That was the point Shirou.
I mutely nod, falling back to my thoughts. There was also the fact that Lung probably knows Shirou's face. It's pretty distinct and not something Lung is going to forget anytime soon. God, I hoped Lung stayed in custody this time. Dealing with a cape and dealing with a group of capes were two different things. He'd need help, but who better to help him then me? It's decided, I'll try approaching Shirou in costume at some point, I know where he lives after all.
That was creepy and sinister, I take it back, I didn't think that.
I finish off my ice cream cone in a few more bites, then fully turn to Shirou, who had finally started eating his popsicle. He turns to face me and pulls it from his mouth, speaking before I even had an idea of what to say.
"Are you sure you don't want to just wait at your house?" Shirou asks again, making me immediately shake my head no. He had asked me that when we had first left Winslow and my opinion hadn't changed at all.
"My dad's work schedule is unreliable…" I explain, trying not to sound glum about it. "I don't want to talk to him about what goes on at school, it just stresses me out. So, unless I want to risk that we have to kill time somehow."
"…Well, I had been meaning to go shopping after dinner with your father tonight…" Shirou admits, looking lightly sheepish. "…There was a cape fight outside my apartment the other night, it collapsed on itself with all of my belongings so I need to buy new ones."
Wait, what?
WHAT?
"Did you sleep outside last night?!" I shout, turning to him in horror. He didn't look like he did, but where else would an orphan who lived on his own sleep? In Brockton Bay no less! Oh my god, did I just really leave him there with nowhere to go last night!? What's wrong with me??
"N-No?" Shirou hurriedly answers, lifting his palms towards her placatingly, a noticeable bead of sudden sweat rolling down his cheek. He glances left and right and that's when I see that the people walking around us have started to stop and stare. My shoulders slump before I grab his hand and pull him along so people would stop staring.
"Sleeping in the homeless shelters is just as dangerous as sleeping outside Shirou that's not any better!" I hiss through gritted teeth, frustrated and embarrassed at my public outburst. But that wasn't my fault, Shirou had done something stupid! So what if he was a cape! Someone could have got him while he was sleeping!
Shirou seemed at a loss at how to handle my shameful outburst for a solid minute before coming to his senses.
"Someone I met that night let me stay with them, its where I'll be staying for the time being until I can work something out." Shirou explains, looking sheepish again.
"Someone you me- In the docks?" I ask, doubtful such a thing happened like he was saying it. This was Brockton Bay, the chances of meeting someone the same night and then being allowed to stay in their home with no strings attached were about as rare as a real-life unicorn. Not impossible, especially with bio-tinkers existing. But it might as well be zero. Shirou however, nods like that makes it more ok.
"Yeah, It's not much of a story though. We talked and she offered." Shirou says dismissively.
Excuse me? She? Like… as in a girl? What did you get into Shirou??
My eyebrow doesn't twitch in sudden annoyance, it was just a muscle spasm.
"Shirou" I say, taking a deep breath to center myself to avoid another scene. Meanwhile he was just looking at me like I was the weird one who accepts weird ladies' propositions at 3am! "I really shouldn't have to explain this to you, but not everybody has your best interests at heart…" While I say this, I'm also acknowledging that if he hadn't gotten a place to stay from this chick, he would have slept outside, which I didn't want either.
"I know that!" Shirou says back, sounding almost whiny to my ears. "It wasn't for free; we made a deal."
My heart starts to sink.
"What kind of deal…?" I ask, dreading what he was about to tell me.
"She lets me stay at her place if I just keep it clean for her" Shirou explains easily, making my dread swiftly changing into befuddlement. My eyes were wide behind my glasses, blinking rapidly.
"She hired you as a live-in butler? Someone she just met? That's still suspicious…" I mutter back, now it was my turn to sound whiny. I hated it, so I quickly fixed my expression and continued to stare down Shirou, who was taller than me. I was embarrassed that I wasn't letting this go…
"Maybe, it's only been one day so far, I want to give it a chance" Shirou says seriously, in that way that showed he was serious and uncompromising. I had always thought it was admirable, now it was just annoying me. "Let's talk about something else, we can hang out there until you're ready to head home. In the meantime, do you mind if we go shopping?"
I huff, arms crossed and gaze flat. I'm unable to keep it up however, his face was too earnest right now. Sometimes I felt like I was the senior leading my underclassman around. However no, I didn't mind at all and I tell him that. He smiles smally, before leading me off to the nearest supermarket.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
When I step into Shirou's new apartment behind him, the first thing she noticed was how nice it was. Purple walls, expensive looking furniture, a few potted plants. He was living here? It was a depressing thought, but this apartment looked more cared for and costly then my own house. Shirou had stepped into the kitchen while I was inspecting the main room, opening a double doored fridge and starting to stock it with the things he had bought.
"Can I put these clothes in your room?" I ask innocently, raising the two bags I held in my hands, stuffed to the brim with multiple copies of the same outfit. His standard baseball t-shirt with some different blue jeans. It was nice on him, but I'll admit I was hoping on some level to see him in something else. But with my own choice of clothes? I shouldn't really judge.
"It's the first door on the left" Shirou hums, grabbing the apron he had bought from my bags from over the counter before I disappear into the hall. When I'm finally out of sight and standing in front of the first door on the left, I feel trepidation. I'd never been over to a boy's house before and now I was just going to enter his room? It felt slightly awkward, would I find anything weird by accident? Before my nerves could make me turn away, I twist the nob and pull the door open.
I am greeted by a completely uninspired room that barely looked lived in.
I stand there in an awkward silence for a second before stepping inside. Of course, how could I forget? Shirou just got here; he didn't have any time to actually settle in and make it look lived in. I curb my disappointment by pulling out his clothes one by one. Should I fold them? Shirou was already doing so much for me today; it would save him some time. I go out of my way to ignore the connotations of folding a boy's clothes as best I can, that is to say, I'm not successful at all. I was breathing through my mouth like a cave man, utterly glad I was alone while I started to neatly fold his clothes and pile them on the bed, making sure they wouldn't wrinkle. It doesn't take very long considering it was only 10 outfits, and I didn't even look at the underwear, I wasn't nearly ready for that.
I felt satisfied with my effort as I open the dresser opposite of the bed, ready to place the shirts there. However, the drawer wasn't empty, it was in fact filled with socks, small white t-shirts, and woman's underwea-
I slam the drawer closed with slightly shaking hands, ok, change of plans, Shirou can stack these on the bedside table or something when he was done. I try my best to ignore the implication of Shirou sleeping in a random girl's bed for the night as I hurry to leave the room. As soon as the door is open, the door opposite of mine opens up. A blonde with freckles and green eyes wearing pajamas and a pair of fuzzy slippers stares at me as I stare back at her like a mouse caught under the gaze of a hawk...
...Or fox?
Through the door, I could see that it was an office room of some kind, which leads me to the obvious conclusion that this was the girl that was letting Shirou live in her apartment. How the hell did she have a private apartment though? She looked barely older than me! Somehow, her being my age wasn't something that calmed me. In fact, it only made me more suspicious of her intentions to Shirou. He was the type who let others walk all over him when it involved only him, so there was no telling what was really going on here.
The girl gives me a once over, before her smirk appears, one that said she just found something funny. But I didn't even do anything yet! In fact, that smirk was making me a bit irrationally angry. So much so that the surprisingly meager number of insects in the building all start buzzing in response to my emotion. I calm them down, if this actually was Shirou's roommate, I should at least be a little grateful for what she did right?
Even if that look of total disregard at the beginning stung more than I'd like to admit.
"Shirou, you're already inviting under aged girls to my house!?" Asks the girl, who then glances back at me. "...I'm Lisa by the way"
"Taylor..." I mumble back dryly as Shirou audibly sputters from back in the kitchen. That gratefulness was already straining. Lisa's smirk turns into a mousy smile that makes me warily raise an eyebrow, something about this girl was just putting me on edge, and it wasn't the suspicion that she was taking advantage of him in some way. But I can't think on that for much longer, because she glances past me into the bedroom as I had done to her. She stares at the folded clothes then me and I can't help the bashful shame that takes over my expression.
But to my relief she doesn't see the need to comment, instead moving past me back into the living room. I follow, walking back into the living to see Shirou in his newly bought apron. Idly using a wooden ladle to mix a pot firmly while adding what looked like soy sauce. Beside him there was a large bowl filled with water filled with ice. Before I can ask, he plunges a hand into the bowl and starts working at what looked like noodles to me, but thicker than the instant kind I was familiar.
"Do you like Soba?" Shirou asks me and Lisa, who I see was now behind Shirou and looking over his shoulder at what he was cooking. I didn't know what Soba was, but he was already clearly into making it. So, I hurriedly nod my head, relieved when he looks relieved. He had been worried then.
"Do you have to stand so close?" Shirou asks Lisa, sounding a bit uncomfortable "If you wanted a taste, you could have just asked"
"Maybe I just wanted to be close after you of so cruelly left me here alone~?" Lisa says, turning around and pushing her back to Shirou's. Shirou's expression becomes more flat then uncomfortable, but my attention solely focuses on Lisa who was grinning at me. "And you can cook? Why didn't you mention that? You should make us breakfast e-v-e-r-y day~!"
"You're not even here every day, you told me that"
"That could change!"
I've decided, I do not like Lisa.
____________________________________________________________________________________
"Did you like the Soba?" I hear Shirou ask again while we leave the bus at a stop a few blocks away from my house, while I just continue to petulantly stare at him from over my glasses, eyes half lidded. This was the basis of our interactions since we left Lisa's apartment. He knew I wasn't happy, but obviously had no way of knowing why because he was just that clueless sometimes. And I also just wanted to see him squirm for a little bit. It was wrong of me, but it's also wrong to play with a girl's feelings, or let another girl do it in front of you.
But I had been doing this since we left, I should give him a break. Plus, that food had been delicious. I had no idea cold noodles had any place in the world.
"...Yeah, I-" I cough into my hand to try and fix how small my voice sounded "-It was really good. I had no idea you could cook Shirou?"
"I lived on my own?" Shirou asks me as an answer. To be fair it was a pretty good answer, but you hear stories of college student's being forced to eat nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or instant ramen just to save money. "...And it used to be something I did to relax or-…I haven't done it for that purpose in a while."
That sounds sad, at the very least it didn't sound happy. Which is why I find myself speaking up.
"Can you teach me? To cook I mean?" I ask slowly, awkwardly. I wasn't comfortable just asking for help in things. A flaw that definitely caused me more trouble than it might be worth, but it was just how I was. Ironically, Shirou is the one that made me feel more at peace with who I was, so it was kind of his fault, right? "Maybe that'll help it become what it once was? I already know the basic's so it shouldn't be too annoying right?"
My breath hitches in my throat when Shirou's slight frown noticeably evens out and he fixes me with an intense and strange look. I squirm under his gaze, confused.
"You'd... let me do that?" Shirou asks earnestly, which makes me want to frown. He was asking me? I had just asked! He sounded like the act would be a burden, but not a burden on him, but on me. It didn't fit the confident image I had of Shirou in my head at all. But more than that, it left me worried about him and wanting to offer the same comfort he offers me on a daily basis.
"Of course..." I say breathlessly, face beginning to turn red when I see for the second time in my life, a smile so relieved and hopeful that my knees shake.
The first time had been when he saw me for the first time after the Locker Incident. That felt like it was years ago at this point though, this was like finding an Oasis in the desert when you hadn't been aware you were dying of thirst. Shirou's response falls on deaf ears and is replaced with a grunt as I barrel into his chest, hugging him with all my strength. I can hear how fast his heart was beating, and my arms squeeze his waist as hard as they can.
Shirou was silent, rigidly so to the point I was beginning to think he was uncomfortable. But his arms wrap around me in return, breath in my hair. His grip was just as tight as mine, like I was a life line to him as much as he was to me.
"...Ahem?" I hear my dad asks, before my comfort is broken and I look with wide eyes up at my house. Had we been so into this talk that we hadn't realized we arrived?? My dad was standing on our porch, a myriad of emotions running along his features too fast for me to accurately identify and when Shirou lets out a heavy breath, I realize why. I scramble a step back and out of Shirou's arms, mortification clear even as Shirou turns to face my dad.
"Good evening, sir" Shirou starts, as if he had practiced for this very moment. Knowing he was a cape made that somehow a more likely thing then it should. "My name is Emiya Shirou, first name Shirou."
He then bows at his waist, arms straight at his side while his neck and head dip down low. It was so painfully formal that I think it completely throws my dad for a loop. Because he loses his ever-growing mistrust and replaces it with his mouth opening into a small o.
"Your daughter has been a wonderful friend to me" Shirou continues, now throwing me for a loop instead, who was constantly helping who here!? "As her father, I give the credit to you and hope to have a good relationship with you"
Me and my dad look at each other, my mortification clearly amusing him somewhat while he has relaxed, looking more intrigued then angry. Which I suppose was a complete win for me.
Shirou must have actually realized how absurdly formal he was being, because after lifting his head and seeing us sharing a look, he blushes slightly and raises the plastic bag holding our lunch leftovers.
"I've brought Soba?"
____________________________________________________________________________________
"So, Taylor's told me you lived alone since arriving in Brockton Bay, can I ask how?" My dad asks while I nervously bite into my sliced off piece of lasagna. My dad had welcomed Shirou inside after that horrifying display. Horrifying to me at least. I had thought that might be the end of it, but now he was asking Shirou questions. I had the most irrational fear that Shirou would say something that made my dad trust him less, or that he would make such a low impression on Shirou himself that it would affect his perspective of me negatively. Teenaged girl problems that I wish I could have avoided in hindsight.
"I'm a line cook at Somer's Rock, sometimes I bartend and sometimes I clean. It's honest work" Shirou says. My heart stops again when my dad frowns.
"You bartend?" He asks, the question clear. Shirou hardly looked older then 17, though I knew him to be 18. Shirou, the idiot, nods.
"Only sometimes sir" Shirou repeats, smiling respectfully regardless of her father's expression. "...As an orphan who hasn't graduated yet, my prospects are very low in the job market. I don't wish to join a villainous gang no matter what. So, I work the back of the bar usually. My... grandfather taught me how to mix drinks, so I sometimes do that too. However, I do not drink. I find no real enjoyment in the act."
Amazingly, it looks like that was the right thing to say because my dad leans back, looking impressed and satisfied.
"A hard worker then, you sound pretty responsible from that alone, even more from how Taylor talks about you." My dad admits, making me look back up at him with budding betrayal and wide eyes, the lasagna noodle I had in my lips falling to my plate. Shirou didn't need to know that! He didn't! Damn it dad! Shirou turns his gaze to me and I can't stop the squeak of embarrassment leaving my throat. I kind of wanted them to go back to the serious talk now...
Shirou, the bastard, seemingly didn't think my shame was enough, he slips his hand into his pocket and pulls out a handkerchief I didn't know he had. As he was sitting to my right, he easily leans in and whips the sauce that had stuck to my chin away. I panic, hands flailing at him to get away from me but he weathers the storm and cleans my face before turning back to my dad. Who was looking at the two of us with a wry grin.
Could I go back in time and let Lung burn me alive? It would surely be less painful than this...
"Shirou Emiya, that's Japanese right?" Dad asks next, giving me a break. "Excuse me if this sounds awkward, but you don't actually look Japanese at all?" That had been something I had always noticed too. It had gotten Shirou allot of strange looks from all sides of the race war going on in school behind the scenes. Shirou honestly looked more Irish or Scottish, wasn't he an orphan? Who named him that?
"I've been getting that allot, don't worry, I don't take offense." Shirou assures while in my head I struggle to remember if Shirou ever took offense to anything. "I was adopted by a Japanese man after a fire killed my parents. He raised me as my father for a good while and in my mind he's the only father I needed. Sadly, disease took him away from me and my grandfather, who was a family friend, took over from there along with his granddaughter. I've always been very privileged I think, so there's nothing for me to be overly sad about in that case."
Dad looks more than a little surprised, and more than a little regretful for having pulled that topic out. Especially when we were still dealing with the after effects of parental death ourselves. The mood drops for me and my dad I can feel. So can Shirou apparently, because he changes the subject. Still my mind doesn't stray from the topic, and the pieces Shirou had obviously left out so it didn't get too gloomy. If that grandfather and granddaughter combo were still in the picture, I doubt Shirou would have had to accept Lisa's offer last night.
They were gone too most likely. I could barely handle my own mother's death. Yet here was Shirou who had suffered parental loss at least 3 times, which is more than the number of parents most people had in their entire lives. He wasn't letting that stop him from doing what he needed to though, not even a little bit. And it didn't stop him from saving me. He turns to glance at me again, smiling.
He really was my Hero.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
My pointless staring at my ceiling from my bed is interrupted when my dad pokes his head into my room. I had just been trying to brainstorm the best way to approach Shirou and convince him to team up with me ever since he left for the night, but that had been going nowhere. So, I turn to my dad with a questioning gaze.
He meets my gaze and gives me a smile, one that reeked of relief, like his worries were noticeably lessened.
"I like him" Dad says simply "I think Annette would have too."
I stare at him, mixed feelings abound. Me and my dad have been having a weird time of it recently, like we were more roommates than father and daughter. We'd sometimes talk in the mornings, or not and not see each other until he comes back at whatever random time he finishes at The Union. Sometimes we'd have dinner together, sometimes we'd talk for more than a few minutes, sometimes he feels like my dad. But right now, I couldn't help but appreciate how much lighter he looked. It made me feel allot better about my home life in this moment.
"I think so too dad..." I get out, giving him a smile of my own, a real one. Even when he wasn't here, Shirou made me smile. "So can he come over more?"
"Sure" Dad says easily, making my body sink into my bed with relaxed glee, this day had started rough, but ended perfectly enough that I was completely ready for school tomorrow for once. Even If Shirou gets suspended, I'd just leave with him. It would be my turn to support him. And get him to wear a mask once I convince him to join me on patrols. It was wrong of me, but I could still relish the sight of Shirou appearing behind Emma like a grim reaper, and the way Sophia had only taken two noticeably shaken steps towards him before she was pushed back into a locker, slightly warping it. It felt good, but I would try to keep him from doing it again next time. "Oh, but only when I'm here to supervise!"
I give dad a flat look, seriously?
He just gives me what I can only describe as a shit eating grin.
"What? I saw how you looked at that guy all night Taylor~!" Dad says, my eyes starting to widen. What?? "That's exactly how I used to look at your mother! Now I know we had you young, but-"
A pillow hits him in the face and he retreats, closing my door and laughing all the way to his room while I'm left kneeling on my bed, hand outstretched from throwing my pillow at him. Face burning, I trudge off my bed and grab my pillow up from the floor. Stupid dad! Where does he get off doing that to me! I had enough trouble dealing with Shirou and my feelings already! I didn't- I wasn't...
I lift the pillow to my face and scream.