~Shiori's POV~

I woke with a start in the middle of the night as my cell phone started blaring an obnoxious ringtone. Sitting up, I panicked as I realized I didn't recognize my surroundings. It took me a few seconds to realize I was in my new furniture-less apartment in a sleeping bag I'd bought from a convenience store when I'd stocked up on Band-Aids earlier in the day.

I reached for my phone lying on the floor next to the trash bag full of all my clothes. It was three in the morning! Groggily I picked up my phone. The name Enji Todoroki flashed across the screen. Why was he calling me at three in the morning?

"Endeavor? Is everything okay?" I mumbled as I answered the phone.

There was a loud string of unintelligible panicked shouts on the other end of the line. He sounded quite frazzled.

"...um...what?" I blinked, too tired to understand anything he'd just yelled at me.

Another string of louder more frantic gibberish, I managed to make out a few snippets of actual words, "girl stuff...sending car...get here...now," before the line dropped.

It took me a long moment to work out what he'd screamed and I burst out laughing as I realized his preteen daughter must have started her period. She'd asked me about periods earlier, it seemed one of her friends at school had just started, it would make sense that she'd start soon after if they were close.

"Why on earth is that man so terrified of periods?" I chuckled to myself as I wormed out of my sleeping bag. My body ached as all the cuts lining my body protested as I crawled over to the trash bag with my clothes.

Half asleep, I pulled a tank top on and a hooded sweatshirt to hide that I was braless as I was not awake enough to fight with a bra at the moment. I flopped over and managed to pull on a pair of pants before pocketing my phone, grabbing my purse and stepping into a pair of worn sneakers. Fighting off a yawn I exited my barren apartment, locked the door behind me and stumbled to the elevator like a drunk.

I reached the ground floor and headed for the exit. There was a car waiting for me. I got in the back seat and nodded in greeting to Endeavor's usual driver. He didn't speak to me very much; I got the sense he didn't care for me. His sharp gaze fell on me through the rearview mirror.

"Your shirt is on backwards." He noted.

I looked down and realized my sweatshirt was indeed on backwards as there was a hood on my chest. I struggled to spin the shirt around without flashing him, "thanks...hey can we stop at a gas station or convenience store?" I asked curiously. As terrified as Endeavor was about periods, I had a feeling he was ill equipped to handle such things.

The driver nodded and the car pulled away from the curb. After a few minutes the car came to a stop and I shook myself to wake up more before exiting the car. A yawn escaped me as I stepped into the 24-hour convenience store. I wandered the aisles in a daze, I got a few different pads in various sizes, grabbed a few different kinds of chocolate, a cute little teddy bear, some hard ginger candies and found some flowers near the register. After making my purchases, I returned to the car.

It wasn't long until the car slowed as it reached a large traditional Japanese style manor. It reminded me a little of the stuffy home I'd grown up in. I spotted a familiar hulking man standing on the wraparound porch. It was unusual seeing Endeavor in such a state. He was barefoot, wearing a pair of boring plaid pajama pants and a plain tight fitted t-shirt. He looked flustered and raced to open my door the moment the car came to a stop.

"Period?" I asked and nearly doubled over laughing as his entire face flushed scarlet.

"I don't need to know!" He growled.

"Why the hell are you so terrified of periods?" I laughed.

"I'm not! Stop saying it!" He snapped.

"Period?"

He glared at me. His face was so red I was almost concerned but too amused to be concerned.

"Would you prefer it if I called it Aunt Flow? Satan's waterfall? The crimson tide? Red Wedding? The Red Baron? Shark wee-?"

"Enough!" He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me toward the house.

The cuts on my arms screamed in protest and I winced slightly but allowed him to pull me along. "The crazier you act about it the more insane things I'm going to think happened to you to make you scared of them." I pointed with a laugh.

"I'm not scared of them. I have no business being involved." He grumbled looking uncomfortable.

"Not gonna fly, you're getting involved." I sighed and shoved the flowers, teddy bear, and chocolates into his arms, "I'll handle the girl talk but once things have settled down a little you need to give her those and let her know this isn't something to freak out about, it's completely natural and it's a big step into womanhood, she shouldn't feel shy, afraid or ashamed about it and you flipping your shit at the mention of the word period is not doing anyone any favors so I suggest you read up and get more comfortable with period talk." I pulled my arm from his grip and wandered in the direction I heard crying.

Endeavor hung back as I found my way to Fuyumi's room. I found her crying in the bathroom attached to her room. Her turquoise eyes were puffy, red and watery. Tears clung to her pale cheeks. She looked surprised to see me.

"Shiori?" She sniffled.

"Hey, rough night?" I smiled.

She nodded.

"Well, I brought some things that might help. Also, your dad is going to be hella awkward in a bit, just roll with it." I laughed as I held up the bag of pads. I took some time to go over the different sizes and how they worked before showing her the ginger candies and explaining they helped me with my cramps and if she had any cramps to give them a try. Once she seemed to calm down and be a little more comfortable with the situation, I gave her some privacy and was surprised to see Endeavor scrolling on his phone holding the bouquet of flowers, the teddy bear and the chocolates in his other hand.

I crept closer and chanced a glance at his phone and felt my heart swell as I realized he was reading articles about how to talk to teenage girls about periods. His face was bright red. I held back a giggle; it was kind of adorable. I leaned against the wall beside him without his notice and fought off a yawn.

A few minutes later, Fuyumi stepped out of the bathroom. She dried her eyes and looked over at us curiously as her father pocketed his phone and awkwardly stepped forward extending the flowers, teddy bear and chocolates to her. "Congratulations."

I shook my head and held back a laugh.

Fuyumi glanced in my direction and cracked a smile. "...thanks Dad..." She accepted the gifts from him with a small hug.

Endeavor awkwardly cleared his throat surprised by her actions, "it's pretty late, you should get back to bed, unless you had anything you needed to talk to me about, or Shiori if you're more comfortable talking to her..." He stumbled.

Fuyumi shook her head, "I think I'm okay now, thanks for calling Shiori for me." She looked to me and smiled, "thanks Shiori."

"Anytime." I smiled. "Sweet dreams."

She set the flowers and chocolates on her nightstand before hugging the teddy bear close and hopping back into bed. Once she was settled into bed, she wished us both goodnight and we exited her room.

"That was wrong wasn't it?" Endeavor sighed.

"Hmm... congratulations you now get to bleed for 3-7 days every month for many years...a bit odd, but not the worst thing you could say." I giggled. "I'm proud of you."

His face reddened.

A yawn escaped me, "unless you have any more crises that need attending or need to talk about anything, I'm gonna go back to my sleeping bag." I turned to head for the exit and smacked right into a wall in my groggy state.

Strong arms encircled me as I lost my balance. A gasp escaped me as I was suddenly lifted off my feet. My heart pounded in my chest as I met his piercing teal gaze. I felt my breath hitch in my throat at our sudden closeness.

"It's late, you should stay here tonight, I'll have someone drive you home in the morning." He tightened his grip on me as if he thought I'd try and escape him. I couldn't have escaped him, even if I wanted to.

My heart thundered in my chest at the thought of staying the night at the lavish Todoroki estate. What exactly did that entail? The thought of sharing a bed with him made my entire body burn with the heat of embarrassment. "That's okay, I'll be fine." I stammered nervously.

"You just ran into a wall." He frowned. "You're staying. Don't argue."

My words of protest fell away as my stomach began to twist and tie itself into nervous knots. He carried me down the hall in silence. Growing uncomfortable with the silence I blurted the first thing that came to mind, "so what traumatic experience did you have with periods to make you freak out so much?"

His face turned a bright shade of scarlet, "there wasn't one!"

"Really?" I asked while fighting a yawn. "You didn't have any older sisters that chased you around the house with tampons?"

He stared at me incredulously for a moment before shaking his head, "no."

"Did your mom like overshare or something?" I asked.

"No. Why the hell does it matter?" He grumbled.

"I've never seen someone react so dramatically to the subject, sure most people are a little awkward about the topic because its unpleasant but you looked like you were going to jump out of the car, while it was still moving, earlier today." I giggled.

"You're exaggerating." He huffed.

Another yawn escaped me. My body felt warm and pleasant wrapped in his strong arms. I started to relax against him. My eyelids began to leaden.

"Shiori?" Endeavor's deep voice was about to lull me to sleep.

"Hm?" I mumbled sleepily in response while trying to fight to keep my eyes open.

"Thank you."

I tried to mumble something back but I wasn't sure my voice was working. I'd lost the fight to keep my eyes open and felt my head drop onto his shoulder.

"Shiori?" He shook me lightly, "you wouldn't have been fine, you're already asleep." He chuckled as I drifted to sleep feeling safe and warm in his arms.