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Touya was shoved to the floor, lips kissing the unclean metal. The door swung shut behind him with the unmistakable sound of locks sliding closed.
Touya groaned, pushing himself upright as best he could with his hands cuffed together. Fucking quirk traffickers. Saw one glimpse of him using his fire and saw potential.
He huffed a laugh. Clearly they hadn’t realised the truth Endeavor had known for years, that Touya’s quirk was broken beyond repair. Soon enough they would throw him out too. Not even good enough for criminals.
And suddenly Touya realised he wasn’t alone in the cell.
Large green eyes were trained on him, wide and unsure. A small boy, dirtied bandages wrapped around his arm, curled up in the corner. Cuffed just like Touya was.
“What are you looking at?” Touya snapped.
His eyes went wider than before, if that was even possible and the boy ducked his head inwards.
Touya refused to feel guilty. He pushed himself up against the wall, trying to catch his breath. He’d had it brutally beaten out of him by the traffickers, caught off guard before he’d even had a chance of using his quirk in attack. That was the thing, he always had to prepare himself beforehand, to stop the pain from catching him off guard. The traffickers either had known that or had just been incredibly lucky.
He pressed his hands in against the bruise that was sure to form on his stomach. The boots had left dirt spread across the front of his jumper. Damn. His one warm jumper left, and it was close to ruined. Unless he could find a good, cheap washing machine, he would be stuck looking even more like a homeless person.
Not that he wasn’t that but the less that you looked like it the less harassment and dirty looks you would receive from the general public. It was a far cry to the clean standards of the Todoroki mansion.
Not that Touya could go back there. Not that there was any point to reminiscing.
“They put some kind of quirk shielding up?” Touya asked the younger kid.
The boy raised his head from his curled protection.
“I don’t know,” the boy whispered.
“You don’t know? What’s your quirk?”
The boy stayed quiet.
“Come on, you must have tried to get out at some point,” Touya tried.
“I - I couldn’t do anything. I’m quirkless,” the boy mumbled. His hands were trembling, nails digging into his knees.
Great. A quirkless kid. That was really helpful. It raised the question of why he was even here, but Touya didn’t care enough to ask.
But no proof of quirk shielding meant that there was no reason Touya’s quirk wouldn’t work. And his hands were only cuffed, nothing to prevent his flammability. Seriously, were these guys amateurs or something?
Touya didn’t care enough to give the boy beside him a warning. He stood up and raised his hands towards the door. The heat came easily, just as it always had. That had never been Touya’s problem. Had never been what had made Dad leave him. Had turned Dad away, had made Dad want to replace him.
Blue flames exploded out of his skin. They shot towards the door, an infernal blast bathing the door in light.
Touya heard the boy scamper to the side, as far from the door as he could. Touya spared him no side glance. He wasn’t weak. He could break out of this easily. He wasn’t going to be hero like he’d once dreamed of, but he was still strong. Still capable.
Could get himself out of a fucking amateur’s cellblock.
The fire rose up his skin after only a few seconds. Not out of control. This was expected, for Touya’s quirk. The already burnt skin tearing and rippling under the heat flowing past. It was agony. Blisters popping open and scalding in the air, the smell of burnt skin drifting into the air.
And yet the door hadn’t opened.
Touya was strong enough, he could do this, he could make his father look at him again -
“ - Please! Stop it!”
Touya gasped, his fire cutting off with a soft shh. Smoke drifted off his skin, the re-opened wounds stinging bright red.
The door glowed a hot, burning red, sizzling into the silence of the room. And yet it remained, a physical taunt to Touya’s weakness.
A sob broke into the air.
Touya turned. The boy was crying, muffled gasps choked into the palm of his hand pressed tightly against his face. He was no longer nestled against the wall, smoke drifting off his shoulders.
Touya’s eyes flickered down and he realised exactly why the boy was crying. The walls were all metal and had heated up along with the door. A transmitter for Touya’s flames, echoing it all back at them. The ground had been quick to follow.
The boy’s feet had burnt as Touya’s flames had cooked them. He could now recognise the heat under his feet for what it was. The very room had become a pressure cooker.
He hadn’t realised the burning wasn’t just him. Too used to ignoring it by now.
But a kid was stuck in here with him, and now here the kid was, crying. Crying because of Touya’s flames, because Touya hadn’t cut himself off in time. A kid who had done absolutely nothing but be stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Rancid guilt clawed at the insides of Touya’s stomach. He moved forward, intending to do what, he wasn’t sure, but knowing he had to do something.
The kid skittered backwards, cuffed hands tugging around his shoulders. His eyes were watery, thick tears falling fast despite his desperate sniffles.
“Look, kid, I…” Touya didn’t even know the boy’s name.
Fuck. Why was Touya like this? Why was it always kids that got hurt around him? Kids that had done nothing wrong?
Touya, the disposable one. Didn’t he just prove Dad right? By being such a destructive, disgusting hazard?
“I’m sorry,” Touya said.
The kid was breathing fast. Close to hyperventilating. The pain he was feeling was obvious, the way his eyes scrunched up, his mouth pressed together to keep from whining.
He couldn’t even lean against the walls to take the weight of his feet since the walls were even hotter, still glowing with the left over heat of Touya’s quirk.
The idea slapped Touya in the face. He shrugged off his jumper and sat down. He could feel the heat burning through his jeans, but it was easy enough to ignore. He had a lot of practice with that. He laid the material out across his lap, doing the best he could to create a comfortable surface.
He looked back up from his work. The boy was looking at him, but as soon as he saw Touya staring, he snapped his gaze away.
“Look, I… I didn’t mean to burn your feet,” Touya admitted. “Your feet obviously hurt so…” Touya gestured to the jumper splayed out across his lap. The boy looked so small it would hardly be hard to hold him, even with Touya’s fairly small stature.
The boy stared at Touya much like a cornered rabbit.
Touya stared back. He wasn’t good at being… soft and nice and apologetic, so this was the best the boy was going to get.
Slowly, the boy inched closer. He fell into Touya’s lap, gasping as the weight was taken off from his feet.
His feet looked awful, rings of dark red burnt into his skin. It smelled like burnt meat, and without the image to accompany it, Touya could almost mistake it from pork cooking.
“It hurts,” the boy whined.
“It won’t be so bad if they give you burn cream,” Touya said quietly. He glanced towards the door. “Do you know what they took you for? If they need you for something, you might be able to convince them you can’t do it with your feet like this.”
“That won’t work for me,” the boy choked out. “They only took me because I was snooping. My friend went missing. I thought he might be here. I wasn’t quiet enough and they caught me.”
Shit. So, they even went for snooping kids. Privacy was clearly their M.O. which didn’t bode well for whatever it was they were actually doing.
“You’re hurting too,” the boy said.
“I’m not,” Touya retorted automatically.
The boy was staring at his arms. The burnt, almost purple skin stood out starkly against the pale skin at his palms.
“Did… did your quirk do that?” The boy mumbled.
“Yeah,” Touya said testily. “So?”
The boy flinched back, curling downwards.
Damn it. Touya’s fast tongue again, so quick to lash out.
“My body isn’t compatible with my quirk,” Touya grumbled. “It happens.”
“Oh,” the boy murmured, relaxing slightly. “I’m sorry.”
Touya snorted. “Thanks.”
“What’s your name?” The boy asked tentatively.
Touya really was doing this entirely the wrong way around, wasn’t he. Hurt a kid then ask for their name later. A true hero.
“Touya,” he said. “What’s yours?”
“Midoriya,” the boy mumbled. He shivered slightly, shoulders hunching in.
“Are you still mad at me?” Midoriya whispered, eyes lowered to the ground.
“I’m not mad at you,” Touya sighed. “It was just my mistake.”
Touya looked over at the door. The glowing had dimmed down, the sizzling of heated metal compressing back to shape all but disappeared. Touya could try and try again, but all he would do was cook the two of them alive. And Touya had already hurt Midoriya far too much today.
Pure strength wouldn’t be the way out of this.
“Hey, are you up for making a plan to get out of here?” Touya asked.
The boy blinked up at him. He pushed one hand up against Touya’s leg, raising himself up with eager determination.
“I can help!” Midoriya said excitedly. “I’ve been trying to keep a note of everything thats happening, even without anything to write on. I couldn’t get out on my own, I’m not strong enough. But now you’re here!”
His eager eyes were bursting with a desperate need to please. It was almost too much, the facade of another young boy Touya had once known caught in the shadows of Midoriya’s smile.
It was hard enough to push past it, to focus on the goal. To keep the fire boiling under his skin from escaping and harming them both.
“What do you know then?” Touya asked.
Midoriya’s eyes tilted off some point to the left, fading out of focus as he began to list of what he knew.
“The guards check up on me twice a day, just to check I’m still here. There’s a hallway with a door behind this one, but I think the only one with a lock is the one keeping us here. They move out the people from the other cells every other day. You’re the only one they’ve put in my cell so far, so all the other cells must be filled. Or maybe they put you with me because they knew that I would be collateral so you wouldn’t use your quirk. But you did anyway, and the door hasn’t come down so it must also be fireproofed, so maybe that wasn’t the reason.”
Touya blinked.
“Wow,” he managed.
Midoriya’s eyes turned back to his.
“Did I do good?” He pleaded.
“Yeah, kid, you did great,” Touya said. That was far more than Touya had expected of the kid, especially at his young age. He must have a serious brain in there to be able to work through all that.
“You said you assumed the other cells were full. Do you think that means they will be doing a check up soon?”
“Should be,” Midoriya said.
Touya looked up at the door. The thick door that had gave nothing away under Touya’s flames. The only way past it then was to get it open from the other side.
They needed to wait for the guards to come back.
In the meantime, Touya did his best to patch up Midoriya’s feet. He tugged off the sleeve of his shirt, tearing off strips and wrapping them around. It wasn’t much, but it was the best he could do without any resources.
“So, you got somewhere to go once you’re out of here?” Touya asked, uncomfortable with how the silence pressed around him. A stray thought had flickered into his mind that this must have been what Rei had done when Touya burnt Shouto, and Touya wanted anything to distract from that.
“There’s my mum,” Midoriya said. “She probably misses me a lot right now. I hope she won’t be mad at me…”
“Why would she be mad at you?” Touya asked, hackles raising.
“I ran off on my own,” Midoriya said. “She told me this area was dangerous but I wanted to know where my friend was.”
Touya let out a shallow breath. That… that was a reasonable thing for adults to be angry over, wasn’t it? His fucked up childhood was messing with his head. Not every parent was Endeavor. Midoriya probably had great ones, because of course he was. He probably knew what love was. What it was like to be cared for.
Touya let go of the blankets and raised his hands into the air. Steam was rising past the scars on his wrist and he needed a moment to re-centre himself.
“Do you not like your parents?” Midoriya blurted.
Touya flinched, nails curling in to bite at his palm.
“Sorry,” Midoriya said quickly. “I’m really sorry for bothering you - “
“My father,” Touya admitted, dropping his hands back down to work on the make-shift bandages. “Isn’t a very good man.”
“Oh,” came from Midoriya. “Is that where you would go back to after?”
Touya snorted. “No way.”
“You going to your mother?”
“Nope,” Touya said. He tucked the end around Midoriya’s foot, pressing his fingers over the shirt to make sure it remained smooth. “I don’t need any adults.”
Midoriya was very quiet for a moment, even when Touya moved Midoriya’s foot back down to the floor.
“So you’re on your own?” Midoriya sounded far too sad for such a statement. Touya looked back up to Midoriya’s face. His green eyes were wide with pity. “No one should have to be on their own!”
“Being on my own is better than being with them,” Touya spat. He lowered his head. “You’re lucky. You have a good mother.”
“I’m sorry,” Midoriya whispered.
Touya didn’t reply to that.
“I’ve bandaged your feet,” he said. “How are they feeling?”
“They still hurt a little,” Midoriya replied.
Touya exhaled. “This is the most I can do for them. You’re going to have to be able to walk for both of us to get out of here. You good with that?”
Midoriya dragged his feet down to the ground. The metal had long since cooled down so there was no harm in Midoriya burning himself once more.
He pressed his feet firmly to the metal and grabbed onto Touya’s shoulder. His face screwed into an expression of pure determination. He lifted a foot up gingerly and swung forwards. His nails dug tiny half-moons into Touya, but Touya said nothing, doing his best to suppress a wince. Midoriya’s foot landed on the ground, his face squished with apprehension.
His grip gradually relaxed as his expression lightened.
Midoriya quickly looked up, smile glowing.
“It doesn’t hurt so bad anymore!”
“Good job,” Touya said sincerely. It was hard not to praise the shining ball of light and happiness right in front of him, the smile brimming from ear to ear without any hint of hesitation, unmarred by trauma. “Good enough to help get us outta here?”
“Yes!” Midoriya determined.
Perfect.
Eventually, there was a bang on the door. After they had throughly tested that Midoriya would be alright to walk, there hadn’t been much they could do other than wait. So wait they did.
Touya had gradually learnt a lot more than he’d expected from Midoriya. Once the boy had stopped being so utterly terrified of his presence, he wouldn’t shut up. From what Touya gathered, Midoriya didn’t exactly have many friends, and the friend he had gone after wasn’t close enough that Touya would presume to call them friends at all. ‘Kacchan’ came up multiple times in Midoriya’s ramblings, and despite Midoriya’s adoration for the kid, Touya was slightly more suspicious of how good Kacchan really was, considering Midoriya kept having to double back on himself to cover up something when mentioning him.
It was weird, feeling this odd surge of protectiveness towards a kid he’d barely known for a day. He could feel Midoriya slotting into place in his heart right next to the empty gaps his siblings had used to take. Not that he hated them, but there was no place for familial sentimentality in the life Touya had chosen now. He couldn’t go back to them, and they wouldn’t have understood anyway.
Whatever happened after this, Touya would never go back to the Todoroki mansion. But he was insistent on getting this boy home.
Metal screeched in the lock as whoever was on the other side turned the lock. Touya crossed his legs, keeping his expression placid. This had to work, and he had to trust Midoriya to do his part.
The door swung open and a muscled man stepped in.
“Come on, brat,” he snarled towards Touya.
Touya kept his eyes firmly placed on the man as he shuffled back against the wall.
“I’m not going anywhere with you!” He spat.
The man stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. “The Doctor needs your quirk, and I need the paycheck. Neither state requires your wellbeing.”
Touya scrabbled upright, hands pressed against the wall behind him.
The man reached out, grubby fingers curling around Touya’s upper arm.
Midoriya shoved the door closed.
Touya leapt into action, jumping up and wrapping his hands around the man’s neck. Fire burnt under his palms, scalding the skin of the grunt below him. His legs wrapped around his waist, keeping Touya firmly in place.
The man’s eyes widened in fear. Good. He’d put fear into the hearts of all the children in this place, trafficked them for their quirks if what he said was accurate. He deserved the feel fear.
“Give me your keys,” Touya hissed. “Or I’ll kill you right here.”
“You - demon!” The man croaked.
Touya dug his fingers deeper. “Keys!”
The man’s hand scrabbled against his pocket. The sound of metal clinked against the floor. Midoriya dived forward and grabbed them before running back to the door.
Touya let go, making sure to kick the man in the stomach. The man stumbled over with a wheeze.
Touya ran. He reached out for Midoriya’s hand, tugging him alongside them. His scars ached from the heat he’d just sent racing through his palms, but he pushed it to the side. His eyes darted side to side, on guard and desperate not to meet anyone else.
Voices called out from the other cells. Midoriya slowed down, a drag on Touya, as he stopped to reach out for the others.
“We’re not leaving them, okay?” Touya hissed. “We can call for professional help once we’re out, or otherwise no one is getting free today.”
Reluctantly, Midoriya picked himself away, drawing his eyes forward, away from the yells locked behind thick metal doors.
Touya let out a sigh of relief as he saw the front door. What must be the front door, one not made of metal with half a dozen locks holding it shut.
And then a woman stepped out in front. She held a massive pipe in one hand, the ends stained with red.
“Thought I heard something. Just a little rat,” she mocked, slamming the pipe against her other hand. The sound echoed down the hall, freezing Touya and Midoriya in their path.
Touya raised his hand up.
“Move, or I kill you,” he said, voice steady.
Midoriya gasped beside him, huddling behind his back.
“So you’re the fire one,” the woman drawled. “I heard your flame is more powerful than even Endeavor’s.”
“Endeavor has nothing on me,” Touya hissed.
“Then I suppose you think you can get past me easy, then,” the woman said.
“Move away from the door,” Touya repeated.
The woman smirked.
And then she threw the pipe. Mid air it transformed into a gigantic snake, jaws wide and hissing. Touya’s eyes went wide. He ducked, dragging Midoriya with him. Midoriya landed on him, a jumble of stray limbs. He hauled the kid off him, the kid shivering with fright as he did so.
Touya dragged himself off the wall as the snake circled them. It’s fangs were glowing venomous green. It didn’t seem real, a snake more than a snake. The very image of a snake.
He didn’t want to burn the snake. It was just an animal, a creature. Living out of habit, doing what it’s instincts decreed. Humans were different. Humans had choices. Everything was a choice. And putting themselves in the way of Touya’s fire was a choice.
The snake leapt forward in the blink of an eye.
Touya startled, jumping backwards.
Midoriya was there first. He caught the snake’s head in two hands, small fingers wrapped around the snake’s neck. The snake hissed and twisted, teeth slicing through the air in a desperate attempt to reach Midoriya.
“Touya - I don’t know what to do!” Midoriya wailed, arms shaking with the effort to keep the snake steady.
“You’re doing great!” Touya shouted.
The woman had made the snake. The snake that didn’t look like a snake.
Could it be…
A quirked snake?
Then it was pointless to fight the snake. Pointless to burn it, pointless to hurt it.
Touya leapt over the tail coiled and twisting against the ground. The woman had one arm rested against the wall, watching them panic against the snake with eager glee. When Touya came for her, her expression flickered into uncertainty.
Touya flicked his arms forward, a great wave of fire escaping from his palms and leaping towards her. There was no time for her to dodge.
The fire took hold of her. She screamed, deep and loud and guttural.
“The snake’s gone! You can stop now!” Midoriya screeched.
Touya cut off the fire. Sweat beaded on his forehead and slid down his cheeks. He rubbed his hands against his torn up shirt, aware that he was far more dirty now than when he’d got taken. Nothing he was wearing now would be reusable.
The woman lay in a collapsed heap on the ground, barely conscious. Her burnt chest rose and fell, red flesh steaming in the open air.
Touya raised his hand to finish off the job but Midoriya’s hand curled around his wrist.
“No more,” Midoriya said sternly, but his voice wavered. “No more killing.”
Touya clenched his palm.
“Fine,” he grit out, turning towards the door. He fiddled through the ring of keys and found the largest one. He opened the door.
They stepped blinking into the open air.
Touya’s mouth tasted like ash. The remains of people, left on his tongue.
Midoriya was shivering beside him, small yet resolute.
“We need to get the heroes,” he said stubbornly. He tugged on Touya’s wrist. “Help me get them.”
“Okay,” Touya murmured. “Okay.”
The heroes swarmed the place in a matter of seconds. They dealt with everything far faster than Touya would have.
Luckily, Endeavor hadn’t been part of the team. Probably too important to deal with something as small as this.
Touya had wanted to leave as soon as Midoriya had gotten hold of a hero, but Midoriya’s grip was surprisingly tight. Touya hadn’t been able to prise his thin fingers away.
And to be honest, hadn’t wanted to. Not until he got the boy back home safe. Back to his good mother, one who cared about her son’s wellbeing.
It was the least he could do after burning him like that.
He hadn’t meant to… but did that even matter?
“You should really be getting home now,” Touya muttered to Midoriya from their place hiding in the shadows, watching as the kids were freed.
“What are you going to do?” Midoriya asked.
Touya shrugged. “Go back to what I was doing before.”
“But it sounded so lonely,” Midoriya said quietly.
Touya felt heat rise under his skin and forced it back down.
“I don’t care about that,” Touya said through gritted teeth. “It’s survival. It’s not supposed to be nice.”
Midoriya was silent for a moment. Touya shoved his other hand in his pocket, a cloud of gloom drifting over him.
“I want you to come with me,” Midoriya piped up.
“I already told you I’d help get you home safe,” Touya said.
“No, I want you to stay with me,” Midoriya insisted.
Touya jerked around, squinting at the kid.
He stared back up at Touya, looking far too innocent. As if he hadn’t realised just what exactly he’d offered to Touya.
“I can’t just come live in your house,” Touya rebuked.
Not like any family would want him anyway, as weak as he was.
“I’ll convince my mum,” Midoriya continued determinedly. “She’s always worrying about me being on my own without a quirk. But if I had you around, she wouldn’t need to worry anymore.”
Touya laughed raggedly. “I’m much more of a mess than you want on your hands - “
Midoriya turned around, both hands moving to fist the back of Touya’s shirt. A hug. That was what Midoriya was doing.
Hugging him.
Hugging Touya.
Why?
“I’m not letting go, ever,” Midoriya said. “So you’re just going to have to come with me.”
Touya reached around to try and prise Midoriya’s fingers off of his back. Damn kids and their crazy fast attachments. Touya had forgotten what they were like, how easily they could manipulate your heartstrings.
Midoriya only held on tighter.
“No!” He cried. He tilted his head up, wide eyes staring at Touya. Glassy green pools, overwhelming with emotion. “I’m not letting you be alone, Touya!”
Touya stopped pushing so hard, letting his arms sag back to his side.
“Ugh, fine,” Touya complained with a slow growing smile. “I’ll go with you, needy brat.”
Stars glowed in Midoriya’s eyes. “I knew you would change your mind. You’re like a true nii-san!”
Sparking electricity rolled through Touya’s back. He couldn’t speak a word, throat closed shut.
Midoriya hadn’t even noticed the effect he had on Touya, eyes shut tight and smile drawn in blissful ignore.
Nii-san.
The word was like a binding string tying Midoriya to Touya, an impossible link, one that Touya knew he could not break. Family was and always would be his weakness.
Even if it’s wasn’t exactly his.
Touya reached up and ruffled Midoriya’s hair.
“Okay,” he whispered. “Let’s go home.”