Chapter Text
Midoriya Shoto knew it was fate when he was pitted against his best friend and rival, Bakugou Katsuki, for Battle Trials. A chance for them to go all out against each other and show the rest of the plebs in their class that they would be the very best Heroes out there. All CliMight and King Explosion Murder- the Fated Rivals for the Number One Spot, even more intense than Endeavor’s rivalry with All Might.
So of course when he goaded Katsuki into bringing the whole base down, Shoto knew he would never let his best friend live this down. Especially with his own quick thinking of freezing the bomb before it could hit the ground and be destroyed- doing whatever he can to avoid causing the Hero Team to lose.
“I’m going to beat you next time, Shochan,” Katsuki said when they made it back to the observation room.
“In your dreams, Kacchan,” Shoto remarked, smirking only for it to fall when he saw All Might with his face in his hands. Though he can’t see why the Number One Hero would be disappointed in them, the Heroes won in the end.
“Can-” All Might started to say before shaking his head. “Can anyone explain what went wrong here?”
One hand immediately shot up, the girl with a ponytail who Shoto remembers as one of the two recommended students in their class. The other, a guy who was way too tall, raised his hand a second too slow.
“Yaoyorozu first, then Yoarashi,” All Might said, his smile actually looking a little forced at that moment.
“Bakugou and Midoriya both refused to make a plan with their respective teammates, leaving Ida and Uraraka in the dark. Not to mention their actions resulted in the building literally collapsing over their heads and had Midoriya been a little slower with his ice then the bomb would have crashed to the ground and been destroyed. They also put their teammates in danger of falling debris, forcing Ida to break character just to get Uraraka to safety.”
All Might appeared to be speechless at that before he turned towards Yoarashi. “Do you have anything to add?”
Yoarashi shook his head. “Yaoyorozu got it all, but Midoriya and Bakugou had a lot of passion and I couldn’t help getting pumped up! Hopefully Todoroki and I can be even better!” He shouted, his smile wide as he brought a hand around a smaller kid with curly green hair.
Todoroki Izuku, the son of Endeavor himself, only gave a hesitant smile in response. So far he seemed fairly unremarkable, only using what Shoto can assume to be a weak ice quirk to get by in Aizawa’s apprehension test. How he can possibly be related to the Number Two baffles Shoto, to the point where he can’t even see him as a possible threat to his and Katsuki’s reign as the top students.
“Well since you are volunteering, you and Todoroki will be going next against Hagakure and Ojiro,” All Might said, his smile no longer forced as he waved them down to get ready for the next round. “As a reminder, Aizawa and I will both be reviewing the footage to give you your grades for this assignment, but as of this moment I plan to give Ida full marks for putting the exercise on hold while a classmate was in legitimate danger.”
Shoto didn’t even pay attention to his classmate’s objection to receiving full marks. Something about how he only did this because Todoroki inspired him. Even then, looking at the boy, Shoto can’t find anything about him that would inspire anyone. Just a plain boy wearing a yellow costume with a weak ice quirk.
Though when All Might gave the signal, Shoto found himself blinking when Todoroki went and actually froze the ground of the building. Even if he can’t hear what’s being said, he could see Hagakure’s gloves moving as she may actually be trying to jump. Unable to sneak up on Todoroki and Yoarashi, the two wrapped some capture tape around her before they moved on.
Only two minutes had passed and already they took down one of their opponents.
The rest of his classmates were completely silent as they watched this, Yoarashi and Todoroki both making it to where Ojiro was guarding the bomb. Ojiro took a breath as he got into a ready stance, motioning for them to come right at him as his tail seemed to swish, ready to hit them where it hurts more than likely.
Todoroki also got in a stance, though he actually smiled and said something in Yoarashi’s direction. His gaze focused on Ojiro as a blast of wind was sent at him, and then Todoroki’s hands lit up with a fire that was soon shot below the wind to send Ojiro into the air.
Though what caught Shoto’s attention wasn’t the control, no.
It was the color of the fire Todoroki launched at Ojiro.
Blue.
Shoto didn’t even have to look to see Yoarashi take the opportunity to grab the bomb and secure a win for his and Todoroki’s team.
He only had to wonder why Todoroki didn’t even use his fire during Aizawa’s test, if it was that good. Did he think he was too good for all of them? That they weren’t worthy of being faced with his fire?
Even as Yoarashi helped Ojiro down and they went back to help Hagakure, Shoto only focused on Todoroki in contemplative silence. Not even paying attention to the way his classmates and even All Might complimented the pair on their teamwork- especially Todoroki for keeping his firepower to a contained level.
He could also see Katsuki was very silent, coming to the same realization as Shoto.
They weren’t the only big fish here.
But there was something about Todoroki’s quirk that had him wondering...
---
The weeks following their Battle Trials, the weeks after USJ, Shoto never forgot about Todoroki’s quirk. In fact, it infuriated him that someone with such a powerful quirk acted so timid. Sure there was confidence and positivity, but it sometimes got overshadowed by some form of hesitance.
Not to mention his literal waterworks that made Shoto think of his own mother whenever she cried. At the drop of a dime she would threaten to flood the apartment with her tears, but the emotions she portrayed would always get Shoto smiling fondly.
Especially since a majority of the tears she shed were of joy and pride- the tearful hug she gave him upon viewing his acceptance letter to UA, her saying how proud she is and that she knew he would make it into whatever Hero School he decided on.
The image of his mother almost overlapped with Todoroki after USJ, when he saw his classmate clinging to what Shoto could only assume to be his brother and sister. Obviously freaking out over something, probably finally showing his weakness now that they had faced real villains for the first time.
Even then, he went back to normal the day they came back to school. Acting like some kind of ray of sunshine, talking as if he didn’t freak out the worst out of everyone in their class. No one cried over being attacked by villains.
And now, as he stands in front of Todoroki in the stadium hallway before they have to go for their respective fights, Shoto believes he has him figured out.
Why they share the same birthdays.
Why they have such similar quirks.
Why Todoroki has the same tendency to cry literal fountains as Shoto’s own mother.
It is the only way that this could possibly make sense.
“Todoroki, I’ve been thinking this and it’s the only possible way for it to work. Your quirk is similar to mine, and we share the same birthdays,” Shoto began, seeing that he has Todoroki’s attention. “You also cry in a way that’s similar to my own mother and I have to ask,” he continued, not paying his classmate’s confusion any mind. “Do you think it’s possible that I’m Endeavor’s secret love child? That we were twins who were separated at birth?” He asked.
He watched as Todoroki just stared at him, blinking for a few seconds, and then he actually snorted for a few seconds. He then looked at Shoto as if he was seeing him for the first time before shaking his head and giving a smile. “I’m afraid you’re wrong about that one. Even then, our quirks aren’t actually related to each other,” Midoriya started, though he soon stopped and looked down at his arm which has a few patches that look lighter than the rest of his skin.
“Actually, most days the fire I have doesn’t feel like my own. Like I had taken it straight from-” he stopped and shook his head before looking Shoto in the eye. “Anyway, I look forward to fighting you. To be able to show everyone that this is my power now, and use it to be the best hero possible.”
As Todoroki turned to step out, Shoto started to wonder what he could have meant by that. Obviously his quirk is his, and similar enough to Shoto’s. He’s probably scared that Endeavor will see who is the superior child and regret not keeping them both and even marrying Shoto’s mother.
Or maybe he was ashamed? Ashamed that Shoto and Todoroki were conceived out of wedlock? The mother of Todoroki’s siblings being forgiving enough with her husband to take in Todoroki at least…
As he walked, he could hear a pair of voices and see Katsuki up ahead listening in. His own curiosity brewing, Shoto went and stood by Katsuki where he saw Endeavor standing in front of Todoroki. Looking down at the much smaller boy with a raised eyebrow.
“What did you just say?” He asked.
“I guess you are deaf to the kid you decided wasn’t worth your time,” Todoroki remarked, actually standing straight as he looked his father in the eye. “It doesn’t matter though, because I don’t need your attention to be the kind of hero I want to be.”
“You won’t make it far with a quirk like Temperature Regulation. Not even in the top five-hundreds for ranking,” Endeavor said.
Todoroki shook his head. “The rankings are meaningless to me, I just want to save people and you will see that there is more to Temperature Regulation than the name says,” he began, turning to continue walking. “But I already know you’re watching Midoriya. He was the one who developed the quirk you wanted after all. The quirk you desired, the quirk you hoped to get from Mom when you bought her for a Quirk Marriage.”
With those words, Todoroki Izuku stepped towards the arena where he would be facing off against his first opponent.
Leaving Shoto more confused and actually wondering what that could possibly mean. Especially since he knows for a fact that Quirk Marriages are either highly illegal or only frowned upon- really it isn’t a topic that comes up for him because of how outdated the practice is.
All he could do is head up to where the rest of his class is with Katsuki and watch Todoroki fight against that guy with a copy quirk from The B Class. He remembered watching him effortlessly copy Katsuki’s quirk and turn it against him, and then barely making it to the next round with his team.
Though Shoto couldn’t help but find it strange when Copycat touched Todoroki only for no fire or even ice to come out.
Todoroki freezing the ground and lightly pushing Copycat out of the ring for a quick victory.
It was when he was looking at the rest of the cheering crowd that he realized he couldn’t see Endeavor’s roaring flames anywhere.
As if the man didn’t actually care to watch his own son participate in the Sports Festival.
Still, with that swift victory Shoto knew he and Todoroki would be fighting against each other and Shoto can prove to everyone that he is the superior fire and ice user.
--
As he stared at the TVs in an electronic store airing UA’s Sports Festival, his blue eyes focused on the screen that was airing the First Years. From what he could see they were in the midst of a tournament and two students from the same class with similar quirks were duking it out.
Orange flames mixed with blue while the ground was completely covered in ice. Glaciers being formed only to get melted almost instantly by the blue fire from the kid with green hair.
The very quirk he was familiar with as his hands twitched in a familiar fashion, the emptiness in his very being gnawing at him in the worst way possible. His skin crawled with an itch as he set a hand in his pocket where he kept his knife tucked away.
Even as the cameras went to focus on the Number Two Hero screaming something for a few seconds, he couldn’t bring himself to care. While he hates that man, it was nothing compared to the hatred he felt for someone else.
The camera soon focused back on the combatants in time to show the kid with red and white hair get knocked out of bounds. The winner gained the focus as his name is shown right above his smiling face.
Todoroki Izuku.
“Just you wait, Little Brother, I will make you pay for stealing everything from me,” he said, his smile wide as he caught a glimpse of his own reflection- the various piercings he got all over his face that was perfectly clear. The roots of his black hair showing his natural color, meaning he would have to dye it once more.
Dabi gave a wicked grin as he turned, knowing he won’t have to see the rest of this.
Let Izuku have his moment, because soon it will all be torn away from him.
--
It was a habit for him to only hold things with three to four fingers, even if now he can’t use his quirk anymore. It reminded him of Eraserhead in a sense, and ever since he faced that hero at USJ his quirk completely vanished.
The news was interesting for Sensei, enough to have him put his focus on watching those UA Brats and their fancy little Sports Festival. Pretending that everything is perfectly fine even if UA was attacked by villains.
It’s like they don’t even care!
Shigaraki Tomura literally seethed as he set his fifth finger against the glass that was half-empty, the liquor still burning on his tongue, only for the very thing to remain intact. He swirled the ice before taking another sip, looking towards the screen where Sensei’s voice would come through.
“Sensei, why are we even watching these brats?” He asked.
After a few moments of silence, Sensei finally spoke. “I am curious to see if one of the students could have developed something,” he said. “Though it seems your original hypothesis of Eraserhead somehow finding a way to permanently erase someone’s quirk may be correct,” he continued, his voice taking on a gleeful tone at the proposition. “Plus the quirks shown are something I’d like to look into to possibly replace the one you lost.”
Tomura could only grin at the generosity of his master. Always willing to give Tomura anything he could ever ask for, saying that Tomura deserved the world and that everything Sensei did was for Tomura’s sake.
As he watched the boy with the explosion quirk- the very one who threatened to kill Kurogiri- absolutely slaughter his opponent, Tomura debated on if he could ask Sensei for that boy’s quirk. Or even the two fire and ice quirks he saw- though he found maybe it would be better to simply try and recruit at least the explosion brat.
Just to take a stab at Hero Society.
Though there was one dream he had some time ago...about another power that he would love to have.
“If I could have anything, I’d want to fly,” he finally said.
He could hear Sensei’s grin as he spoke. “You are in luck, because I have the perfect quirk in my stock, but you will get it when you’re able to rebuild your League of Villains. Consider it an incentive to gather better allies than what I provided for you.”
At the prospect of getting a new quirk, Tomura gave a grin as he turned his focus on the TV. Watching the rest of the Sports Festival, he could see it was down to Explosion Boy and Endeavor’s Son. He didn’t care who would win in this, because he could tell that Explosion Boy wouldn’t take it well.
And that would provide them with the perfect opportunity to take him and sway him to the side of the League.