Living A Lie

Chapter 6

Shouto's nervous about the dinner meeting that his father demanded of him the same day that he and his classmates learned of the new age to be permitted to marry. Everything in him knows that Endeavor had something to do with the new law, and this "family" dinner is likely to be when the other shoe is dropped. Where Endeavor is going to tell Shouto who he's going to have to marry. Endeavor is all about power and making a child who will be strong enough to surpass All Might, and Shouto has always known that Endeavor doesn't see him as strong enough because he was born a girl. Endeavor is going to marry him off and force him to become breeding stock for some other hero. He just knows it.

As the boy enters the house, he hears his father talking to someone.

"Shouto also has a cat that will be coming with him." The man tells whoever he's talking to.

"That's fine," another voice responds, one that seems familiar, but Shouto can't quite tell who it belongs to. "I like cats."

"You say that now." Shouto almost starts laughing at the poorly disguised fear in Endeavor’s voice. "That cat, if you can even call her that…"

Shouto realizes a second too late that Raven isn't by his side anymore, and based on the way Endeavor stopped in his tracks on what he was saying, he knows that they already made their way into the room with his father. One of these days, he's going to have to ask Endeavor why the man is so terrified of the cat.

Shouto makes his way into the room where he finds Endeavor and, shockingly, the new number two hero Hawks, being confronted by a giant white tiger with brown stripes and heterochromatic eyes.

"Raven," Shouto hears his sister sigh. "I know he misgendered you, but it's not like he knew you weren’t a girl today. We have a guest, can you please change back into your normal form? Or at least a normal sized tiger if you insist on remaining a tiger for the evening."

Hawks watches as the massive tiger, whose head was literally touching the ceiling, gradually shrinks down until its head just barely reaches his chest. He looks up at Endeavor’s daughter who rolls her eyes at the large cat's antics.

"I would apologize for Raven, but…" Fuyumi pauses and checks the tiger's eyes before continuing. "But, they don't exactly get along with my father. They're also very protective of Shouto, and I'm sure they can tell why father called for Shouto to come home for dinner."

Fuyumi then disappears from the room to grab the food and place it on the table, making sure that Raven got their normal spot opposite from Endeavor, but next to Shouto. The furry family member had taken that spot almost immediately upon joining the household, and has used that position to torment Endeavor for years as he would continually try to keep the animal away from the table, but as with everything else the man would try to do when it came to Raven, he failed. The cat would not budge, and he eventually gave up.

Once everyone has eaten their fill, Endeavor finally brings up the reason for them all being there. “The Hero Commission and I have agreed upon betrothing the two of you. As an adult, Hawks, you do get somewhat of a choice in the matter, but I believe that your handler has already spoken to you on this subject.”

Hawks nods. “We spoke at length, and I have agreed under certain conditions.”

As the number two hero goes to pull some papers out of his pocket, Raven growls at him, still in Tiger form. They grab the winged man by the arm, not allowing him to pull the papers out, and drags him outside. In their anger, they transform into a human with brown hair and eyes. In this form, they stand a little over an inch taller than the number two hero, and that slight difference in height in addition to the staff in their hand makes them slightly intimidating with their anger very visible on their face. “Fly us somewhere that we can’t be heard.” When the man doesn’t do anything to do as he was told, Raven levels a glare at him over their glasses and growls out, “Now!”

Raven didn’t fully think things through in their anger. They have to hold their eyes shut tight to pretend that they aren’t up as high as they are as well as keeping their mouth firmly shut due to the motion sickness. Thankfully for their sake, the winged man gets them to a rooftop not too far from where Endeavor lives fairly quickly, but they do have to lay down on their back to get their bearings and stop the world from spinning from the motion sickness.

As Raven gets their bearings after being placed on the rooftop, Hawks feels it’s probably best not to speak. He doesn’t know anything about their quirk, but, he knows that they can turn into different forms of cats including massive sized cats that are far larger than the original animal can get, and Endeavor, the number one hero, seemed terrified of this being, so he figures it’s a good idea to wait and see what they have in store for him.

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE A FUCKING HERO!” Raven yells at the man once they have stood back up no longer feel like they’re going to be sick from the flight up there. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN ENDEAVOR! BETTER THAN FUCKING ALL MIGHT! BUT NO! HERE YOU ARE READY TO BREED MY CHILD THE WAY ENDEAVOR FUCKING BRED HIS WIFE! ALL YOU ‘HEROES’ DISGUST ME!” As Raven yells, their eyes flash from brown to blue, and their body shakes as if their anger cannot be contained in their small body.

“Your child?” Hawks asks, not thinking. If he was a smarter bird, he would think to answer the rest, but no, he had to focus on the wrong part of what Raven had said.

“ENDEAVOR WASN’T A GOOD ENOUGH PARENT AND NEITHER WAS THAT DAMN WOMAN WHO PERMANENTLY SCARRED HIS FUCKING FACE! SOMEONE HAD TO STEP UP AND PARENT HIM! NOW DON’T CHANGE THE SUBJECT! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT WITH MY CHILD! HE’S NOT SOME FUCKING TOY TO PLAY WITH THE WAY ENDEAVOR PLAYED WITH REI UNTIL SHE LITERALLY BROKE!” Raven walks closer to the winged hero, standing chest to chest making themself more intimidating. The motion makes Hawks start to feel less like a hero and more like prey in the domain of a very large predator. (He’s not necessarily too far off). Raven drops their voice down to a feral growl and snarls, “What the fuck do you want with my son!?”

Hawks holds up his hands in what he hopes is a placating manner. “I’m trying to protect him, same as you.”

“BY FORCING HIM INTO A MARRIAGE THAT ENDEAVOR AND THE COMMISSION HAVE CHOSEN FOR HIM!? BY TURNING HIM INTO BREEDING STOCK FOR THE NEXT STRONGEST HERO!?”

“I DON’T HAVE A CHOICE!” Hawks yells back before calming down. Both of them screaming won’t get them anywhere. “I made a promise to protect him, and I’m doing just that. Think of the marriage as more like an adoption. I’m not gonna make some kid bear children. That’s fucking disgusting.” He takes a quick breath before continuing so that Raven doesn’t get a chance to interrupt him. “I told the Commission I would only agree to the marriage if they let me wait to ‘have children’ with him until he’s twenty-three. That gives us eight years to find a way to get us out of this situation. I already have someone I love along with a daughter and a child on the way that the Commission doesn’t know about. I’m not like Endeavor. I know far more about what he’s like than you think.”

Raven glares at the winged hero. “If I find out that you’re lying to me, so help me, I will turn you into your beloved fried chicken and make you eat yourself piece by fucking piece.”

Hawks gulps. There is no way that he could mistake the absolute malice and conviction in the other’s voice. He has no doubt that they not only would do exactly what they threatened, but that they know a way to make it happen. “How would that even be possible? I can’t eat myself if I’m already fried chicken.”

“If I can imagine it, I can do it. Don’t test me.” Raven snarls. “Now, get us back to the house. I’ve left Shouto alone with that bastard far too long.”

With that, Raven returns to their normal feline form with heterochromatic eyes.