Chapter Text
Turns out, the technology was already in production; it had just been halted by the lack of willing product testers. Flame users were common, but those strong enough to need such a product were rare, those in the position to use one were rarer, and the chances of someone being willing to risk damage to their bodies was quite possibly one in ten billion. Luckily, Touya was that one in ten billion.
The developers producing the gear were ecstatic to have the Endeavor interested in helping test their product, especially with the purpose of helping his kid achieve his dreams of following in his father's footsteps to become a hero. The prototype gauntlets arrived at the Todoroki estate just in time for his fourteenth birthday. And that afternoon, Touya's training resumed.
Within a week he had remastered two forms of Flash-Fire Fist, drawing upon the training he did as Dabi to help him. By fifteen he'd mastered all of Endeavor's signature moves and created one of his own. He used Phosphor as little and as secretly as he could, keeping it on the down low until he could push Shoto towards recreating it himself and then pretending to copy it again.
Every once in a while they'd send the gauntlets back to the developers alongside feedback and results from training, they'd often be sent back to be sized up as well, as Touya proceeded through his growth spurt. Touya would have to take a week or two break from training, and all his father's attention would return to Shoto; leaving none for him. Or Fuyu. Or Natsu.
That year he passed the UA entrance exam for students with recommendations. Rei was allowed to temporarily come home from the hospital. She hugged and congratulated her oldest son and gathered all his siblings for a small celebratory dinner. Enji didn't attend, he was too busy with hero work.
All the congratulations Touya got from his father was in the form of a text.
Touya felt as if he had displeased his father. When the school year started he threw himself into training, quickly establishing himself as number one in the class. He felt like he was only going through UA as a formality, what could the possibly teach him that he didn't already know?
Turns out, quite a bit.
During their first disaster relief training session he felt useless. To be fair, basically no one else knew what to do, but it was still a hit to his ego. All he was really good for was taking out the fake, mechanical villains that were trying to impede their progress; he took care of them while his classmates worked to rescue the "civilians."
By the time he was done with all the villains his classmates had rescued most of the civilians, and all that were left where three trapped in a burning building. His classmates were debating on what to do while Touya just walked right up to the inferno. The temperature was well below the maximum his body could handle, so he walked right in. The others didn't even notice until he was dragging the practice dummies that represented civilians out of the building and the training came to an end.
The teachers gathered them together for critique. Most were critiqued individually, those who partnered up with someone else were critiqued individually and then as a team. They were then given tips on how they could improve. Touya patiently waited his turn.
"Todoroki, you need more control."
Touya was shocked by the critique, his control was amazing, it was almost on par with Endeavor's, "What?"
"Your goal should be to incapacitate and capture villains, not kill them. You shouldn't be using enough firepower to instantly burn someone alive."
Touya was still. By now he was using about the same amount of heat as Dabi. He recalled the heat, the smell, the screams, the sight, the taste of the smoke in the air. It scared him to think he could experience it all again. Dabi responded in Touya's place, "Yes sensei."
His teacher continued, "And on top of that you just walked straight into a burning building alone!"
Touya finally mustered his ability to speak, "Sensei, the heat of that fire was well within what my body could handle."
"That's not the point. You could handle it, the average person can't," he pointed to the dummies, they'd been charred and melted by the heat of the house, "You can't just grab people and walk them through a house fire, let alone carry several at once. Don't be reckless, you aren't All Might."
Touya just silently nodded and clenched his fists.
After spending both of his lives learning to increase the heat of his flames as much as he could, he spent the week before the sports festival learning to decrease it. It was only a matter of time before Shoto stumbled across him training, using only orange flames.
"Nii-san?" Touya looked back towards Shoto, who flinched at his glare, "You've been training for a long time. You should come in for dinner."
He held himself back from snapping at his brother, "Go away Shoto."
Shoto frowned. Touya didn't hear him walk away, just Endeavor later approaching.
"What's on your mind? Did something happen at school?"
"My flames are too hot."
"Too hot? Are your gauntlets not enough?"
"No, I can handle them. It's just that no one else can."
Endeavor paused, thinking, "It might be because you're using my moves."
"What do you mean?"
"You're producing a lot more heat than I do. Your flames don't need to be as large and explosive as mine."
"That's not flashy enough to grab the audience's attention."
"Touya," His eyes met Endeavor's, "your flames are a bright blue, everything you do with your quirk will be flashy."
—^v—^v—^v—^v—^v—^v—^v—^v—^v—
The sports festival was an overwhelming success for Touya. Compared to the pros and Shoto's classmates, beating these kids was like crushing ants. No one had the ability to so much as graze him.
He was exactly what the people expected of the eldest son of their number two hero: powerful, snarky, intelligent, agile, but most importantly handsome and flashy. He wasn't used to being called handsome, the closest he ever got was Tomura joking that, "He'd be the hottest among us if it weren't for those scars," after a couple drinks. Touya was surprised by the accuracy of his statement already. He was attractive, for a fifteen year old at least, and the public adored him already.
He'd carefully curated the persona he presented to the public. Not coldly focused and uncaring like his father, but driven and nonchalant. Essentially the same traits, but refracted through a different lens, distorted by context. Said with a smile and a wink instead of a frown and a glare.
His popularity fueled him through all three years at UA. Everyone adored The Cremation Hero: Kasou, but he never dated, claiming he just wanted to focus on his studies. In reality, he just didn't think it right. He struggled to relate to his classmates anyway, he essentially viewed them the same way they viewed ten year olds. He couldn't help but think of his classmates as little snotty children, even thinking about crossing that line made him feel sick.
He had to retake the hero licensing exam, apparently he still needed to work on how reckless he was when working with civilian rescue. He wasn't too hurt, Shoto had also failed his first time around and he likely would again.
In his second year he took a work study under his father. He'd already proven himself capable in a controlled environment by winning the sports festival two times in a row, actual field work was a completely different story. It was taxing, mentally and physically, to try and keep pace with his father, so he created his own pace instead.
He lived in the criminal underworld for years, he knew it better than any other hero could. He knew how criminals behaved, where their hideouts were, what codewords they used, and how they thought. Endeavor told him to be in action the moment an incident starts, sooner if possible. He focused on being in action even sooner than Endeavor. He caught warning signs first, and acted first. He wasn't perfect at it, and he didn't beat Endeavor every time, but it was enough to establish himself.
Endeavor was proud of him.
His second and third years were more or less the same. His accuracy and timing improved with practice. He'd become almost hyper-vigilant by the middle of his third year, beginning to spot and exploit the weaknesses in his classmates' habits and behaviors as if it were as easy as breathing. He started doing the same with villains, analyzing their movements, finding patterns, and discovering their weaknesses. All was fine until it backfired.
He was never the self critical type, but as he sat in Recovery Girl's clinic he realized he needed to be. Dabi moved in the shadows; he was rarely -if ever- recorded during a fight, the only way to learn his fighting style was by fighting him. Kasou was the polar opposite; if he was in a fight that lasted longer than fifteen seconds, someone would inevitably pull out their phone and record it to post to TikTok or Youtube or wherever else. Villains could watch and study him with ease, before they ever fought him.
He limped home alone. The weight of upcoming finals felt more literal as his laptop and notebooks and review sheets and homework sat heavy in his bag, worsening his limp. Oh God. Would this injury affect his performance in the practical exams? Could he recover in time?
He lacked the strength and energy to walk the whole way, so he took the train instead. He tried to blend into the rush hour traffic, but that's hard to do when you're him. Poor, malnourished Dabi barely scraped above the average height for Japanese men; Touya ate three full meals a day, every day, and with the help of his father's genes finally kicking in, he hit 183 cm with ease. He literally stuck out in a crowd.
The news of his humiliation was already circulating online and on traditional news outlets. Occasionally people would stop him and ask if he was okay and he'd respond that he was. Thankfully, none asked for selfies, it seemed that was a line most weren't willing to cross. No one was willing to take advantage of his injury or feign sympathy to get a picture with him. Thank God, or Buddah, or whomever was out there for Japanese social decorum.
It was a short train ride home. Someone had offered him their seat and he returned it when he got up; they'd stuck around to make conversation.
"What do you plan to do after UA?"
He'd been asked this question several times by press, teachers, classmates, his family, the sidekicks at the Endeavor Agency, and now a random person on public transit. He never told the full truth when answering. How was he supposed to explain that he wanted to immediately go independent and get to the top ten as quickly as possible just to spite someone currently being hidden from the public? So he always just said that he planned on spreading his wings and going independent as soon as possible, that answer usually satisfied people.
He toed off his shoes at the genkan and quickly retreated to his room after brushing off a greeting from his siblings with a lazy wave. It was times like these he wished his family had a western house. He just wanted to collapse into bed, but instead he had to unroll the futon and retrieve his blankets and pillow first. He didn't even bother with the second step, after unrolling the mat he just collapsed on top of it. He was so absorbed in his exhaustion that he didn't register the soft footsteps approaching him until the futon shifted slightly under the weight of someone else sitting next to him.
"I'm sorry I had to come home the same day you got a bad injury," A cold hand embraced one of his.
Touya popped out of bed when he heard the voice above him, practically tackling his mother into a hug. He'd forgotten that this was today. She had come home, not just as a visit, she was home, permanently. He'd been so caught up with his injury that it slipped his mind.
He was happy, but guilt swelled in his gut. Not over forgetting, but for subjecting the other version of his mother to a decade in that hospital, when only half of that was necessary. And it seemed that every time she had finally come back to him, he had to leave her soon after. First with Dabi's final death, and now with Touya about to move out on his own.
Touya leaned into the chill that seemed to constantly radiate off his mother, though he knew that's not how temperature works. "Cold" is just the absence or removal of heat energy. It was more that she was absorbing the warmth of everything around her; including Touya's warmth and the love that came with it.
She placed her hand on his thigh and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Frost spread across his wounds and numbed his pain.
He had changed clothes and napped before dinner. The ice had melted and evaporated by then, but the injury remained and putting pressure on it hurt. He sat with his good leg under him and the injured one against his chest.
"Don't sit like that. You look like a delinquent," at least Enji had the decency to show up. Touya slid his leg to the side instead. He said nothing in response. He sensed that Enji was disappointed in him for getting injured by a street level criminal, though nothing was said.
It was hardly a celebratory dinner, more like just a typical family meal. Touya mostly ate in silence, only answering when queried. That was, until Enji spoke up.
"Touya, what was with you today?" Touya shot him a confused look, "It's not like you to get yourself injured."
"Damn, so no 'good job' for getting him in custody anyway? Or for any of the other dozen or so captures today? Or for passing the pro hero licensing exam?"
"That doesn't answer my question."
Of course his accomplishments went unacknowledged. He forgot that that was the bare minimum expected of him.
"Based on the video, there's a moment during my Hell Spider where I'm wide open, he exploited that. I'll work on it tomorrow."
Touya shrunk in on himself in response to Endeavor's scoff. He'd never be good enough.
Touya healed just in time for his finals, which he passed. Endeavor would've slaughtered him if he hadn't. He second in both test types. The girl who got first there was some kind of savant, there was no competing with her. Enji begrudgingly accepted it. He was familiar with that girl already, and empathized with the feeling.
Before his graduation even started Endeavor was helping guide him through starting his own agency, as if he couldn't get rid of him fast enough. Touya was happy to be achieving the goal he'd worked towards for the past three years, and to be taking some of the glory away from Hawks.
Though something felt wrong.