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lwx-xx · 3 months

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A random scene from Gojo's childhood in MDNSY that never fit into the story proper.

Fuyumi stares up at him in stricken horror, tiny face drained of color as her gray eyes well with tears. A shattered vase lies on the ground around her bare feet.

He’d heard the sound of glass breaking against the floor, and left his study to investigate the noise. Anger is easiest to call, fueled by his daily frustrations on his own inadequacies as a hero who cannot surpass All Might, by the quiet self-loathing he harbors for himself for dragging innocent souls into this mess. Anger at Rei, because she’s supposed to be watching the children while he’s working. At Fuyumi, for breaking a vase in the middle of the day and potentially injuring herself in an attempt to clean the house even though she knows damn well they have staff for that.

He yells at her, even though he immediately regrets it. She’s just trying to be helpful. She didn’t mean to break the vase. Even though she’s doing things that are unnecessary, potentially dangerous ,and utterly purposeless, she didn’t do it to cause trouble. She’s frightened of him— she always is when he raises his voice. She starts sobbing uncontrollably, stammering about cleaning it up. Her noisy crying draws the attention of the entire house.

She takes a step forward to start trying to pick up the pieces of glass with her bare hands. He shouts at her to stop moving; there are shards of glass everywhere around her and she’s not wearing shoes. He lunges towards her with his hand raised, to pick her up before she cuts up her feet. Natsuo comes barreling out onto the engawa from the living room, sees the broken vase and his sister crying, and him looming over her with his hand raised towards her and screams bloody murder.

“Get the fuck away from her!” He shouts, hurtling towards them with the intent to— Endeavor doesn’t even know. Push him away? He barely comes up to Endeavor’s chest. And he’s cursing, too. He’s not even in double digits yet. Touya’s influence, no doubt. He clicks his tongue. What is Rei doing with them? Is she not disciplining them at all?

“Stay where you are!” He booms back at him, loud enough to rattle the shoji screens. There’s glass all over the floor where he and Fuyumi are standing, and Natsuo is also not wearing shoes.

“Leave her alone!” Natsuo screams back.

The shoji screen to his right slides open. Touya sticks his head out, hair in disarray as he rubs one eye. He looks like he’d just woken up from a nap somewhere. Shouto toddles behind him, dropping his pacifier on the ground as he does so and then plops on the ground next to it to put it back in his mouth. Endeavor is disgusted. And overwhelmed. He’s never had to deal with all of his kids at once like this, all the noise and the chaos and the clashing personalities. Where the hell is Rei? Why isn’t she watching any of them?

“Calm down, would ya, old man? It’s just a vase.” Touya yawns, looking as unimpressed with him as always. “You okay, Yumi-chan?”

Fuyumi sniffles, nodding hesitantly.

“Don’t move, there’s glass all around you,” his eldest says, calmly, and then proceeds to ignore his own sound advice and walk directly into the hall. “I’ll go get a broom.”

Everything about it infuriates Endeavor. The way he just ignores him, disrespects him so blatantly, doesn’t even look his way when he addresses him. They way his siblings automatically respond to him and listen to him, look to him for answers and direction— even when their father is right in front of them.

“Stop right now boy!” He shouts at his eldest. Touya ignores him, picking his way through the glass with a graceful ease.

The white-haired child laughs meanly at him. “Don’t tell me what to do, old man.”

That’s what makes him see red. The audacity of this child, to speak to his father that way. If Endeavor had ever tried such a thing with his own father, he’d have gotten a beating for his cheek. No matter how he shouts or disciplines him, this impudent child never respects him at all. Never gives in, never apologizes or admits wrongdoing. It infuriates Endeavor to no end, that this failure of a child that cannot ever hope to surpass him can stare at him with such baleful eyes and find him wanting.

He charges towards him. To grab him by the scruff of his neck and lift him up before he stupidly cuts himself on the glass, and maybe none-too-gently toss him into the grass off the side of the engawa. Instead Touya’s eyes flash, and he’s ducking out of his reach with astounding speed. He crouches low and angles all his weight onto his shoulder, shoves it into Endeavor’s stomach, and vaults him right over his shoulder, through the shoji screen wall and into the koi pond outside. As he resurfaces he hears Fuyumi’s shriek, Natsuo’s delighted shout, and Touya’s uproarious laughter as he calls him some rather unflattering names. Touya stops laughing after a beat, and when Endeavor blinks pond water out of his eyes, he’s lit up yet another cigarette in the house and is staring curiously at Shouto behind him.

“Who’s this lil’ guy?” He says, sounding surprised to see him.

“That’s… Shouto.” Fuyumi trails off.

“Oh.” There’s some vague recognition in that tone. Touya hauls Fuyumi up and carries her back into the house proper. He drops her next to Shouto. “Well whatever. Let’s go get ice cream. Shouto too.”

As he walks away, Endeavor can’t help but notice his feet are clean and undamaged even after all of that movement, no blood or glass to be seen.

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