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From the very beginning, Ochako notices Shouto is extraordinarily careful with their son.
Babies are fragile beings, but they’re hardier than people give them credit for. Ryouta is not glass. Throughout all his check-ups, he is consistently healthy and growing at just the right rate. He’s above average in the fact that he ranges in the middle of the percentile chart for almost everything. Now at three years-old, he’s nearing the age where his quirk will manifest if he has one. Quirklessness is rare these days, but it still happens. Shouto won’t mind if it turns out that way.
Strange as it is, Ochako knows their son has a quirk. Call it a mother’s intuition, but she can see it in the way he holds himself, the way he runs, the way he grows. He’s got more of his father’s build, even if he has auburn hair and pink spots on his cheeks. He has one brown eye and one blue. It’s telling, and she also knows that Shouto feels it too. He’s nervous. That one blue eye stands out, a telltale sign of his Todoroki blood coursing through him.
A fire quirk. What kind, they’ll find out soon enough.
Shouto is gentle with Ryouta. He is kind. He is soft. He can be loud when he’s angry and passionate. He can be spiteful and petty. He can be brutally honest. He can be cold-hearted when he feels threatened. She’s seen those ugly sides of him and loves him all the same. Ryouta has not. Shouto is very careful not to let him see those parts, afraid that he will fear him if he does. She could tell him he’s being silly - that their son will never fear or hate him - but it’s not her place. Shouto grew up feeling that way about his father. It’s sadly natural for him to worry about such things.
When Ryouta was an infant, Shouto swore not to use his quirk around him unless absolutely necessary. He never liked his father’s quirk, having learned to fear it by proxy because of witnessing the results of his oldest brother’s harsh training. It only grew worse when his quirk manifested and training began. To this day, he is still worried Ryouta will be afraid of him. He’s so strong. He has a power capable of laying waste to cities. He doesn’t want Ryouta to worry about that strength being turned against him.
Of course, it’s nothing like that. Ryouta is enamored with Shouto’s quirk. He requests him to create ice sculptures and roast food over his flames. He likes candles and slushies. He’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t get an ice quirk too, but he’ll be pleased with fire. It’s in his heart. Their boy has a fiery spirit - she knew that from the way he constantly kicked in the womb - and that fire will be his. Shouto is perhaps the only one of his siblings capable of passing down a quirk that has been in the Todoroki generation for centuries. There’s a possibility Fuyumi or Natsuo might, but not nearly as likely.
The fire is Shouto’s too. It’s his power. He’s long since accepted it, but he’ll have a hard time dealing with a bit of his father being in their son.
No matter the case of his quirk, Shouto will love him with his entire heart. That’s something else she knows about him. He loves their son unequivocally, unquestioningly. He loves him more than anything in the world. He never thought he would be a father. He didn’t think himself capable of it. He was afraid and he still is, even if he loves being one.
Being pro heroes means that it’s hard for them to spend time together as a family. They take every chance they can get. Most people didn’t expect Shouto to scale down his hours, but as much as he loves being a hero, he loves being a father more. His own was never in his life except to train him, putting being a hero above everything else, and it is the last thing Shouto wants to do.
Whenever he can, Shouto takes the opportunity to put Ryouta to bed. He carries the small boy to his bedroom, tucks him in, and either reads or tells him a story. His favorite are stories about their time at U.A., which never fails to make Shouto roll his eyes. How many times has he told the story about how he first used his fire power thanks to Uncle Deku during the Sports Festival? He tries not to tell stories that might scare him or give him a skewed view of hero society or what they did. One day, he’ll learn about Stain, the Kamino Incident, and so much more. Until then, Shouto tries to stick with dramatic but not so scary stories.
Leaning in the doorway of Ryouta’s space-themed bedroom, Ochako watches as Shouto recounts a tale from their second year and then turns to head to bed. Constellations from a globe night light glow in the hallway, disappearing once she steps into their room. Their entire house is designed in the traditional Japanese style. He insisted that they didn’t have to have it that way, but Ochako loved it since she saw his dorm in the Heights Alliance dorms. It’s so fancy. At fifteen, she never would’ve believed she’d live in a house like this.
Granted, she also never would’ve believed that she would be married to Shouto Todoroki. It was absolutely outrageous and yet here she is, sliding into bed and waiting for her husband to finish telling their son a bedtime story. Things like that are only supposed to happen in movies and books.
A few minutes later, the bedroom door slides open, and Shouto quietly pads inside. He slips in underneath the covers, the cool side of his body causing her to shiver. In response, he slides his left hand up the side of her body to warm her again, and she sighs in relief. Honestly, she prefers sleeping on his cold side so she doesn’t overheat in the middle of the night, but he’s got a terrible fondness of warming her up anyway when they’re able to go to bed at the same time.
When Shouto’s hand stills in her hair, Ochako opens her eyes to peer at him in the dark, finding him staring at the window behind her in contemplation. “Everything okay?”
“Hm?” Shouto blinks, and his eyes flicker to hers. “Ah, yes, I’m fine, just...thinking.”
They’ve been married for years and known each other for longer, and he will still pull vague stunts like this with her. By now, it’s almost a game, one which she very carefully tests. “About…?”
“Ryouta’s quirk,” Shouto admits. “I told myself I wouldn’t think about it - that it didn’t matter since it’ll be his - but every time he brings it up, I don’t know what to say.”
“You’re worried.” Ochako turns onto her side. “Why?”
Shouto rolls onto his back and furrows his brow at the ceiling. The action doesn’t pull him away from her contrary to what it seems like at first glance. Instead, it allows herself to scoot closer and tuck her body against his like two joining pieces to a puzzle. She doesn’t prompt him again, giving him time to figure out his thoughts and put them together before saying what’s troubling him. Before, even when they were friends, he might’ve brushed her off, but she’s learned that patience and silence pushes him forward when it comes to quiet moments like this.
“I think...it’s going to be fire-related,” Shouto says. She knows it is and so does he. There isn’t any thinking about it. “Nothing will come of it, of course - I wouldn’t let it - but I keep thinking of what my father will say.”
“We could always not tell him,” Ochako suggested playfully.
A faint grin appears on Shouto’s face. “Like when we didn’t tell him Ryouta’s name for month?”
Ochako nudges her face into the crook of Shouto’s neck. “Have I ever told you how attractive you are when you’re mischievous and passive aggressive?”
“That should not be an attractive quality,” Shouto points out. “It’s petty.”
“Are you complaining?”
“Definitely not.” Shouto rolls onto his side to face her so he can kiss her briefly. His hand settles on her hip, his fingers curling over her shift possessively.
The first time he ever did something like that, subtly pulling her away from Bakugou back to him as if to say she was his, she nearly melted on the spot. They hadn’t even been dating yet - she wasn’t even sure if he was aware that he liked her as more than a friend at the time - but it stands out to her as clear as day. He still acts like that every now and then, and it is so, so nice to be wanted so thoroughly, especially after having a child.
Shouto lets out a breath. “I don’t want Ryouta to ever be afraid or hate his own quirk.”
“He won’t,” Ochako reassures him, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead.
“I don’t…” His eyes harden. “I don’t want my father to think he can get a hold of him.”
“He definitely won’t.” Ochako lays a hand on Shouto’s cheek. “I honestly don’t think he’ll try. He’s not the same man he was back then.” She doesn’t like saying it, but it’s the truth. Even Shouto nods. Enji Todoroki is not the world’s best father by any means (that would be Shouto’s title), but he’s no longer the monster that made Shouto so wary about becoming a father either. “He’s respected your wishes about keeping his distance and letting you dictate his relationship and time with Ryouta.”
“You’re right. It’s…” Shouto grimaces. “It’s an old fear, I guess, that he’ll try to control my life again - Ryouta’s life - in order to progress the Todoroki legacy. I didn’t turn out the way he wanted in the end.”
Ochako scoffs lightly. “Todoroki legacy? This is clearly the Uraraka legacy now.”
Shouto’s lightly draws circles on her hip with his fingertip, lighting a fire in her even without using his quirk. Damn, smooth bastard. How was she ever supposed to not fall in love with him? “I like the sound of that. Why don’t we try to keep the legacy going a little more?”
Giggles slip unbidden past Ochako’s lips, and she buries her face into his solid chest. “You’re shameless.”
“I mean, one is good and all, but for a proper legacy, you should have multiple descendents.”
“Stop it!” Ochako lifts her blushing face away from him. “You’re just saying that because you thought it was funny when I had to waddle everywhere.”
“It was cute.” Shouto nuzzles his nose against hers. “Plus, I kind of like this ‘father’ gig. I’m going to need you to raise in the ranks so I can retire and become a stay-at-home dad.”
Ochako full-on laughs then. “Can you imagine what your father would say to that?”
“He’d probably have a heart attack,” Shouto muses almost wistfully.
As much as he would love to spend every day with Ryouta, his job as a hero is still very much important to him. Maybe he doesn’t put in the same hours as Deku, Bakugou, Iida, or Momo anymore, but he gets the job done. He’s very popular and in the top ten, although there are days when he doesn’t even seem to know his own rank. He is quicker to talk about his pro hero wife Uravity or their incredible son than he is about himself.
She kind of thinks that’s part of the reason why he’s ranked so high. People aren’t used to their favorite heroes also being family men or so unabashedly in love with their family. Endeavor had a large family, but besides Shouto, he never talked about them. His wife remained unnamed. People didn’t even know he had three other children. And then there’s Shouto, ready to promote his wife during an interview or carrying Ryouta on his shoulders at a fundraiser.
It’s the sweetest, most attractive thing in the world.
“You don’t need to worry,” Ochako tells him, “because we’ll be there for him. More importantly, if he does have a fire-related quirk, you’ll be there to help him.” She holds his face in her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes. “You won’t make the same mistakes. You’ll be better. You’ll be so good. He will be happy and know you love him. He won’t be afraid of you.”
Shouto nods and then wraps an arm around her so he can prop his chin on the top of her head. She clings to him in return, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. There isn’t anyone in the world that she trusts more than Shouto, especially with their child. After all, he’s careful.