PYROMANIA (Endeavor X Male Reader)

Chapter 25 - TEA

"Enji. You want more coffee?" You asked tiredly. You'd hardly slept the night before and Enji had the audacity to look like a glowing Adonis this early in the morning.

He stiffened a bit at the name before visibly relaxing and letting out a little exhale. He nodded, pausing and then deciding on, "Please."

Fuyumi who had been watching the exchange with hardly veiled incredulity, dropped her mug. It shattered loudly, drawing everyone's attention. Where Enji would have usually scowled, he remained neutral, hardly looking up from the newspaper he'd decided to give the time of day to.

Fuyumi began to mutter apologies but you simply paced to that side of the kitchen and cleaned up the mess in less than a minute. "Don't worry Fuyumi, I was planning on buying more mugs anyway. With Enji home more often only six isn't going to cut it. Well, five now."

Before Fuyumi could begin to splutter in surprise, you'd already made your way back to the coffee machine. You gave Enji his mug. A muffled 'thanks' made you smile.

"Speaking of, you wanna come with me to the store, Shouto?"

He glanced at his father warily. "I have training in the afternoons."

You looked at Enji. You didn't give him a challenging look or an imploring glance. You were simply waiting for a response.

He looked up. "Suppose he could miss one day a week."

"Three," you began to barter. Enji looked at you, confused before he realized what was going on. He looked exasperated but not angry. More annoyed with the timing than the topic itself.

"Two."

"Fine. Two and on the fifth day he gets to do an internship at another agency." Enji didn't look thrilled by the idea but he didn't start shouting either. He seemed to think on it before nodding.

"Fine," he looked at his son. "Choose by Friday."

Shouto stared at him blankly, barely managing to mutter, "Uh...okay."

A nod. An encouraging smile from you and a surprisingly lack of reaction from Natsuo.

~~~

When Enji had left for work and you were on your way to UA, the siblings had gathered around the table with somber looks on their faces.

Shouto was the first to speak up, "Did they bang?"

Fuyumi looked scandalized. "Shouto!"

Natsuo seemed to be the most restrained despite rubbing his temples in frustration. "Listen, I found them having a little heart-to-heart last night - and no, that's not code for sex,  Shouto. Anyway what I'm trying to say is that (Y/N) seems to be really good at reading our father and they bonded or something."

Shouto's phone screen lit up and he hissed at Natsuo to keep quiet. He answered the call.

"Hi (Y/N)."

"Hi Shouto. Listen, I'm so sorry about how we literally bargained over your training this morning. I hope the conditions are satisfactory. If not I can talk to your dad again."

Shouto put his phone on speaker. "So the deal is that I train with him for four days of the week, on the fifth I train at a different agency and I get two rest days?"

You nodded before remembering you were on a call. "Yeah. Basically."

"And he's fine with that?" Shouto asked, apprehensive.

You shrugged. "Seems like it. He isn't angry at any rate."

"So I have nothing to do today?"

"Well, you have school and we can go buy groceries and eat soba. We haven't done that in a while."

Shouto looked at his siblings in palpable excitement. "We can?"

"Of course," you smiled sadly, glad he couldn't see. Hopefully this kid could allow himself to start having a bit of fun.

"Okay!"

~~~

After your hero courses, you and Shouto decided that it should be soba first and responsibilities later. You ended up driving to a more suburban area and eating at a local restaurant. You'd never seen Shouto enjoy cold soba so much in his life so it was worth it.

Afterwards, you came to the conclusion that any grocery store was good enough and the local one would do. It was smaller than the one you'd met Toshinori-san in but the fresh produce looked really good.

"Hey, Shouto? Do you like bellpeppers?"

No response. You looked around. How could the fucking kid get lost in this small shop?

"Tatsuya."

You looked around, seeing a familiar silhouette in the form of a red and green heat signature. He was standing  next to a slightly shorter person, talking. Shouto was talking to someone?

Peeking around the corner of said aisle was a short and stout silhouette. You gently brushed the spirit's hand away.

"Thanks Tatsuya."

He smiled, before dissappearing into whatever void most of the spirits returned to when they weren't talking to you.

You approached the person who was peeking around the corner. A small green haired woman. Most likely the mother of the child Shouto was talking to. You tapped on her shoulder. She jumped, swiveling around.

You raised your hands up before whispering, "Sorry for scaring you, ma'am. There happen to be a red and white haired boy talking to your kid?"

She nodded, already going full mama bear. You cringed. Do you look like a predator or something? You sure hoped not.

"I'm Shouto's guardian. I figured I should introduce myself and leave them to their own devices. Shouto doesn't talk to others his age often, so I don't want to interrupt.

She immediately relaxed, before nodding.

"Are you still looking to buy something else? I could help you find it," she offered. You pulled out your phone and looked at the list.

"Hmm I'm struggling to find the spinach for some reason," you said.

She smiled her eyes shining with innocent mirth you weren't used to. "It's always behind the carrots. Not sure why."

"Thank you, ma'am," you looked at Enji's contact. "This might be a big ask, but do you have a good chocolate cake recipe?"

She looked at the two boys, still deep in some kind of discussion. No doubt about heroes and quirks.

"How about I invite you two for some tea? I write all my recipes down," she smiled amicably and you couldn't help but nod.

"I'm sure Shouto would love that. Thank you ma'am."