Voodoo Doll [BNHA]

Chapter Twenty Four

Doll woke up back in her bed in her apartment at the agency. Her body ached and she struggled to sit up. Glancing down she realized the pajamas she was in were not her own, it was a pink t-shirt dress with cute little bunnies on it. She didn't really remember what had happened after she'd healed Natsuo she assumed the nightshirt was from Fuyumi. She tossed the covers aside and looked at the fresh bright red scars crisscrossing all across her body.

She noticed her phone sitting atop her nightstand and shakily reached for it. Her eyes widened as she looked at the date, she'd slept through two days. Her date with Hawks was tomorrow! Doll jumped to her feet, her legs turned to jelly and she hit the ground as they gave out, refusing to support her weight. At the sound of the crash from her hitting the ground, her bedroom door flew open.

"Doll." Her mentor's voice sounded from the doorway and in the next moment she was lifted off the ground.

Her body protested violently at the touch as her freshest scars were still quite tender. A soft whimper escaped her pale lips. Endeavor grimaced and gently lay her atop her bed. Doll tried her best to keep a straight face and pretend she wasn't in any pain and offered her mentor a smile.

Endeavor sighed and dropped onto the edge of her bed as he ran shaking fingers through his indented crimson hair, it looked like he'd been doing this a lot. He'd almost lost her. Keeping the emotions bubbling out of control inside of him at bay, he affectionately gave her a pat on the head.

"Thank you for saving Natsuo." He ruffled her hair.

Doll managed another smile, "how is Natsuo doing?"

"He escaped the incident without a single scratch, thanks to you..." Endeavor looked at the fresh angry red bubbled up scars intersecting and stretching all over her body. "He was shaken up about it and took yesterday off from school..." He paused before adding, "he stopped by the agency for the first time, to check on you."

A genuine smile lit up Doll's face at this, "that sounds like progress." She struggled to keep a straight face as a wave of agony washed over her. "Did you two talk?"

Endeavor nodded, "we made it through an entire meal."

Doll smiled again and tried to push herself up, she couldn't lay in bed all day. "That is progress."

Endeavor threw her a curious look as she tried once more to get out of bed, "Doll, what do you think you're doing?"

"I need to get up." Doll grimaced as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Why?" Endeavor asked as she swayed to her feet. Her knees weakened and she almost fell once more. He extended his arm to the side as Doll began to topple forward. She fell against his arm and was able to brace herself.

"Because Hawks is going to be here tomorrow for our date and I wanted to try cooking something because he cooked for me last time." Doll said simply as she managed a few shaky steps toward her closet with Endeavor's help.

Endeavor frowned, "you realize he's probably under heavy surveillance..."

"I won't talk about hero things or show him anywhere other than the kitchen and my room." Doll noted.

"W-what?!" Endeavor growled, "he's not allowed in your room!"

"H-huh?" Doll looked to her mentor curiously, "but his monitoring devices won't be able to accidentally pick up on conversations if we're here." She frowned.

"You don't bring men into your bedroom!" Endeavor snapped.

"I'm confused, you're a man, in my bedroom." Doll didn't understand why he was getting so heated about the matter.

"That's different!" He growled.

"Why?" Doll paused once she'd reached her closet and turned to her mentor curiously.

"Because I don't have any impure intentions." He grumbled.

"Hawks has impure intentions?" Doll was thoroughly confused.

"I don't know if he does or not but men his age have one thing on their mind!" Endeavor was now red in the face.

"Chicken?" Doll asked seriously.

Endeavor choked at this, "what?! No!" He took one look at her innocently puzzled face and groaned. He rubbed his temples in frustration. She was too naïve. He should have known she wouldn't know anything about these matters. Due to her somewhat terrifying appearance, no one had ever showed any kind of romantic interest in her before. "Listen...if he does something you don't like, feel free to kick his ass. Got it?"

Doll frowned, she didn't want to kick Hawks' ass, "o-okay."

"Now back to the other concerning thing you said...you're cooking?" Endeavor pondered.

Doll nodded.

"You've never cooked a day in your life." He pointed.

"That's not true...I made carrot soup once." Doll protested, though it couldn't really be called soup. It had just been some unevenly chopped carrots in a bowl of water she'd put in the microwave. Her mother was battling her inner demons and her father was working overtime, Doll had been starving and tried to make herself some food. The beeping of the microwave had alerted her mother and she'd given her another cursed tattoo while simultaneously laughing and crying and telling Doll no one would ever love her.

Endeavor sighed and helped her find the outfit she wanted before exiting her room so she could change. He waited for her to slowly make her way to the door before carrying her down to the kitchen as she wanted to try out a recipe. Not sure he should leave the girl alone in the kitchen as she'd never cooked before, he posted himself along the far wall of the kitchen ready to jump in with a fire extinguisher at any moment.

Realizing Endeavor and Doll were in the kitchen a few of his sidekicks soon joined in to see what was going on. Everyone was shocked and terrified to see Doll skimming the pantry for ingredients. They all cringed when she picked up a knife and began wildly chopping things, nothing was uniform and she'd accidently chopped into a carton of heavy cream while she was at it getting herself and a good portion of the kitchen covered in cream.

"She trying out for that Worst Cooks show?" Burnin pondered as she watched the creepy girl struggle to open a can of something.

"Practicing for a date." Endeavor supplied warily as she proceeded to try and open said can with a meat cleaver.

"She's going to poison him for sure." Burnin snickered before noticing the meat cleaver action and blanching, "ah! PUT THAT DOWN!" She scrambled to Doll's side and wrestled the meat cleaver from her. "Just order pizza like a normal person!"

Doll was covered head to toe in cream and flour and looked up at Burnin with sad cloudy white eyes and an adorable pout, "but...I wanted to cook something nice..."

"Well first, you're not supposed to wear the ingredients, second," she held up the meat cleaver, "you don't need this!" Burnin sighed as Doll looked defeated, how was she supposed to get this right in just one day? "Somebody, please, help this child." Burnin groaned as she set the meat cleaver down.

"You'll help me?!" Doll squealed in delight and hugged the girl with the flaming hair forgetting that she was covered in gunk.

Everyone laughed as Burnin let out a shriek of rage at having been smothered by the flour and cream covered girl. The off-duty sidekicks agreed to help Doll learn the recipe she wanted to perfect for her date with Hawks. Endeavor chuckled and stepped out of kitchen, Doll was in good hands, they'd all make sure she didn't overdo it.

He periodically checked back in. It took several hours and multiple attempts. There was a teaspoon incident in which Doll mistakenly thought teaspoon stood for tablespoon and nearly killed everyone with salt content. She nearly set the kitchen on fire, twice. After her fourth attempt, the dish came out a success and everyone who'd assisted was exhausted and covered in various ingredients, a few scorch marks and slightly holier attire. Doll was beside herself beaming with pride that she'd managed to make a successful dish. Now she just had to remember all the steps and do it again tomorrow.