Chapter Text
Enji had been a lot of things throughout his life. He was a successful, established hero with a thriving agency that was home to many successful heroes. He had been a determined, driven person ever since his days in UA, and a strong, skilled man that always knew what he was and planned things well. Those were the things he was known for and prided himself in, those were the things that made him Endeavor.
Endeavor or, actually, Todoroki Enji as a whole, was neither friendly nor soft.
“Well, it’s either you start showing some warmth to the public or you will tank in the rankings. The fact you dropped to fourth is already proof. I told you this before - you are a reliable hero, but you hardly take interviews and when you do, you are so stern you come across as if you are chastising both the interviewer and the audience. I’m sure you are aware you are intimidating already, so I won’t dwell on it, but simply put - it’s not a good look for you.”
Enji and his PR team manager were stuck in some sort of a staring contest for a full minute at the very least before Enji started glaring, only to receive an unimpressed deadpan look from the man in front of him. Mikami Takuma was brilliant at his job, and not even once had failed to redeem a tough situation while they worked together, but within these seven years he had worked for the agency, he’d developed sass that could only be acquired by familiarity. Enji could comment on it, but the fact he’d dropped to fourth had him driving up the walls already, and he needed a plan to climb back to his spot. Enji may never reach the first place himself, but he was the number two hero and he would not let anyone steal his place.
“And what am I supposed to do about it? I need a solution, Mikami, and you know damn well that there’s a reason I don’t do interviews. And people should be intimidated. I’d rather be intimidating than have civilians run to see and potentially ruin a battle.” He answered easily. Enji wasn’t a very social person to begin with, and really didn’t mesh well with people outside of his circle or, more correctly, his company. He hired only people he’d seen potential in, and in the end, those were also the people he acknowledged. Pairing that with his job, it was easier to be the intimidating figure people knew they could rely on rather than fawn on.
“And as you see, Todoroki-san, you already sound like a dick. No offense. I tried to do what I could already on the journalism front, but you need to understand, the reason this is most likely happening is that the lower crime rate we could definitely attribute to you is making you have less showings of strength to the public. And when you cannot show your strength, heroes with better fanservice just have an edge on you. Edgeshot has his army of Otaku’s that grows by the day, Best Jeanist might as well be the face of every fashion commercial, and ever since Ryukyu started using that ‘mother of dragons’ catchphrase, she is seeing a major rise in popularity with niche fantasy fans.” Mikami started lecturing again, and for a man so much younger than him, he truly had more guts than most of the villains the flame hero faced. It ticked Enji off and he felt a flame licking at his upper lip, but willed himself to cool down.
Still, he was annoyed, and he needed the man to reach the point of this discussion. “And what about it?” Enji hurried the man with the ever growing frown that became more apparent as seconds passed by. He was starting to have a migraine and he had only been here for ten minutes.
“ It’s about the fact they know how to market themselves. Now, I’m not telling you that you need to start going to anime conventions or start doing flamethrower advertisements or something, but for someone who is called the flame hero , you are about as cold as it gets. Subverting expectations and reverse charms are good points in themselves, but it’s no charm if you are incapable of doing it correctly. People can’t connect to you because you are so unapproachable. People look up to the heroes I mentioned before not only because they are strong, but also because they validate their interests and give them a community to belong to as they meet other fans. All Might is so well liked because he’s approachable and willing to do anything for the public - he gives fans reasons to join together and cheer for his kindness that’s beyond his strength.”
Fucking hell, as if I don’t know that already! Enji slammed his hands on the table . “Get to the point , Mikami ,” he nearly yelled , only to notice a few interns leaving the room quickly, as if they were caught in a crossfire. There was an unsaid I told you so when he stared at Mikami’s blank face.
Mikami’s purple eyes moved to his computer then.
“So, what I think would be best for now is to work on showing the public a more relatable side of you. Interviews won’t cut it, because as you said, you are not good at them. Because of this I decided to look into heroes with similar problems to yours and how they approached it.” Mikami then switched his computer screen around, showing him a well planned powerpoint that he had prepared ahead of time. Enji would give him that - he was nothing if not throughout, and he knew how to present a plan when needed. If he wasn’t working in PR, Enji could see him as a politician.
“The Iida family had a similar problem to yours in the past. Particularly in the days of the first Ingenium, people had seemed to perceive them as robotic, stoic, and not very approachable all in all. However, as the torch passed from one to another, they started focusing more on teamwork, starting with the Heroes in the family to other people. They showed the world they were loyal and cooperative and slowly became much more likeable. Not to mention the current Ingenium, Iida Tensei, is probably the most friendly Ingenium they ever had and is revolutionizing their hero agency to be a lot more teamwork based. Ingenium as a hero jumped from 88 in the ranks to 37, and that’s an insane leap to do within just a year of working, even if he already had a fanbase due to his family.”
Enji processed the information along with the one that had been in front of him on the screen. He couldn’t see himself going for teamwork the way the Iida’s did, really. Both agencies had many sidekicks, but the difference was that Ingenium was using his sidekicks in his plans on a regular basis - they always had a big role to do, and Ingenium based his course of action around them. Enji used sidekicks in a different fashion, trusting them to take out smaller threats as he dealt with the most pressing one. You could say that while Ingenium worked together with his sidekicks, Endeavor worked with them separately.
That wouldn’t work.
Mikami, already seeing the contemplating look in his eyes, moved to the next slide in the powerpoint. “Another person that had a rough time appearing approachable to the public is Gang Orca, as he is considered to look a bit villainous. Because of how scary he looks, people actually ran away from him instinctively. He redeemed this by starting to show a softer side of him - starting with being a staple in the Provisional Hero License exams to connect with the younger generation. He’s also been known to volunteer for kids in need and recently even opened a kindergarten in his name, that focuses on helping less fortunate kids and families. He used his intimidating look and marketed himself as ‘the person that would stand up to your bullies’. Very smart marketing that helped him rise to the 10th spot on the Billboard chart.”
Mikami pointed to several pictures of Gang Orca letting kids play with him, though most of them just seemed to latch onto him like he was some kind of joyride. Enji wasn’t very close with the man but he had known him to be a force to be reckoned with. He respected Gang Orca, but at the same time, Enji didn’t think he could go a similar path. Aside from the Hero License exams, there wasn’t an event that Enji could use in a similar fashion. Opening kindergartens was something that was possible, but not only would he be accused of being a copycat for sure (Gang Orca’s daycare was opened only three months ago ), it would be too much financially at this point. His agency was currently the only one that was supplying dorms for their heroes and it was a project that only came to fruition a few months ago as well. They still needed to make profit from the heroes being close before starting a new project.
That being said, he couldn’t see himself having that kind of image anyway. Donations were easy, but running charities was hard. Parents were hard to satisfy, and he hardly wanted anything to do with strangers’ children to begin with.
“Now, there’s a couple more that I looked into, but I felt these two were the most relevant ones. Don’t give me that face, I know that both of their solutions aren’t really Endeavor-fitting, but I figured that a middle ground between both of them might just be what we need,” Mikami said, clicking up to the next slide. Enji raised an eyebrow at the bolded title.
The Return of Superman: Hero Edition.
Enji stared at the words for almost an entire minute without speaking.
The Return of Superman was a show about male celebrities who had their own children. The concept was watching the fathers with their family and specifically the children, usually without the mother around. Most of the children were toddlers to young preteens. The show itself was completely ripped off from a Korean show of the same name, and Enji didn’t care enough to know if they had the rights to use the idea, but he had seen Rei watching it from time to time.
This is….
“...Explain.” Enji figured he would hear what the man had to say first. The idea of him in this type of show was mind boggling as it was, but his PR manager was reasonable most of the time. He’d hear him out, even if he could already kind of tell this would probably be a disaster.
“As I said before, people can’t find you relatable because Endeavor is so distanced from the public. My plan here is to knock out three birds with one stone. You might not do well when it comes to teamwork on the field or playing heroes and villains with kids, but your own children are something else entirely. You are one of the only heroes in the top thirty with a family, and most certainly the highest ranking hero with one. The show’s director has been trying to get a hero on the show for a long time, and you would definitely be at the top of his list. This would not only show there’s a man behind Endeavor, but would show a side of heroes that is hardly ever explored. You are probably the only hero with enough of a secured neighborhood to do this as it is. You’d become more relatable to parents and the younger generation would fawn over your children instead. Which, by the way, would help your kids in the future if they ever decide to be heroes.” Mikami sipped on his coffee and cleared his throat before continuing.
“To simplify it, it would show you, first of all, in a different and more humane light, would present you to the media more easily without you having to deal with people trying to get headlines out of you and, overall, will probably give you a warmer image with less effort than any other way,” Mikami said, brushing his black bangs away from his eyes.
...That last part is debatable.
“I see your points, but the show won’t fit my family at all. Aside from the fact that the kids will naturally go to their mother regardless if I’m there or not, my youngest is the only one that fits with the age range. The three others are already in school, the oldest being twelve.” Not to mention Shouto just got his quirk a week ago… they would be wasting time that could go to his training.
“That could be easily adjusted. I told you, the director of the show has been trying to get a hero on the show for ages. Even if it’s about your entire family, he would take it, especially for a hero of your rank. I’m serious, Todoroki-san, this could be really good for you. I’ll also be honest - us in the PR department already did everything we could do by ourselves. The media made a half month survey and you are expected to drop to 9th place if the villain drought continues. Please think about it.” Mikami said with finality as he switched the computer screen back to him.
Enji wanted to break a wall. Maybe a whole building. Maybe more. 4th was already unacceptable, but 9th? He would never let himself sink that low. He would never.
“I’m going on patrol,” he said before he got up from his seat and left to the door.
Mikami sighed. “Think about it and tell me what’s your answer!” he yelled before the door shut behind the flame hero. “Going to your patrol two hours ahead of time won’t help…” he muttered to himself quietly, chugging all of his coffee down. As he rubbed his temples, Enji realized he really did hate PR and everything involved in it.
-
To say that Enji was mad was an understatement. He was absolutely pissed. Five hours patrolling streets and there were no villains. Not a single one. He patrolled the entire damn city and there weren’t even simple thefts. It was eight pm when he got home, opening the door more forcefully than needed and seething as he walked inside.
Rei had already sat with all the kids to eat, and they were currently starting to pick up the dishes from the table. He could tell Touya and Fuyumi were watching him, while Rei quickly picked up Shouto from Natsuo’s hands. Enji squinted his eyes, but just stomped away to the dojo. He needed to release steam.
It took at least forty-five minutes of him obliterating target dolls before he actually calmed down. It was almost nine, and he knew Shouto was more than likely asleep by now. He still hadn’t started training Shouto, so it didn’t really matter, but he still felt unproductive. Enji hated feeling unproductive. He hated feeling so stagnant, and every single time he was reminded of the ranks, he found himself so mad he could hardly keep his fire from lighting up.
He was thinking about what Mikami said, and as much as it pissed him off, even if that entire show seemed like a damn waste of his time, his PR manager was also right. He’d pretty much revolutionized his patrol area, and the likelihood that he wouldn’t see too many villains in the upcoming days was pretty high. Villains had patterns - when they went into hiding, they wouldn’t crawl back out until they felt it was safe again. A smart villain knew how to lay low, at the very least.
He couldn’t wait until they decided to make a comeback, though. He was already dropping enough in the ranks, and slowly, his goal was getting farther away. Even if he couldn’t surpass All Might, he couldn’t let himself fade into obscurity before Shouto grew old enough. Enji waited for the day he could see the news of Shouto’s debut, The Successor of the Number 2 Hero, it was what he waited for all these years.
But if he wasn’t number 2, he couldn’t bring Shouto the fame and reputation he needed. He couldn’t support him if he was a no name, falling into the double digits of the ranks and maybe even lower. He couldn’t let that happen.
Enji finally left the dojo a few minutes after mulling it over. He needed to speak to his wife, but he was already prepared to move this talk to tomorrow. Rei usually wasn’t awake at this hour, more due to the fact that she had slept with Shouto ever since he was born. Many women did that and Rei had done so with each of the children, so he tried not to think much about it. It was just… normal.
By a stroke of luck, he found her sitting in their living room. Ironically enough, she was watching reruns of The Return of Superman.
“Rei,” he called her, only loud enough for her to hear.
She nearly jumped in her spot before she looked back at him. She looked surprised, and she didn’t rise from her place, but he knew he had her full attention. He went closer, sitting next to her, and she shifted a bit farther away. He tried not to think about that either.
“...Yes?” Rei said questioningly. She was quiet, gentle in her words, but the uncertainty that leaked from them was more apparent than anything else. Enji never really had to mix work with family before, so he wasn’t sure how to approach it, awkwardly thinking of how he should present the situation. Rei looked up at him carefully, confused and fidgety.
“…An offer came up at work today,” he said, trying to be more straightforward and to the point. Mikami might have sat him to an almost hour-long lecture, but Enji wasn’t about to tell his wife all about how his public recognition was getting fucked over by the lack of villains and his personality. His pride wouldn’t let him admit to it. Her parents decided to marry her to him because he was Endeavor, because of the fact that with his consistent rank, their life could definitely prosper.
Some prosperity, huh.
“An offer for us. For this program,” Enji gestured quickly to the TV, and Rei’s eyes followed to look at it. She gave a small oh. She looked back at him, her big, grey eyes settling on him fully for the first time in months. She looked surprised, but at the same time, apprehensive. “My PR team wants me to do it,” he added, feeling he had to.
With that, her eyes fell to the floor. She looked crestfallen.
“Oh.”
Playing nervously with her fingers, she tried to look up again. Her eyes fell on his chin rather than his eyes, but Enji’d take it. “... I don’t want to be too far away from the children,” Rei told him mousily, and it was exactly what he’d expected. They probably feel the same, Enji thought to himself, but tried to shove that thought away. There were reasons and facts they were dancing around, but neither of them was willing to speak them aloud.
“The format of the show is negotiable if we agree to it,” he replied back, and Rei shifted atop of the pillow she sat on. She didn't seem all too happy about it still. The TV's dim light shone on the two of them, and for a few moments it seemed she was hypnotized by what was appearing on screen. A father picking his smiling child in the air, playing airplane for him with the toddler's giggles as the only fuel. When she spoke again, it still felt as if her mind was far, far away.
“Do you agree to it?” Rei asked him, and while her voice was weak, her words were frank.
I need to agree to it.
“I planned on it,” he said just as frankly. Rei gave a small sigh before she nodded, and a breath of cold air made contact with his skin. Enji felt like she should ask more; he felt like there were things to be talked about, and he felt like she was holding back. He felt many things with just that tinge of cold that touched him, one that was more telling and expressive than this entire conversation they just had.
“Then I’ll tell the kids tomorrow.” she concluded, reaching for the remote and turning the TV off, just as that comedian father kissed his three-year-old good night.
Rei came up from her seat and started moving towards Shouto’s room. When Enji started going in the opposite way, towards their room, he tried to tell himself that maybe she agreed so easily because she trusted him to make that decision.
That was far from the truth and he knew it.
-
Mikami was ecstatic when Enji called him the next day. His voice was over enthusiastic and Enji’s ears were ringing before he knew it. The only thing that he processed from the entire call was the manager saying he would start arranging everything and would forward him all the details when he had them.
Before he left the house, Enji could faintly hear his children reacting to the news as they ate their breakfast.
“What does it mean, mama?” Shouto.
“We’ll be on TV?... That doesn’t sound like something dad would want…” Fuyumi.
“Huh? But that show is about toddlers!” Natsuo.
“If the old man thinks he fits a show about dads of all things, he’s really got a few screws loose.” Touya.
Enji could have gone over there, he could've gotten angry. He could've gone over there to set Touya straight.
He didn't. He ignored it. Just like he did with many other things within this household. He couldn’t deal with these things; he couldn’t bring himself to confront them. He wouldn’t be able to handle it, his wife wouldn’t, his kids wouldn’t. In the end, he had one goal he aimed for. Shouto was already there, and everything was starting to come together. He just needed to push a little bit more...
It was easier to look at the light at the end of the tunnel, rather than what laid in the darkness of it.
Rei’s cold breath from yesterday lingered, and even if Enji wanted to melt the ice, he wasn’t sure he could.