燈矢 Toya

Toya, during special occasions (birthdays, graduations/good grades, hell sometimes just making it through training), would sneak his siblings out of the house to go do something fun.

夏雄 Natsuo

The job convention (because he got A's) one where all kinds of different jobs were showcased, none being directly connected to hero work.

"Shh, Nat remember we have to be really quiet." The oldest of the Todoroki siblings held his little brother's hand as they climbed out the 2nd story window. It was the middle of the day with Enji out for hero work and Fuyumi having easily agreed to keep an eye on the youngest of her brothers; it was the perfect opportunity for the eldest Todoroki child to celebrate with his younger brother for his most recent all “A” report card.

All Toya had to worry about was the interns from Enji’s agency that were tasked with "house protection" and to be frank none of them were being paid enough to actually care about the job they were doing right now. It was easy to slip the two young "heroes in training" out of the perimeter and onto the closest train to take them to midtown.

Toya was probably more excited than his brother mostly because Natsuo didn't know they were going yet. If he did the hero hater that his brother is would be jumping for joy at this opportunity, a whole day exploring jobs with nothing to do with heroes. It was a festival of some kind, Toya wasn't entirely sure, but he knew that the advertisements explicitly said that it had no connection to heroes and he knew how much his brother was going to enjoy that.

And enjoy it he did, unsurprisingly his favorites were the ones about the medical fields- all kinds of different subcategories of subcategories that specialized in different things. The young boy gravitated to the ones involving drastic temperature afflictions. Though Toya tried to guide him to the ones they didn't already have practical experience in. He was only partially successful.

That evening as the sky turned cotton candy colors the two brothers make it back into their home just in time, to hide the small "doctor in training" kit Toya bought, and be called down for dinner.

冬美 Fuyumi

The small little bakery; tucked into a corner that no one would notice unless they were looking for it... She absolutely adores the strawberry shortcake that Toya got her. On all the anniversaries (and some days she's just feeling lonely) she goes to get it on her own now.

Toya knew that he had to make it quick as leaving his two brothers at home alone for all that long wasn't a good idea but he knew exactly where he wanted to take his only sister for her early birthday.

A small hole in the wall place that only really the locals probably knew, but it was a short trolley ride to get to and he knew Yumi was going to love it. The only reason he found it was because he was trying to escape a particularly determined pigeon that wanted his shiny necklace, he ducked into the closest door and it happened to be this store.

When they got there Fyumui's eyes just lit up behind her glasses and Toya couldn't stop smiling at getting it right this time. The last 4 times he'd snuck her out she'd only smiled and thanked him with a nod but she was already pulling at his arm to get closer to the displays, more determined than any of her last few surprises.

The lady at the cash register looked up at the chime of the door and smiled.

"You must be the little sister Toya-chan was telling me about!" He had only been in the store for a few minutes but the woman was able to not only get his name but his plans for his sisters upcoming birthday too.

She rounded the counter to guide the surprised children into the back of the store where she introduced her husband, who made all the shops sweet things, and her granddaughter, that handles the more healthy things. She happily set the two children up at a table in the corner on tall chairs that let them see everything but not be in the way.

Not 10 minutes later Fuyumi had a savory Mitarashi Dango in front of her that she happy "shared" (read: setting the worst bites on Toya’s plate) with her brother.

The whole roundabout trip took less than an hour but it was the happiest she had been in months. Her new recipe book is tucked neatly on to her shelf with her others before she goes down to her other two brothers to do damage control; the eldest of them all in tow. She couldn't even be all that mad when she found Shoto with a half cooked egg in his hair "because we were hungry Yumi."

焦凍 Shoto

It wasn't the all-might convention or the soba restaurant that had a cold option on their kids menu. No, it was a flower garden of all things. It was only in full bloom a few days out of the year, when all of the unique flowers from all over the world happened to be open at the same time; that his birthday so happened to fall in between.

Sneaking out was surprisingly easy this time, Enji had taken Fuyumi and Natsuo to the agency for “family bonding” that Toya dogged with complaints of his stomach not feeling well and Sho saying he wanted to stay home and train. They just walked out of the house more or less.

Toya wasn't expecting much of a reaction, he had noticed that Shoto seemed to really like the flowers that mom got for the dining table. He would always ask what they were and what they meant, Fuyumi would take him over to the computer each time to look up the meanings. Of course after their father had locked himself in his study so he wouldn't start yelling about how the future number 1 didn't need to know such useless things.

Toya really wasn't expecting more jumping and smiles than when they had gone to a small unofficial All-Might convention (where got a lucky charm that Shoto always has on him). But he was colored surprised when Shoto lit up like a Christmas tree and started tugging his brother all over the respectfully busy flower garden, never actually letting go of his hand but coming close a few times.

They spent over an hour talking with one of the ladies that ran the place about what the flowers were, what they meant; helping Sho learn how to say some of the foreign words. She offered the first flower for free but she couldn't just give away her garden so Toya happily handed over the ¥10,000 ($100) needed for the other 5 they got.

One for each of their family; a perfect split for Sho, a pure white for mom, pure red for Enji, a speckled one in red and white for Fuyu, a white one with a soft red at the edges, and lastly the red one with white tips for Toya.

When they got home Shoto gave all of them to Rei so they could be put on the table in place of the light blue ones adorning the table that night. When they were eating that night Enji commented offhandedly “the florist must be feeling inspired with the flowers today” followed by a bite of food and “that one on the top is exactly where it should be ha Shoto? Right down the middle just like you.”

Rest in peace Toya Todoroki

-Each year on the anniversary of Toya Todorokis death the Todoroki household (excluding Enji) get small gifts left somewhere in their room.
Natsu: a kids doctor kit that eventually grew into quite a collection of actual equipment over the years.
Fuyu: baking supplies, even though she already has the best in the world she rarely uses them, she always finds herself reaching for the bowls that she doesn't remember buying herself.
Shoto: always a flower, the first few years they were hastily picked and thrown on his bed but as time went on they'd come to be more; sometimes full bouquets other times very specific arrangements that Sho’d Google the meaning of. Finally they upgraded to a resin cast collection of dried flowers. He brought it with him when he moved into the dorms.

Nat

Natsuo walks into his room, tears streaming down his face and a bright red new burn on his left cheek. It’d been a year. One whole year without his older brother to protect him from the demon that called his prison home. Natsuo really didn't know how much Toya took from the bastard he calls father. He didn't realize how much Toya protracted all of them until he was gone.

Shoto was getting more and more burns and frostbite each day; Natsuo could barely keep up. Fuyumi has to practically force feed the boy half the time and the other half she can't make enough food to keep up with him; and without mom to help her Fuyu’s running on fumes. They all were.

Without the two rocks that the family didn't even know they were taking for granted the siblings were slowly falling apart. It was more and more common to find one of them sitting with that small picture of their lost brother on the large mantle in a back corner of the house. They still didn't have a body to bury but there was a gravestone that Natsuo knew Fuyumi went to see probably more often than she should. No one said anything though. No one that mattered at least.

“He’s gone! Stop! Crying over it you wretched child!” That's what ended the screaming match Natsuo had started. Now he was curled up in his closet holding his knees to his chest. He shifted to get more comfortable as he had no plans of sleeping in his bed tonight but he hits something hard with his knee and has to flick at the lights installed on his wall. It’s a metal box?

It’s not his own, or at least he doesn't remember ever having it in his closet before. The lid clicks open easily enough with the press of a button, he finds a fairly empty box but there are things in it.

On top is a lock that looks like it will fit perfectly in the cut-outs on the outside. Under that are pots of burn gel, one for heat and one for ice, and one for bruises. Under all of that is a letter- well it's not much of a letter, only an address and instructions to burn it once he gets there. It is addressed to him through sloppy handwriting that if he didn't know any better would make him choke on the hope he's feeling. When the bang of a knock hits the door of his room he jumps.

“I’m not done with you, ungrateful nuisance! Come take your punishment like the man you so desperately seem to want to be!” Natsuo isn't really thinking. Not truly. He knows he's not thinking when he finds himself on a street he doesn't recognize and his fathers yelling only a faint echo in his head 20 minutes later. A metal box that he had hastily thrown the rest of his first aid things into. Paper and lighter in the same hand he stares at the alley-way the address is directing him to (he checked 5 times over).

“If this gets me killed I hope I can see Toya on the other side” is all he whispers before disappearing into the shadows of the enclosed brick walls, his only light the burning paper in his hands.

---

The other 2 Todoroki siblings that were left. Would find simple gifts on their beds that night, a beautiful half and half rose (red and purple) being held by a small plush All-Might and the other bed having a small collection of baking supplies (a new bowl with matching spatula and measuring cups in a soft purple color). If the two siblings independently decided they didn't want to say anything to the ranging man on a witch hunt for his own son. No one else would be the wiser. So they didn't.

Yumi

Foyumi still doesn't have a concrete confirmation. But every new mixing bowl or flour sifter makes her believe more and more each year. She eventually starts purposefully leaving things like sweaters or Toya's favorite dinner wrapped up nicely in a bento box right where her gifts are always left.

Sho

Today was supposed to be calm. Shoto had just finished his last day of 8th grade and he only had the one summer left before starting high school. But it was the anniversary and everyone was tense. Natsuo, like every year, has been gone all day. Fuyumi had already made her trip to the graveyard and Shoto wasn't far behind. He just wasn't up for it this year- the song and dance of playing nice with his father or the prep to get into UA. He just wanted to feel his mom or eldest brothers arms around him today; both things he would never have.

So Shoto hid out that night, right before he left for UA. He knew that if it was Toya his brother wouldn't know Shoto would be going away for school, Sho would have no way to keep getting the flowers he had come to love so much (and were already delicately packed, wrapped in more blankets than Sho knew the house had). He wanted to make sure that whoever was giving them, specifically if it was his oldest brother, knew that he was going to be leaving.

Shoto does manage to catch him. Flying out of the shadows a flurry of tears, having immediately recognized his brother even dusted all over with soot. Then when he calmed down enough to tell him their problem they came up with an agreement. They would meet next year in the same garden that they started this memory out in. Toya wouldn't stick around and wait for Sho but the younger promised to be there to pick up the present if left.

Epilogue

If the Todoroki siblings all had ways of meeting behind Enji’s back he was none the wiser. He couldn't care less about the yearly bowls or mixers his only daughter got.

He didn't come to notice his (alleged) eldest barley being at him and only coming back to restock his med kit with increasingly expensive items. Nore did he ever find out that the LOV base wasn't too far from home, close enough to walk if one was determined to get there on foot; all it would have taken was 30 minutes of talking to learn his true eldest son's fate and second eldest' alliance.

Enji Todoroki belittles his youngest son's obsession for flowers but never follows (or accompanies) when he says he's going to the botanical garden a 5 minute train ride away. He doesn't see the otherwise creepy older man that follows the young boy only to sit on the same bench on opposite sides.

The Todoroki patriarch never visits his son’s grave. Not on any birthday or the anniversary. Not on holidays or celebrations. Never.

If he did he might just have to come face to face with his past. The past that haunts his dreams; his nightmares. The sneaking feeling that the LOV’s newest member at large has unforgettably similar eyes to the ones he sees in the mirror. The fear of the quirk he trained daily with so long ago is to similar to his own.

Enji “Endeavor” Todoroki didn't want to know so he wouldn't. Not until it was dancing right in front of his eyes, for all to see, that he couldn't pretend of its death anymore.