𝕮𝖍𝖎𝖑𝖉 𝕺𝖋 𝕱𝖎𝖗𝖊

• 8 • Ants

Finally. Enji Todoroki was home after a long 'vacation' with his wife.

Setting down his bags of suitcases he stretched back his stiff neck. The word tired was written on the number two hero's face.

"Dada!"

And just like that, every ounce of exhaustion left his body as he sees his bundle of joy running towards him with the largest smile he has ever seen given to him.

The baby squealed as she collided with his muscly leg and tried to put her small arms around it, "Dadaaaa!"

He can't help but smirk. Maybe getting home and meeting this energetic thing immediately wasn't so bad. He leans down to her height while setting a hand on her head, "You've been a good girl while we were away, right?"

She nodded vigorously with a hum before grabbing his arm and started to hop, asking him to play with her in her baby language.

Enji experienced this many times before, getting requested by her daughter to play with her, yet he can't even imagine what he should do, "Homusubi." He gently pulls his hand back, "Go and play with your nanny instead. Where is she?"

She makes an adorable noise as she pointed down the hallway, where the said nanny had just turned around the corner with Touya in her hand.

"Boss!" She calls out excitedly before approaching the father and daughter quickly, "You're back! I'll take care of your things, let me just set down Touya."

"Is everything well? I hope nothing happened from my absence."

The nanny laughed before shaking her head, "There's absolutely nothing to worry about, boss. You can trust me."

Enji felt doubtful of her statement for some reason and glanced down at her daughter who looked up at him with innocent eyes.

'I guess there's nothing that happened...' He gave up with a sigh, "Their mother will be here any minute now." He said while removing his coat and hang it on the couch, before walking up to his bedroom, "Since she had to do a check-up."

The nanny nodded in understanding as she got busy fixing up his things.

"And Homusubi..." He stopped in front of the door before turning to his side, "Why are you following me?"

The little toddler looked down with a pout as she fiddles with her fingers.

Why did her little actions affect him more than the villains' attacks?

"Les... Play... Otsay!"

"What?" He tilts his head in confusion. "What are you saying, I can't understand you."

"B-Boss, she might be suggesting that she wants to play outside...?" The nanny laughed sheepishly as she stopped rearranging his clothes just to say this. Hopefully, she won't get nagged.

"Not now, Homusubi." He answered coldly, "Your father needs to rest."

The little girl was surprised before turning her head to the side with a pout and crossed arms, "Hmph!"

He was dumbstruck as the nanny cracked up, "Wait Homusubi--" He turned to glare up at the nanny fiercely, "Who taught her this?"

She looks away while clearing her throat, "Uhm... No one sir..."

"Then you better teach her to follow what I say." Was Enji's last words before he entered his bedroom. His daughter was about to follow him like a duckling but he had shut the door in front of her.

She stumbled back and was caught by the nanny in time, "I'm sorry, rice ball, you need to understand that your father is still busy. You can play with your teddy bear."

"But..." The little girls' voice softened as her eyes brimmed, "Dada..."

"He's busy."

• Next Day •

It was a cold morning even for a fire emitter. One way to fight this cold was a thick robe and a cup of coffee as a bonus to start the day.

Enji heaves a deep sigh while leaning over the veranda. Maybe he woke up too early for today, but he doesn't mind going on duty as soon as possible. Heroes don't have a break time, they work when they have to work.

He takes another sip of his coffee while looking up at the sky, then randomly thought, 'I wonder what Homusubi likes. Aside from food.'

The hero became a father in just a matter of seconds and thought deeply, 'Now that I think about it, I don't know what she likes. I'm not just gonna ask the nannies about it, I should observe Homusubi more--'

A flash of light from below caught his attention. His view consisted of the indoor garden where he sees a familiar little girl in the middle of it, kneeling on the ground.

"Homusubi?" He asked in confusion. Why was she up this early at 4 AM? The nannies won't be here in an hour so he might need to get her to sleep.

Enji couldn't see what she was doing in the yard as her back was faced against him, "HOMUSUBI!"

She flinched before looking up at the call of her father, then he could see what exactly she was doing.

A rope of small fire was emitted from her finger and going into the hole of an anthill, but he was more worried about the ants crawling out to avoid their death by a kid.

"GET AWAY FROM THERE!" It took him less than a few seconds to get down while throwing his coffee away and landed behind her.

He lifts her into his arms and hopped back a few times before stomping his feet on the ground in the direction of the anthill. A wide range of scorching fire emitted from his feet and burned the whole area around the anthill.

• • • 

"What were you doing?!" Enji yelled at the toddler who had her head down in guilt. They were back in the living room, away from the incident.

As a father, he was beyond distressed about what could've happened to her. But after checking her for any bites or wounds, she didn't receive any, yet there were dead ants that stuck on her feet. Assuming that they died by the heat of her body.

"Why did you-- why-- HOW-- GRAH!" He groaned in frustration, turning away as he ran a hand through his hair. Two main thoughts stuck in his mind.

First. Why would Homusubi disturb an anthill?

Second. HOW was she controlling her quirk at 2 years old?!

"Homusubi." He sighs as rubs his eyelids, before turning his head to look back at her again, "Why did you?!--"

*sniffle*

She reached out to wipe her tears that streamed down her cheeks, "I'm... so-sowy... dada..."

Enji felt his heart squeeze, seeing her cry. He kneeled to her height with a sigh before he pulls her into an embrace and gently held her head against his shoulder, "Just tell me why you did it... Come on."

She sniffled as she wipes her snot before speaking between whimpers, "A-Ants... Ant-- hurt... T... Ouya..."

He hums before patting her back, "So you wanted to get back at them?" He softly asked and she nods with a hum. She tries to hug him with her small hands while saying a tiny sorry again.

"It's okay..." He sighed, "... You did a good job." 

His daughters' cries were unpleasant to his ears. She rarely ever cries after a few months she was born, it's the same thing with the other toddlers. So he's not used to her crying, and never will.

Though there's one goal that began to grow in his mind: Homusubi, his first child, manifested her quirk the moment she was born, and now was able to barely control it at 2 years old. Her potential grows and he'll have to start training her sooner or later.