit more for you. Also, if you are stumbling across this, I highly recommend you read "His Reasons" before this as it has both spoilers from that book and you need it to understand this one. This is just a little short story for readers of the original series to see what comes next. :)

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As Endeavor looked up at the large estate that was his son's home, the man couldn't help but narrow his eyes in slight disdain, wondering why he was here in the first place. He hadn't gotten much from the short message, just that Shoto and his wife wanted to talk to him about something.

But knowing the two of them, Endeavor was sure that the conversation was going to be disastrous to say the least. That's always how it was with the two of them, especially Amari. That girl had trouble following her at every turn.

So because of that, the man silently prepared for whatever he was about to face as he briefly said hello to the maids before stopping in the entrance way and preparing for the worst.

Although what he didn't expect was for a high pitched voice to ring through the space before Endeavor just barely caught the sight of a messy head of red hair. "Ayumi, come on! It's your turn to be it..!!"

Hearing little feet tap against the floor, the boy turned the corner as his head turned the opposite way from Endeavor, clearly calling back to someone while he giggled wildly. "Bet you can't catch me..!"

Because he wasn't looking though, the red haired kid didn't even notice the large man a couple steps away and a moment later, the boy felt his entire body slam into Endeavor, the sheer force knocking him off of his feet and tumbling to the ground.

And any normal adult probably would've helped the boy but because Endeavor didn't know much about raising kids, he just stood there silently, watching as the kid looked up at the hero's towering stance with his arms crossed.

Knowing he probably should say something though, the man managed to mutter out. "Watch where you're going."

The kid on the over hand widened his eyes at the presence, quickly stumbling to his feet before taking a step back. Wow, he looked really angry. "Sorry.."

Endeavor couldn't help but sigh though, taking in Toya's scared stance and getting hit with a flash of horrible nostalgia, the kind that would always seem to appear after seeing the boy.

He couldn't help it, the fact that Shoto's kid looked and acted like his dead son.

It was something that Endeavor was constantly reminded of, a tick of shame entering his throat at the boy's reaction to his words. Maybe he shouldn't have said that, but what could he do to change it?

Sighing at the idea, the hero tried his best not to look so scary, although for a six foot guy, it proved to be quite difficult. The man just didn't know how to talk to kids. "Hello Toya."

Toya pushed his lips together in response before holding onto the end of his shirt in anxiety. The fact was, out of all of his family members, blood related or not, grandfather Enji was probably the scariest of all.

And it didn't matter how many times his mom called the man "a harmless grumpy old teddy bear" the boy and his sister still didn't know how to act around him. It seemed like he was always struggling wherever the two crossed paths. "Hi, grandpa Enji."

The two sat in silence for a moment before Endeavor spoke up again, obviously trying to keep the conversation going for some reason. "Where's the other one?"

Knowing that the hero meant his sister, Toya pointed a finger behind him. "We were playing hide in seek. She's counting..."

Endeavor couldn't help but move his gaze towards where he was pointing before his lips forced out a response, probably a little harsher than he had meant it to be. "You know, you shouldn't run around like that."