Chapter 33 Why am I on Fire? by Yojimbra

U.A. was always impressive; no matter how often I walked through the gate, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the feeling of being on a campus. It could just be nostalgia, it could just be the atmosphere, but I really did welcome every moment I could spend at U.A. Provided that I wasn't getting hit in the face by All Might-powered dodgeballs.

I looked to Rei, who gave me a light nod, and we exited the car at the same time, in an attempt to look like we were ever so slightly more put together than we actually were. For whatever reason, Rei had decided that we should wear formal clothing, because we were meeting with Touya's future principal.

But at the same time, we were just meeting Nezu.

Still, I glanced Rei up and down and wiggled my eyebrows at her. "You'd make a hot office lady."

She rolled her eyes and smiled at me. The light foundation of her make-up hid the blush I put on her cheeks, but her ears still turned just the slightest bit red. I had been around Rei long enough to know all of her tells, like how she brushed a bit of her hair back whenever I made her feel loved in public. It was a personal favorite of mine.

"And you should wear a dress shirt more often." We met in front of our car and Rei fiddled with my necktie for the hundredth time that day. She touched my face a bit, a scrutinizing look on her face. "You clean up pretty good after all."

I wiggled my eyebrows aggressively in her direction before biting the air.

Her silver eyes narrowed and she wrinkled her nose at me. "Watch yourself mister, we're at a school."

I shrugged and grabbed her hand, taking a moment to kiss her knuckle softly. "I was just stating the truth, but then again, you look good in anything."

And out of!

I just had a cute wife.

And cute kids!

Wait, did I become a ginger version of General Hughes?

Wait, no, I had fire, so I was probably not that one. What was the other guys name?

"Come on," Rei pushed her hand into my chest and nodded towards the building. "Let's go see what the principal wants to talk to you about."

"Are you sure you're not just hungry?"

Her ears were all but glowing.

"No," She looked to the side, and pouted slightly. "Maybe."

I placed my hands on her shoulders and placed a light kiss on the top of her head. "How about tonight, we cook something together? We can grab the ingredients on the way back, maybe some lobster?"

I could all but feel All for One stirring at the mention of lobster like it was trying to brace itself for the impending quirkicide me and Rei were ever so slightly willing to commit.

"You're making it worse! Now quit doing that in public." she pushed my hand off and started walking.

"Doing what?" I laughed chasing after her.

"Being all super lovey."

I just shrugged, "I'd rather be known as a—"

"Stop," She turned and glared at me. "If you finish that sentence I will make you sleep on the couch."

"And you'd end up joining me."

That time, I could see her blush through her foundation.

Daily quest, shower Rei with love in public: complete

Reward: cute Rei noises and faces.

We arrived at the principal's office in short order and found that Nezu was looking completely at home in the place, despite the fact that all the furniture was made for normal sized people. There were an abundance of step stools and more than one of those reach-extending claws. Dressed in his suit, and with his shiny black eyes, he looked like an old teddy bear that had been lost and restored.

Only this one moved and was two parts good guy, one part mad revolutionary, and one part bastard.

"Ahh! Rei! It's so good of you to come!" Nezu hopped on top of his desk and smiled at her. Then he gasped, placing both hands over his mouth. "Oh, and I see you brought Enji."

"Of course!" Rei clapped her hands next to her cheek, a sickly sweet smile on her face. "After all, how else are we supposed to beat you at arm wrestling?"

"Oh-ho, and here I was expecting a cooking joke, I should have known better." Nezu clapped his paws in front of him, and rubbed them together in a way that was ever so slightly villianish. "Though I must say, I'm going to miss you burning All Might a new one, but today's meeting doesn't require him. Now please, please, take a seat."

Rei and I did, taking a seat on one of the two couches that were inside Nezu's office. The coffee table in here was just low enough that it might make a decent foot rest. "So what's the meeting for? Your habit of being vague as all fucking hell is showing again."

"Language Enji, we're in a place of learning." Nezu tapped on something on his desk, then jumped down to join us on the seat opposite us. "Lunch will be here soonish."

The rat had room service.

"So, what do you think I called you both here for?" Nezu scooted back until his back was against the cushion, leaving nearly a foot of seat between his feet and the ledge.

Rei snapped her fingers. "You want to join our D&D campaign."

"Oooh? Can I? I'd love to be a barbarian!"

"Oh! That's what I am!"

Nezu smiled and slapped his knee. "It's good we're of similar spirit Rei, because despite what my message said, you're both here for the same reason."

"Cryptic texts at 7pm on a weekday?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. With a thought, I lit it on fire, a trick that had taken me over a month to perfect.

"Exactly!" Nezu clapped his paws. "You see, I'm finally in a position where I'm trusted enough that I can start abusing my power as the principal, not that this is much abuse right now, but regardless, it's now up to me to do the hiring at U.A. As such, I'm going to practice a bit of nepotism and extend a job offer to both of you."

"Both?" Rei shrieked. "But, why? I mean, Enji I can understand, he's a pro hero! And I mean, he'd be great with kids, but, I'm not."

"No, but, you do have a degree in Japanese and English, do you not?"

Ever since Shoko stopped being in need of constant attention, Rei had gone through the trouble of going through college. Most of her classes were online, or at a local university. She didn't have the most prestigious degree in the world, but it was a degree nonetheless. At least it was more prestigious than my technically non-existent degree in mathematics.

Speaking of which, "You're aware I don't technically have a degree, right?"

Nezu shrugged. "You'd primarily be a hero course instructor, with a secondary in math. For your information, heroes don't really need a degree to teach at U.A."

"That's a shitty idea." Rei spat out. "I mean, like, All Might is a lovely person, but I've seen how that man does math." She swished her lips back and forth, eyes narrowing. "And it's not pretty."

"I agree, and that's why I'm changing precedence. Besides, while you'll only be teaching three classes a day Rei, for the most part you'll be serving as my assistant," Nezu tapped his heels together. "As self reliant as I am, there are things I must admit I need help with."

"You're aware I'm like, short, right?" Rei raised an eyebrow and slapped me in the chest with the back of her hand. "I rely on him to grab anything that's on the top shelf. Hell, my own son is taller than me now."

"He is?"

"Yeah! He's like fifteen, and a boy. Not hard to be taller than 5'2"," she looked at me, "especially with your genes."

"Oh no, I assure you I have plenty of people willing to help me reach the top shelf," Nezu raised a hand and let out a sigh. "No, rather your position would be more like acting as my stand-in for certain meetings. While I am now public, there are many that won't respect me based on appearances alone, and your connection to your husband gives you a bit of an edge. In addition, I'd like to fashion Enji into the face of U.A."

"So, let me get this straight." I let out a long desperate sigh. "You want both of us to become teachers at U.A."

Nezu nodded.

"You want Rei to become your stand-in for dealing with parents."

"More or less." He nodded again.

"And you want me to deal with the press and be the face of U.A.?"

"Absolutely. Despite what you claim, you're actually rather good at being on the news, you know."

"You're aware we're both introverts that have plans to move out into the middle of nowhere"—with good internet connection—"the moment Shoko is out of school?"

"Quite. However, I believe that both of you can succeed given the circumstances." The door opened, and Nezu smiled. "What's more is that this is the generation of kids that grew up with Endeavour, the kind hearted hero, and All Might, the pillar of peace. I wonder how many of them you've inspired? I want to find out how many more of them you can inspire in the future."

I rolled my eyes. Why was it that this rat-dog-thing was always trying to butter me up?

"Besides, the hours are very agreeable." Nezu made the offer with a smirk like that would seal the deal, and it probably would have, but I wasn't so sure.

Rei placed her hand on my knee and gave Nezu a very stern look. "Give us some time to talk this over, it's a big change for both of us. And, while I'm certain that Enji would love to have an ever so slightly less violent career path, this isn't something we can just rush into."

"Absolutely, this was just a job offer," Nezu replied with a smug grin on his face.

Just a job offer, he said.

Bah.

"Now then, I believe soonish is now." The door opened and a rather tall and slender man with messy blond hair and a large smile walked into the room. He was wearing a U.A. school uniform that looked to be way too loose on him. "Ahh, thank you Taishiro, I trust your recovery is going well?"

"Darn hootin, the grub at the kitchen will get me back to Fatgum mode in no time all."

Fatgum, now that name felt familiar. Was he someone from the manga? It was hard to remember given how I hadn't really read it in ten years now.

The blonde student looked at me and jumped a bit. "Woah! What's Endeavour doing here? Oh wait, ain't your kid coming here? If you have any concerns about him, don't worry, I'll be a grade-A senpai, just you watch."

I laughed, and stood to shake his hand. "No problem my boy, uhh, Tashikiro was it?"

"Taishiro sir!" he shook my hand eagerly. "Oh wow, I can't believe I'm meeting you, I still remember your speech from what ten years ago? It was great! Don't worry, I'm going to do my best to help that dream of yours to become a reality!"

Was that what it was? A dream? I laughed again and patted him on the shoulder. "I believe in you, and thanks for the food. Now go back to recovery, we're going to be needing you back in action before you know it."

"Yes sir!"

I watched as the boy darted out of the room with an extra spring in his step.

"Hmm," I heard Rei hum from behind me, "You know, I think Nezu might be onto something." Rei paused as I turned around, and then glared at Nezu. "Though knowing him, he planned that."

"I prefer, 'set into motion'. Just because fate's hand needs a little nudge does not mean it's not genuine." Nezu pushed himself forward on the seat and took a bite of the small sandwich that had been made for him. "Now then, let's eat!"

U.A. had some of the best school food I'd ever tasted.

XXXX

"So," Rei sat down on the edge of our bed. The dress shirt I had worn that day had become her night-gown the moment we got ready for bed. "What do you think?"

"About Nezu's offer?" I swung my leg onto the bed and slowly did a slow wiggle towards the center of our bed. "I've been a teacher before, I stopped for a reason."

"Hmm, maybe, but you were young back then right? Now, you're, well, you're kind of an old man." Rei pounced onto the bed, quickly taking her spot right next to me. Our nightly embrace was roughly the same year-round, a side effect of our quirks I thought, but it could also just be that we found what worked for us and never bothered to change it. "And you've raised three wonderful kids. Well, mostly."

"Mostly raised, or mostly wonderful?"

"Both."

She looked up at me with silver eyes. "I think we should try it, don't you? Just for a year?"

I let out a long sigh and looked towards the ceiling. A smile crept upon my face. "Yeah, but only so I can surprise Touya with it."

"How did I know that you were going to say that?"

"Cause we're an old married couple." I smiled and kissed Rei on the cheek, my hand grabbing her shoulder as I rolled on top of her. "Though, even if we are old, that doesn't mean you'll ever stop being beautiful to me."

Her arms wrapped around my neck. "I certainly hope so, because there's no way I'm letting you go."