A/N: I apologize beforehand about such strong topics for this chapter, I promise further chapters won't have such sensitive topics moving forward.
CW: Mentions of physical abuse, mental abuse, toxicity, suicide, death, and forced marriage.
***
"You probably don't want to hear me out," Enji says, struggling to keep his eyes open.
I unknowingly use my thumb to caress his hand, still looking at him. "I do want to hear you out."
Enji heaves another sigh, his grip tightening on my hand subconsciously. Probably. "My parents were only married for business purposes. They wanted a son who could take on the business one day, and find someone for their son to marry as a business benefit, like them."
I nod my head even though he can't see me in the moonlit room. "They had a daughter, and if you can already guess, they hated her. They blamed her, beat her, and shunned her for simply being a woman. Two years later they had me, overjoyed by the fact that they had someone who could run their business, because god forbid a woman take over."
"When my dad married my mom, they had joined companies, and he took over. My mom didn't have to do anything but be a good housewife...old school, right? Like what I did to my son, Shoto, my parents prohibited me from ever speaking to her, let alone be in the same room as her. My parents taught me all about business at the young age of 5."
"My dad would get drunk and go into my sisters room to beat her for just breathing the same air as us. My sister finally had enough of my parents treating her so terribly, so she jumped in front of a moving truck. My parents didn't give a rat's ass that they drove my sister to the edge. My mother even said that her killing herself was doing this family a favor."
"Later on, when I was fresh out of UA, my parents arranged a marriage with a powerful family, Rei, and she was eight years younger than me. I tried to refuse because the woman was obviously forced into this, but my parents said if I didn't do it then they'd make both of our lives hell. So I married her. Because of the anger I felt from all those years, I didn't realize I was treating my kids the same way my parents treated me and my sister. Pathetic, right?"
I squeezed his hand, saddened to see that he won't even face me. "You're not pathetic, Enji."
Enji doesn't say anything for a bit, just looking out his window that reveals his backyard. "When I had my firstborn, Touya, I was happy to be a father. I even discovered that he had a much more powerful quirk than me. I wanted to train him, out of just wanting to be a good father...but then I took training too far and he accidentally set a building on fire...and—he ended up getting caught in it."
"I took advantage of Rei and Fuyumi and Natsuo were born, but with only her quirk. I shunned them and moved on. That's when Shoto was born with both of our quirks. I trained him past his limit, and drove his mother insane. I thought that if I trained him then he wouldn't be so unprepared like I was, but I ended up hurting him and everyone else."
"The reason Shoto has a scar on his right side is because his mom poured boiling water on him because his right side reminded her of me. I got mad at her for touching Shoto and sent her to a mental institution, when it was all my fault. I'm such a failure."
I hear him choke on his words, seeing tears stream down his face. I use my free hand to wipe away his tears, his face unchanged. "It's not your fault, Enji. You didn't know any better than your parents, you can't blame yourself for how you turned out when your parents failed to raise you."
"You probably think I killed my son, just like Natsuo," Enji said, his gaze fixed back to the window. "You probably think I'm a monster."
I give him a reassuring smile, cupping his cheek with my other hand. "I don't think you're a monster. I think that you're broken, just like me, and need some time to heal."
Enji looks me in the eyes, his gaze serious. "Do you hate me?"
"No," my smile doesn't disappear, I feel Enji tighten his grip on my hand once more.
"Do you forgive me for what I said to you that day..?" Enji's eyes slowly close, his face and grip relaxing.
"Yes," when I see his eyes about to close, I lean over and kiss him on the forehead, giving him one last smile. "Goodnight Enji."
I slowly take my hand back, pulling the covers back over his chest from when he flung them off earlier. I quietly slide the door closed before making my way out the house and...not into my car. Huh, I somehow managed to forget that I didn't drive my car. Walking it is.
***
It takes me a good 15 minutes of walking to get to the house, due to the big properties. I sigh in relief when I finally see my own house in view. I grab my keys and open the front door, kicking off my shoes and nearly stumbling when my feet touched the ground after being molded in my heels for so long.
I take a quick shower, not having enough energy to stall like usual. Just when I was so close to collapsing on my bed and going straight to sleep, my mind's keeping me up.
Did I really just kiss Enji on the forehead? What if he remembers? For some odd reason, I'm not embarrassed by what I did, but happy I did it. The fact that I still have feelings for the man is crazy.
But then again, not all crushes go as easily as they come.
A/N: I actually wrote this months ago before the recent MHA episode came out, so I'm surprised as to how close I got to the storyline of Touya and the arranged marriage.