Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Todoroki Enji was an ambitious man, by the time he hit 20 he had already climbed to the number 2 position on the hero billboards. His arrests were higher than anything seen before, no crime was committed on the areas he patrolled and his agency was growing and rising at an exponential rate. However none of this was enough, he was forever stuck behind that big blonde man with an overpowered quirk and a shining smile that won the crowds hearts. With time the flaming hero realized that no matter the effort, no matter the hard work, he would never be the number one. And with this realization competent grew and his already twisted mind sought an alternative. In this search an idea was born, to make a hero modeled on his image and likeness, to create a masterpiece that would top the charts in his place.

And so the plan began, the first step was to find the woman who would carry his future. Enji’s position as a top ranked hero made the process simpler than it should have been. He entered the quirk archive and introduced the searching parameters, knowing that with his money and influence no one would be able to refuse him. Himura Rei became the unsuspecting victim of the monster’s ambitions. She was a woman in her mid twenties with an ice quirk that would perfectly complement his without overshadowing it, the fact that she was single only made the transaction easier.

With the first step completed it was time to begin implementing the plan. Todoroki Enji approached Rei as a charming man, full of affection and with a wish to create a loving family. However the strong-willed woman saw straight through his mask and met every proposal with a refusal. The flaming hero, not known for his patience soon stopped hiding his true face. His seeking of attention became stalking and the loving gestures turned into threats. Himura Rei grew more and more terrified as the days went by and as a final act of desperation she looked for help. As expected, no help was received. “He wouldn’t do that, he is the number two hero” the police officers said. “Most people would pay to be in your position” was the only answer she got from her friends. And eventually she gave in, her parents would get a substantial economic compensation to keep their mouths shut and she would marry the monster that was making their lives impossible in exchange for a peace that would never come. Later that month Himura Rei turned into Todoroki Rei, a shadow of the person that she once was.

Once married it was time to complete the next step, Todoroki Enji needed an heir. Rei, unhappy with her entire situation, would have none of it. In spite of that, behind the tatami doors and the huge gardens where her screams could not be heard her word was worth less than nothing. Nine months later in the midst of winter Todoroki Touya was born, a baby boy with his fathers piercing blue eyes and striking red hair. He was way too small for his age and this showed later on as due to his weak body he grew up as a sickly child. Unsatisfied with the boy’s apparent lack of strength Enji decided to try again in hopes of getting the perfect child. Not even a year later Todoroki Fuyumi was born, with her mother’s snow white hair and stormy gray eyes. She was a healthy little girl and trusting one of these two children would achieve his goals, Enji gave Rei a rest who was beginning to crack under the stress.

Two years passed and little Touya had turned three, his hair started turning white as his mothers but there wasn’t a hint that pointed out his quirk was going to appear anytime soon. Seeing as his son wasn’t an early bloomer like himself the Todoroki patriarch grew restless and to calm his nerves he decided to make a plan C, a third child should the other two fail. Unlike his two older siblings, Natsuo was born in summer. He was stronger than the two previous kids but only time could tell if his quirk would follow suit.

Touya turned four and his quirk finally showed. A fire quirk with the potential of becoming stronger than his father. Endeavor was elated and immediately began to train the boy. This proved a harder task than thought as the little kid’s complexion was built like his mothers, he could withstand cold temperatures but his own flames burned him. Touya’s younger siblings were yet to manifest their quirks so there was no alternative and his “training” continued. He came out of each session with new bruises and burns, the burns salve running out faster than they could buy it. In an attempt to soothe his pain Fuyumi manifested her quirk, a weak ice-quirk that was immediately tossed aside by the monster they called father.

Two months short of his fifth’s birthday Natsuo’s quirk showed. Against his father’s high expectations due to his strong build, his quirk came to be as a toned-down version of his oldest sister's already weak quirk. Seeing that Touya’s body was rapidly deteriorating and the two other children were useless for his plans, Enji made one last attempt to create the perfect child. When Shoto was born with perfectly split hair and mismatched eyes he knew he had succeeded, he finally had his perfect masterpiece.

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Having learnt from his previous three failures, Enji was determined to transform this fourth child into his one true heir. The babe was still too young to endure any kind of training so while it grew, eight year old Touya continued being on the wrong end of his fathers flaming fists. As the baby grew his eyes shined with an intelligence and curiosity unseen on his three elder siblings. At six months old he was already talking in simple sentences and not even a month later he could already walk perfectly. Endeavor was beyond happy with these developments and hired the best tutors money could buy. Shoto kept his genius status and before his turning one he could already read, write and perform simple math.

It was on his first birthday when things began going awry. It was nothing dramatic as his eldest brother was still the object of his fathers wrath. But little Shoto was tasked with performing some daily exercises. These exercises were extremely taxing on the little boy but he kept it up not wanting to disappoint his father and not knowing the wrongness of it, as despite being a genius the youngest Todoroki was still barely a toddler.

This routine was maintained throughout his first year of life: study, train, sleep and repeat. His timetable was fully packed but everyday he would manage to sneak a little time to snuggle on his mother’s loving arms. This time, however, was not enough to get to know the three other children that inhabited that house. This fact would change on his second birthday when his martial arts training began. For the first time in his short life Shoto truly loathed something, as his tiny body hurted when he was pitted against his teachers and his bigger, more experienced brother. Nevertheless, no matter what happened he couldn’t bring himself to hate the older boy as he could see the pain on his eyes and the bandages and burns peeking from under his shirt. And just like that a bond was born between the brothers, where they would exchange small comforting smiles when the monster posing as their father looked away.

On his third birthday Shoto finished elementary school and began junior high education. His martial arts training was going equally fast having already earned the purple band in Muay Thai (purple is the 6th rank, black is the 9th and the equivalent of a black belt) and a black belt in aikido. A week after his birthday his quirk showed, it was not a grandiose manifestation, he just sneezed and his surroundings were filled with ice and fire. The quirk was perfect, just like Enji predicted and Touya was immediately tossed aside, becoming just as invisible as his other siblings in front of his fathers eyes.

This action meant that the “training” would stop and the burns and bruises would finally heal. Nonetheless, Touya didn’t see it that way as he had already suffered so much and he wanted to be a hero, he refused to be seen as another failure. On top of this, Rei’s concern and attention was turned to his youngest brother who would now be on receiving end of their father’s training sessions. In order to regain his position as the prodigal son he began training himself, gaining injuries even worse than those he got by his father.

While Touya trained himself, Shoto entered his own personal hell. His “training” was far more brutal than anything his older sibling had ever received, as the expectations were higher for him. The beatings got to the point where he required medical attention. When he was asked what happend at the hospital he gave the answers his father told him, repeated exactly word by word “I was playing with my quirk and got careless”, “I tripped and fell downstairs” or the most common one “I fell off my bike”. Shoto had never seen a bike, but he had read about them and didn’t seem to be able to figure out how you could break an arm, fracture three ribs, gain minor internal bleeding and get second degree burns from falling out of one. However, it was what his father said so he never questioned it and the one doctor that did question it never treated him again so it didn’t really matter.

As months went by the flaming hero grew tired of the doctor's visits and he wouldn’t be able to keep the suspicions quiet if the brat kept showing up with burns and broken bones. And so, the next time Shoto was too hurt, instead of taking him to the hospital he grabbed a first aid kit, some medical equipment and medical textbooks. Then he locked the boy in his room with that, the kid was smart he would figure it out. His third year of life went on with this monotonous routine, almost equal to the previous one but with an added step: study, train, patch himself up, sleep and repeat. He still managed to sneak out some time to visit his mum, but her loving arms felt less and less comforting as the days went by as he could feel her sadness when she saw the injuries littering his skin.

Shoto was a bit over four and a half when Touya bursted in on the training room in the middle of one of his sessions. He was laughing maniacally and his eyes had a deranged look on them. Shoto had never seen their father so angry, without giving him any time to react he punched Touya on the gut so hard he spit out blood. This one-sided fight was brutal, but little Shoto was too terrified to do anything about it. Finally Touya showed the reason for his interruption as his hands lit up with scalding blue fire. Their father stepped back in shock and for a moment he seemed proud. However, this moment was short-lived as soon Touyas content grin turned panicked as he lost control of his fire. The blue flames grew bigger, licking the skin on his arms and burning him due to his cold oriented complexion. His screams filled the fire resistant training room but Shoto was shocked-still by the scene. At last the screams died down and so did the flames and silence filled the room with Touya’s limp body laying in the middle of it.

Shoto finally sprung into action, he ran to his older brother and kneeled checking for a pulse, there was none. He began CPR just how he learnt through his books, 30 chest compressions and one breath in. Throughout the process he ignored his throbbing wrist that was fractured from the training and now probably broken, he also ignored the burning of his lungs that were filled with blood and smoke while he tried to breathe life back into his sibling. He also ignored other things like the way his brother’s skin stuck to his hands when he did the compressions, the smell of burning flesh that now filled his nostrils, the way Touya’s lips were turning blue and cold. Eventually, his monster of a father ripped him off his older brother, he tried to reach back, he screamed and he cried but nothing worked and he ended up passing out from shock or exhaustion.

When he woke up his house was filled with police officers. He patched himself up and covered his injuries as he did every day, he was laying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling when he heard his name getting called from downstairs. In the living room there was a gentle-looking police officer with fluffy cat ears. She asked him if he could sit down and answer some questions, he obeyed as he always did. She began with simple questions like his name, age or birthday. But finally, she asked him what had happened to his brother. Shoto didn’t know what to reply, his father always gave him scripted answers when talking to strangers and he didn’t know what he was supposed to say. After a too long silence he decided to give his most used excuse “He fell off his bike”. The officer didn’t look satisfied with his answer but didn’t comment on it either so it must have been somewhat right.

He was soon sent to bed as the next day he had lessons early in the morning. Not a single thing changed about his schedule, both his tutors and his father acted like nothing had happened, like Touya was still alive. One thing did change about his routine, he would no longer sneak out to spend time with his mother. She now looked at him with something aching to disgust, maybe even hate. Months went by and little Shoto was now five and he felt lonelier than he ever had, the only human contact he had was his tutors and his father though he would sometimes see a flash of the two other children living in his house.

One night he woke up and went to get some water, he knew how to move silently. In the kitchen he saw his mother talking on the phone, she seemed scared. He stood hiding behind the corner, not wanting to frighten her even further which ended up with him eavesdropping her conversation. “I can’t raise him anymore, I want to run away from this life” this sentence shocked him, he didn’t want his mom to abandon him so he peaked out the left side of his head and asked her “mum, what are you saying?”. The kettle started whistling and with a deranged look on her eyes Todoroki Rei poured the boiling water down her youngest child's face. The second she realized what she had done she regretted it and tried to fix it by icing the burn, not knowing it would only make it worse. The screams made Enji and the other two children come down and immediately call an ambulance. Shoto passed out right after seeing the ambulance’s red and blue lights.
He woke up on a cold hospital bed to the smell of antiseptics. The doctors must have been monitoring him closely as one came in almost immediately. The doctor removed the bandage that was covering his left side of the face, his medicines were probably quite strong as he hadn’t realized it was there. He shined a small flashlight into his eye, but he saw no light just like he heard no sound when he clicked his fingers by his ear. Eventually his father came in to receive the diagnosis, Shoto was now completely blind and deaf on his left side. Enji was less than happy about the news and took him home against doctors orders.

When he got to the house everything was just how they left it, the kettle was still on the floor surrounded by a water puddle. The injured boy finally managed the courage to ask where his mom was. “She hurt you, she isn’t coming back” was the only answer he got from the flaming man. That night Shoto cried himself to sleep, knowing that without his brother or his mother he was now truly alone.

Chapter Text

Because of his injuries Shoto was now missing half of the sensory input he was used to. At the beginning he didn’t think much of it, but when he stumbled into one too many doorframes he came to realize that dodging and fighting would now be much harder. His next training session proved his assumption correct, his father would relentlessly throw kicks, punches and fire to his blindspot catching him by surprise every time. As weeks went by Shoto started developing the ability to dodge the fireballs as he could feel their heat before impact. From there he began to pay more attention to the changes of the air temperature and with the help of his quirk, Shoto could now see a 360º image of his surroundings like a heat camera.

Without responsible supervision of any kind, training became more brutal than Shoto thought possible. He ended every session sobbing and crying, at least the times he managed to stay conscious. Eventually he began to beg his father to stop training him. That monster soon grew tired of the tears and snot and added a new activity to his routine. The seven year old was almost halfway through highschool so it was no problem to stop academics for a while. Endurance training was what he called it, pain for the sake of itself. It was soon that this “training” delved into torture and the little boy yearned for the beatings that no longer looked so bad.

As he grew older his injuries grew with him in amount, size and difficulty of treating. During one particularly bad day his father kicked him hard enough that one of his ribs snapped and went right into his lung, the “fight” didn’t end there so he earned a wider collection of injuries than ever before.

When he got to his room he took out his medical textbook, went over the pneumothorax treatment and went to his bathroom. It would be the first time he would perform surgery as he was only eight. His chest felt tight but it wasn’t nearly as bad as when he got waterboarded. He knew he had more injuries, but his priority at that moment was to remove the air from the pleural space. First he improvised a chest drainage with a plastic bottle, some tubes from the first aid kit and tape. He counted his ribs starting from the top of his chest and disinfected the site between his 4th and 5th right ribs, it was going to hurt so he bit down a cloth, he grabbed the scalpel and made a 5cm (2 inches) incision. Before he could regret it he stuck in the chest drainage tube and securely taped it to his chest. Not a moment later he began gagging and barely had time to lean to a side before he vomited. Everything was a mess around him and Shoto knew he had more injuries to fix, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. After retching and dry heaving for a while he passed out against the bathtub.

He woke up later covered in a mix of sweat, blood and vomit. He decided to finish patching himself up before he cleaned up. His other injuries were mild in comparison to the pneumothorax, but still he splinted his dislocated wrist, stitched some of the bigger cuts and applied salve to his numerous burns. He couldn’t shower as he still had the tube stuck on his chest so he used some wet rags to clean the dried up fluids from his skin. He dragged himself to bed with difficulty and setted up the alarm sooner than usual as he had to take out the drainage tube in the morning. The next day Shoto woke up to the annoying ringing of his alarm clock and checked that his injuries had not worsened overnight, dreading the process of taking out the tube. Luckily for him everything went smoothly and the rest of that week’s training sessions were softer allowing the boy to somewhat recover.

Two years had gone by since the pneumothorax accident, during that time everything continued the same, the academics still left aside. It was 4 AM so the ten year old was sleeping as his schedule dictated when an enraged Endeavor bursted into his room and roughly dragged the still sleepy boy to the training room. As he crossed the doorframe he threw the child against the wall, hitting his head and leaving him gasping for breath and even more desoriented than before. Without giving Shoto time to recover he kicked him harshly on the stomach, making him throw up what little dinner he’d had. Enji was no longer pretending this to be training. The one-sided “fight” continued for what felt like hours, Shoto dodged every once in a while and made ice walls in an attempt to catch what little breath he could, but it was a futile effort.

He must have gotten distracted as he suddenly felt a hand wrap around his left wrist and violently pull, he heard a loud “pop” and his shoulder began throbbing, it was probably dislocated. With one arm down and more banged up every second it passed he grew slower and was unable to dodge one of his fathers most vicious kicks. It hit Shoto right above his right ankle, there was a cracking sound and suddenly he was on the floor. The flaming man was shouting at him, probably to get up, but he couldn’t. He was tired and hurt and he felt like he was underwater, probably a concussion. Abruptly the pain on his broken leg spiked, he looked to his feet and saw Endeavor’s flaming boot stepping on his ankle. The pressure began increasing and so did the heat until Shoto couldn’t hold back his screams anymore. After what felt like forever, but was probably less than 10 minutes, the pressure disappeared. His face was already covered in tears and snot when a wave of nausea hitted him, he barely had enough strength to tilt his head to the side before he began retching. Instead of the expected acidic taste all he got was a metallic tang before he promptly passed out.

He woke up on his bedroom floor, his father must have brought him there that was unusually nice of him. Or at least that was what he thought before he noticed all the adicional medical equipment and abruptly turned to look at his leg, or where his leg was supposed to be. Instead of the skin he expected to see, burned but still skin, there was a mass of charred meat in the space his lower calf used to be, right where Endeavor had stepped on. Shoto’s first instinct was to look away and that is what he did, he was scared, more than that he was terrified. But he knew there was no one there to help him so he either fixed the problem himself or he would no longer be. So with more resolution that anyone else would have had in that situation he bit down a cloth and felt for the bone, to check where it was broken. On a positive note, Shoto thought, there was no broken bone. However, that was because there was no bone at all. The heat and pressure from the boot had turned his ankle and lower right calf into an unrecognizable black mass where skin, muscle and bone had melted together. There was no fixing the leg, he would have to entirely remove it.

Shoto had everything he would need for the operation, everything except anesthesia and maybe a doctor but at least the ten year old knew more than most paramedics. He first started an IV with blood and saline in order not to pass out and prepared and disinfected the materials and site. The initial step was probably the least gruesome one as he just made a small incision below the amputation level. He then cut through skin and muscle revealing the tibia and fibula below. Shoto had to continue by cutting the bone, this was usually done with a saw but for the lack of one he had to make-do with a big knife. Despite his unusually high pain-tolerance levels he blacked out several times, it hurted too much even for him. Lastly he stitched the stump in a way that, according to his books, would allow him to wear a prosthesis and carefully cleaned and bandaged it. He still had to fix a couple more things but the worse was already over. After a short rest he splinted a couple of broken or fractured bones, iced some bruises, put salve on burns, stitched cuts and placed bandages where necessary.

The next morning his father’s face shifted between disgust, rage and horror before it settled into resolution. Shouto would focus on academics for the next year, he would still do enough exercise to keep as fit as he was and adjust to the prosthetic but there would be no more training with Endeavor. He retook academics right where he left them at seven, halfway into highschool, and breezed his way through what was left of it. He managed to convince his father and tutors to allow him to begin a career in physics and another one in medicine, the first one would give him a better understanding of his quirk and the second one was self-explanatory with all the experience he had on it. As they were helpful for his future as a hero they were both permitted.

The year went by and the youngest Todoroki had completely adjusted to his prosthetic. He was just as fast and strong as before if not more because of the resting. He had finished his medical career, specializing in emergency treatment and almost finished his degree in physics paying special attention to thermodynamics. The now eleven year old was terrified we would be forced to “train” with his father once again, unexpectedly, this was not what happend. Endeavor could not afford to have any more permanent injuries to fall upon the child if he wanted him to be the top hero. This task was already made harder by losing half of his vision and hearing, his leg and the rest of the scars that littered the kid’s body, any more and it would not be possible for Todoroki Shoto to rise above. Instead, Enji settled for having Shoto go to UA next year, as a twelve year old he would be the youngest student to ever be accepted. In the meantime Shouto finished his physics degree, studied some law and strategy and got some normal martial arts training. Two weeks before the recommendation entrance exams his rankings were the following: Muay Thai black band (highest), Aikido black belt (highest), Jiu-Jitsu brown belt (you have to be 19 to get the next one), Taewkondo blue belt with red stripe (4th best out of eleven), Judo blue belt (5th best out of twelve) and Karate blue belt (4th best out of eight).

Shoto turned twelve the 11th of January 2328, twenty days later he would go to UA’s recommendation exams on the 1st of February.

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Shoto had never left his tatami-floored house except for hospital visits and even those stopped when he was really young. There were many other things he had never done like going to school or interacting with people his age (or anyone that wasn’t his father or tutors). In spite of that with the knowledge he gained from books and a bit of guess-work he managed to behave somewhat normal if not a little cold.
People at the exam site were certainly livelier than what he was used to. There was a 1.9 meters (6’ 3”) boy with a buzzcut yelling about how heroes must be hot-blooded, he seemed rather excited about pretty much everything, Shoto found it slightly unsettling. He felt a heat signal approaching him from his blind side making him tense until he heard a voice say “Ohayo, I’m Yaouyorozu Momo, may I ask what your name is?” This overly polite introduction came from a slim girl in a black ponytail he recognized as the heir of Yaoyorozu Industries. “Todoroki Shoto, nice to meet you” She seemed like a pleasant person so he didn’t want to be too rude to her but at the moment he had to focus on the exam so he made no attempt to continue the conversation.

Before she could say anything else they were interrupted as it was time for the first part of the exam to begin. They were led to a classroom and given a test in order to test their theoretical knowledge. Shoto was far ahead in every subject, making it easy for him to ace everything and still have plenty of time to observe the other candidates. The yelling boy from earlier seemed to be struggling quite a bit while Yaoyorozu didn’t appear to have any problem. There was another boy with blonde hair and no lips who also looked to be confident on his answers, the rest of the students were somewhere between buzzcut and lipless. The alarm sounded and they were taken to a track where the physical part of the exam would be taken.

The next test would be an obstacle race where their physical ability would be tested along with their strategy and approach when facing a challenge. He was placed with the two boys he had been paying attention to and three unassuming people. “GO!” suddenly yelled Present Mic, lipless immediately turned the ground into something aching to quicksand, but both him and the buzzcut boy who seemed to have a wind quirk were already far ahead. Shoto just surfed on his ice avoiding all obstacles and melting it behind him so no one would be able to use it. He was close to the finish line and still tied with wind-boy so he used a wave of fire to heat the air around him, making it rise and destabilizing the other competitor, earning himself the first place.

“WHAT A WHITE-HOT BATTLE, GUYS!! I FREAKIN' LOVE IT!!” the wind quirk boy yelled when the other participants finally arrived. He then turned to Shoto, getting into his personal space “I’M INASA YOARASHI!” Inasa kept looking at Shoto expectantly, the younger boy was slightly freaked out by his attitude and not knowing what he was supposed to do he decided that it would be better to ignore the entire situation. Yoarashi seemed to take this as a personal affront as he stormed out muttering something about cold eyes and Endeavor.

The last of the exam was a personal interview with Nezu, the chimera who runned this highschool. Shoto wasn’t used to talking without a script outside of his lessons so he didn’t know what to expect of this part. Interestingly enough the director seemed to be the first and only one to take notice of his age, but he let it go with a slight comment. Luckily for him, in the interview they talked more about physics and a mix of history, law and ethics than anything personal so he had nothing to worry about as he had read plenty of books. Shoto finished the exam confident that he would at the very least be accepted and probably take first place. His suspicions were confirmed a week later when the acceptance letter came in the mail.

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April arrived and with it UA’s first term started. Shoto arrived at his classroom a bit over an hour early and surprisingly there was already another student there. “I am Iida Tenya, it is a pleasure to meet you! What is your name?” the spectacled boy said with robotic movements. Not wanting a repeat of the Yoarashi situation, with a slight bow of his head he replied with a short “Todoroki Shoto” and went to look for his seat at the chart.

A few minutes later the girl from the exam Yaoyorozu, his mind supplied, entered along with a bird headed boy. He nodded his head to her as a greeting while the bird-boy checked his seat which happened to be right in front of him. “I am Tokoyami Fumikage, and you?” He introduced himself shortly. He seemed like a calm person and Shoto immediately took a liking to him “Good morning Tokoyami-san, I’m Todoroki Shoto” They soon delved into a light chat where Tokoyami recommended some pre-quirk music, maybe they could be friends.

As time went by more people arrived. Some were so obnoxious that he didn’t even bother to introduce himself to them such as the pink girl, the redhead and the three longer haired blondes, no need to mention the disgusting purple midget that kept ogling at girls. Others didn’t seem bad but they stuck with the louder students so he didn’t really talk to them either. He stayed with Tokoyami and was soon joined by Koda Koji and his friend Shoji Mezo. Koda didn’t like to talk and preferred using sign language that himself and Mezo translated to Fumikage. The small group was then joined by Sato Rikido who sat next to him and liked sweets and Ojiro Mashirao who seemed to dislike loud people as much as him. By the time the teacher arrived his group consisted of six people including himself.

After a short scolding for not paying attention they were given their PE uniforms and told to go change by their homeroom teacher Aizawa Shouta. He didn’t want people to see his scars so he went ahead, already knowing where the changing rooms were as he had explored the grounds before class. Shoto had just finished putting on his shirt when the angry blond barged in shouting at him, he didn’t know what he did wrong but judging by the apologetic smiles some of the students sent him it might not be his fault so he just went to the training grounds.

It took the rest of the class over ten minutes to get changed, though his group was all ready in half that time. “You will be doing a quirk apprehension test” the teacher said as soon as the last of the students arrived. The bubbly brunette seemed unsure of doing this now “What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation” Her answer seemed to bother Aizawa-sensei.

“If you really wanna make the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies. Here at UA, we're not tethered to traditions. That means that I get to run my class however I see fit. You've been taking standardized tests most of your lives. But you never got to use your Quirks in physical exams before. The country's still trying to pretend we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. One day, the Ministry of Education will learn.” After his small speech sensei made the screaming blonde, that Shoto now knew was named Bakugo, throw the ball using his quirk.

He got a superhuman mark by using his explosive quirk. Everyone seemed excited about the display and being able to show their quirks in public. Shoto, however, knew better as nothing good ever came from exams in his experience. He was proved right when Aizawa explained the test more thoroughly “You have three years here to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be games and play time? Idiots. Today you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none, and will be expelled immediately.” After yet another scolding they finally began their assessment.

Shoto focussed on doing his best, but he also talked to his group between tests, sometimes giving them tips. For the 50 meters dash he cooled the air behind him, contracting it, and rapidly heated it when the signal sounded, expanding it and catapulting him forward. For the rest of the track he surfed on his ice propelling himself forward with his fire. He used a similar strategy for the standing long jump and ball throw. He used ice to help him on the grip strength and just used his natural basis for the distance run, seated toe-touch, and sit ups.

When the results were shown he was at the top as he predicted, followed by Yaoyorozu and Bakugo. His group placed high as well with Tokoyami, Shoji and Ojiro in 5th, 6th and 7th place and Koda and Sato in 11th and 12th. Aizawa decided not to expel anyone in the end which made the green-haired boy begin crying in what Shoto guessed was relief. The bell rang and it was time for lunch. This time he changed back into his regular uniform with everyone else also in the locker room, their backs were turned and he was fast so everything was okay.

At the cafeteria the tables were for six people which was perfect for his group. They sat together and got to know eachother better. By the end of lunch they were all comfortable in the other's presence which was an accomplishment for some of the shyest members. “Can you guys give me your phone numbers?” asked Sato, the most out-going of the group. When his question was met with silence he elaborated “Y’know, so I can make a friends group chat”. Comprehension dawned upon everyone and they quickly gave him their numbers. Shoto didn’t have a phone and told them so, slightly embarrassed, promising to get one soon.

The rest of the classes went by normally, with Shoto extremely bored because he already knew the curriculum but taking notes either way. It was only when he got home that he realized that, for the first time in his life, he had friends.

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Shoto’s PoV:

When I got home father wasn’t there as he had a hero conference in Tokyo for a bit over a week. When the beginning of school had gotten closer I had to ask him for a lot of things and because of his inexistent patience he got tired soon and gave me his credit card. It wasn’t as if I could use it to buy random things since he could see what I spent the money on. But a phone could be considered an essential so I’m getting one this afternoon.

Endeavor isn’t home right now so for the first time in a very long time I am willingly spending time in the living room. I had been sitting on the couch for a bit over an hour trying to figure out the phone and adding the songs Tokoyami-san recommended to me this morning to a playlist when a white haired teen entered the room. I was vaguely aware of her being my sister but I had never talked to her, I didn’t even know her name.

“Hi, I’m Shoto” I might as well introduce myself. “I know” she seems nervous and a bit freaked out but I really want to know her name, so I ask her “I know you are my sister, what is your name?”. She seems to be having trouble understanding what I asked her but she finally answers “Fuyumi'' looking shocked. Good, I already know her name so I can go back to trying to understand the phone.

The next day came faster than ever and the first thing I did was give Sato-san my phone number so he could add me to the group. It was time for the hero basic training class and we didn’t know who our teacher would be. I was shifting between surprised and shocked when All-Might arrived “Coming through the door like a hero”. He was the man I was made to surpass, the reason I got all that training. Before this moment I thought I would hate him upon sight, but I didn’t. I still didn’t particularly like the hero, how could I when I had heard his name so many times when father beat me up? but I didn’t dislike him either.

We got our hero suits and went to change. Everyone was so distracted by the nobility that I was once again able to change without issue. I was happy to observe that my friends had chosen utilitarian over flashy just like me. We were then explained we would be doing a battle trial 2 vs 2 on randomized teams. I was partnered up with Shoji-san and we were against Ojiro-san and the invisible girl, Hagakure-san. I really didn’t want to hurt my newfound friend so I asked Shoji-san where exactly they were located and froze the entire building. It might have been a bit of an overkill but they were fine in the end if not a little cold.

I didn’t know either Tokoyami-san’s partner or who he was against but I was happy he won. He did place 5th on the quirk apprehension test so he was strong. The last battle was Sato-san and Koda-san partnered up against the loud pink girl and a blonde wearing armor. They lost but didn’t seem bothered by it as it was the first time they fought, not including the entrance exams.

At lunch I apologized to Ojiro-san for freezing him, his answer was unexpected. “No worries man, it was awesome” he said with a small smile. The rest of the day was yet again normal classes of stuff I learned when I was seven but I still prefer it to be home. During the week we fell into a comfortable routine where we would stick as a group and try to stay aside from the trouble some of the other students, who Aizawa-sensei dubbed problem-children, caused.

It was Thursday and we were going on a field trip to USJ where we would receive special training from three teachers. When we got there Thirteen was waiting for us and the third teacher was nowhere to be seen. Before we could begin the exercise villains arrived and we were split by the misty portal to different areas. I was teleported to the landslide zone which was filled with villains, but I was not worried as they looked more like thugs than actual villains. I was about to freeze everything around me when I noticed a familiar heat signature close by. I avoided it, but Hagakure-san really needs to be more careful.

I didn’t know where any of my friends were so I went to the entrance hoping the others would have the same idea. I reached the central plaza with little issues and found All-Might fighting a big black bird with its brain exposed. Due to the portal-man’s interference he was losing so I decided to intervene as well to tilt the balance to his favor by freezing the bird. In the end All-might won but Aizawa-sensei and the green boy needed to get hospitalized for their injuries.

The police and the heroes had arrived and we were all together, excluding the injured ones. Thankfully no one had died and all my friends were fine if not a little shaken up by the attack. The police officer called our legal guardians for them to pick us up. It was no surprise that my father wouldn’t even answer the phone and in the end I was given a ride by Tsukauchi Naomasa.

When I got home my sister was waiting for me worried, which was weird considering not so long ago I didn’t even know her name. She insisted on us having dinner together and I learnt that she was studying to be a kindergarten teacher. After some time it began getting awkward so I went to bed early claiming to be tired.

Before going to sleep I checked my phone. UA had sent us an email saying that in lieu of today’s attack we would have tomorrow free. On my friends group chat Sato-san had invited all of us to a sleepover tomorrow which I happily agreed to as father wasn’t home so I could go out without getting in trouble. With no messages left I went to sleep excited about tomorrow's plans.

Chapter Text

Shoto woke up at 7AM which was pretty late. Last night he decided not to set an alarm since there would be no school the next day. He did his usual stretches and exercises, took a shower and began making breakfast at 9:20AM. He had never cooked anything before as his father didn’t consider it beneficial for him becoming a hero, but an omelet seemed easy. He followed every step the tutorial said but clearly something went wrong, he didn’t know the white part of the egg could turn black. While eating a toast instead, he cleaned up the mess, making it look like nothing happened.

Shoto had never gone to a sleepover so he didn’t know what he was supposed to pack. According to the internet the essentials were a pijama, a change of clothes, toothbrush, phone and charger. There were other weird things he decided to ignore such as skincare products, hair gel or arts and crafts materials as they didn’t seem necessary. There were still 50 minutes left until the hour they had agreed to meet, but since he had nothing left to do he decided to leave early and walk instead of taking the bus.

He arrived at Sato’s house at 11 sharp just like they agreed and Ojiro was already there. The rest of them got there during the next fifteen minutes and they settled on the living room. They decided that before lunch they would play video games but couldn’t decide which until Koda timidly proposed Mario-Kart. Shoto had never played video games and didn’t know what Mario-Kart was so he asked “Umm, what is Mario-Kart?” The rest of the group was bewildered and outraged, according to Tokoyami Mario-Kart was “The greatest thing that has ever happened to this mad, dark world” which made it seem more like a religion than a video game. Even Koda talked up to say it was really good.

Since he had never played before, Shoto played in the first round along with Koda, Shoji and Tokoyami. For the character he chose Toad since it was white and red like him and he thought it would be funny. He won the first game, more than that, he completely destroyed the others. After 8 rounds of steadily winning Todoroki was banned from Mario-Kart, he really enjoyed it, but his trained reflexes did make for an unfair advantage.

It was finally time for lunch and they ordered takeout. While eating the others were trying to choose a movie to watch and there were currently two sides. Tokoyami and Shoji wanted Pixar while Koda and Ojiro said Disney was better. Shoto was called in to break the tie since Sato said they should watch a cooking reality show. “I don’t have any preferences. I don’t know either of them” which was true, he wasn’t allowed to watch television. The scene from Mario-Kart was repeated with his friends gaping at him like he was an alien. It was then decided that they would spend the entire afternoon watching movies. According to Sato it was to “make him a man of culture” while Tokoyami took a more dramatical approach saying it was “the only way to fix this great affront against humanity”.

After dinner it was time to change into their pajamas and brush their teeth so they took turns going into the bathroom, they chose the order by drawing straws and Shoto was the last. His pajamas consisted of a white long-sleeved shirt, gray training shorts and black high socks. Overall he wouldn’t get too hot but the only skin that showed was his left calf which meant none of the big scars could be seen. He brushed his teeth and went back to the other who were arguing about sweets.

Everything was normal until Tokoyami suddenly froze staring at Shoto, or being more accurate at his prosthetic right leg which showed due to the shorts. “Your leg” he said. Now the others were looking at him as well, shocked. “Yes?” Shoto didn’t really know what was going on. “You don’t have a leg” Ojiro said with a higher pitch than it should be possible. “I know. You didn’t know?” said Shoto, sounding even more confused. “You didn’t tell us” justified Shoji looking slightly betrayed. “It isn’t as if I tried to keep it a secret, we change together in the locker rooms” at his deadpan expression Sato cracked up and began laughing which in turn made the others laugh.

By the time they managed to calm down they were all lying in the ground from laughing so hard. “Any other incredibly important shocking fact you wanna share?” asked Sato, joking. Shoto took it as an actual question and thought about it for a while before saying “I mean, it’s kind of obvious, but I’m completely deaf and blind on my left side” His answer was met with complete silence. “He is not joking, isn’t he?” Ojiro asked Koda looking between nervous and exasperated. “It is not obvious” Shoji explained slowly. “Oh, okay”

After a short lapse of awkwardness and staring they kept watching movies as if nothing had happened. By the next morning they began calling each other by their first names and made two promises. To repeat soon and explicitly say any important fact about themselves that the others might want to know.

Chapter Text

Shoto jogged home as he had missed his morning stretches and exercises. It was late morning on Saturday and he felt full and happy from having pancakes for breakfast with his friends. During the run he thought about what transpired last night. How his friends did not know about his disabilities but behaved the same after finding out. How it did not seem so obvious to them. Maybe he should have told them he was twelve.

When he reached his house it was warmer than usual. "Tadaima" Shoto said. If his sister was home maybe she would come to greet him. Instead of his sister he felt a massive, burning heat signature going towards him. The news was on the TV, the hero conference had finished early due to an emergency in Tokyo. Endeavor was home.

To say he was mad would be an understatement. Shoto had rarely seen the monster so angry, only at the times he had received his worst injuries. He was scared. In fact, he was so scared he could not make out what was being shouted at him. Not trying to pay more attention proved to be a mistake as somewhere along the rant he was asked a question. For this Shoto was harshly dragged to another room. By the looks of it, training with Endeavor was being reinstaurated.

His remaining weekend became a blur of beatings mixing into each other. However, unlike when he was younger, the hits would only land on parts of him that he could cover with clothing. There were no injuries on his face, neck, wrists or hands. The injuries were also lighter than expected consisting of fractures, bruising and burns but no broken bones.

In spite of the care his father put into not injuring him in visible places, Shoto bought waterproof, thermostable makeup to cover everything. He still had to change on the lockers with everyone else after all. During Sunday morning he practiced a bit with the makeup before going to his 'training session'. Thanks to that he was able to cover every bruise with a liberal use of foundation on Monday morning. The burns were trickier as he could not place makeup over them. They were also easier to pass off as real training accidents.

School began again with their teacher looking like a mummy. After an unnerving speech it seemed they were going to have to keep fighting villains like the USJ. However it turns out he was only talking about the sports festival. Aizawa-sensei also gave the class his contact information including address in case of an emergency.

Shoto spent his lunch with his friend group. They kept looking at him and snickering whenever someone said something obvious. Sato made it look like his disabilities were some sort of state secret that no one else knew about. Not even Aizawa-sensei (who had his medical files) or the rest of their classmates (who changed in the same room as him). Overall it was quite amusing.

The rest of the week went by rather plainly. During the day he would go to UA and have fun with his friends. They began doing teamwork exercises during hero training which made his group even more tight knitted. Next week they would start to form their special moves that they would showcase at the festival.

In the afternoons he had his 'training sessions' with his father. On the bright side, Shoto was certain that by Friday he would be a makeup artist. The only remarkable thing that happened that week was that Tokoyami asked him if they could train together on Saturday as he had some issues with dark shadow and fire would help.

Chapter Text

Friday afternoon arrived and thankfully Shoto’s father was not home at the moment. He took advantage of that to get rid of all the homework he had assigned for the weekend. Everything was too easy for him but he still had to do it if he didn’t want a negative mark. It took Shoto all of the afternoon to finish all the homework. It was way past diner time but he hadn’t had anything to eat yet so he went to the kitchen to make something.

He was trying (and failing) to make an omelet when Endeavor got home. Shoto had agreed to go training with Tokoyami the next day at 10:00 in the morning. However, he had yet to do the hard part, he needed permission from his father. He went to greet the flaming man and steeled himself “Hello father, can I go train with a classmate tomorrow?” Still by fear he waited for a punch, but the hit never came.

“Hnm, okay”, that was not the answer he was expecting. Shoto was shocked still by the affirmative. He waited for the other shoe to drop but when nothing else happened he began cheering internally. Finally he turned around to go to his bedroom for the night (completely forgetting about the diner) when his father grabbed his shoulder. “You can go with your classmate tomorrow” he said with a mocking tone “but we’ll make up for the lost training time now”. His first answer now made more sense to Shoto, the condition was bad but it could have been much worse so he answered with a clipped “Yes sir”.

He was immediately dragged to the training room. He was wearing some light gray sport clothes he used for home so he was somewhat properly attired. The session began rather normally Endeavor would try to hit him and he would dodge everything he could, throwing a punch every now and then. It was just like the ‘sessions’ he’d had during that week, except it never seemed to end. Shoto was extremely tired and sometime along it he was too slow to dodge one of the punches, getting hit rather hard on the head.

The next morning Shoto wakes up to his alarm blaring. He vaguely remembers dragging himself to his room to get patched up last night. But that is all he can make out after getting hit on the head. Groaning because of his throbbing head he checks out the time. His phone’s screen assaults his eye with a bright 9:30. It is a 30 minutes train ride to Tokoyami’s house and they agreed to meet at 10 o’clock. He hurriedly throws some training clothes on, shoves a change of clothes and his phone into a backpack and sprints towards the station still half asleep.

During the train ride Shoto tries to flatten his hair that is spiked up in different directions due to lying on bed. He must look pretty disheveled considering the odd looks he keeps getting. The staring isn’t really helping his preexistent anxiety, he has never gotten anywhere late and can only hope Tokoyami won’t be mad at him. With his stomach in a tight knot he compulsively checks his watch while he nervously taps his foot on the floor. The second the doors open on the right stop he sprints out, oddly enough he does not receive any insults for accidentally pushing some of the people that were on the way.

He runs all the way to the open field where he agreed to meet Tokoyami, arriving there at 10:03. His bird-headed friend was already there calmingly looking at his phone sitting on the grass. Shoto begins blurting out an apology for being late but Tokoyami just chuckles and tells him that three minutes is not late without even looking up from his phone. He keeps apologizing anyway so Fumikage finally raises his head to tell him to stop but he freezes when he sees the other boy’s face.

“Shoto, are you okay?” Tokoyami says calmly and slowly as to not to frighten him. “Yeah” he responds with a slight nod, once again confused by his friend’s actions. “Todoroki, who hit you?” He can’t help but flinch at the question, eyes going wide and wondering how he knew. “Shoto, where you attacked by a villain?” asks the bird-boy pulling out his phone to call for help. He frantically shakes his head, he really doesn’t want to talk to the police. For a moment Tokoyami seems conflicted and with even more wariness than the first time he asks “Did… did HE do that to you? Did your father hurt you?” Shoto flinches once again and readys himself to tell the story he always told the nurses, that he fell, that it was an accident. But his mouth doesn’t seem to want to collaborate. So he just looks down, happy that he didn’t lie to his friend but terrified of what would happen now that he knew.

Tokoyami’s expression of concern has been substituted by a mix of sadness and anger. He slowly reaches out for Shoto’s right cheek, which now that he thinks about it is throbbing a bit. At the sudden closeness he can help to flinch again, harder than the previous two times, falling backwards. His friend is startled and apologizes for trying to touch him without permission. After a couple of minutes of standing there awkwardly without saying anything Fumikage finally gets out of his shock and asks “How about if we do a movie nigh- morning instead of training?” Shoto nods slowly without changing his expression but inside he is happy he doesn’t have to train more, his entire body still hurts from last night.

Chapter Text

Tokoyami gently coaxes Shoto back to a standing position, but despite his compliance the younger boy still looks rather dazed. Fumikage carefully guides Todoroki to his house which is only ten minutes away from the field they are at. He spends the entire way awkwardly hovering over Shoto, afraid he will topple over with no warning considering how out of it he looks. They finally reach his house and he leads his friend towards the living room, telling him to sit on the couch.
“Just wait a sec. I’ll be right back” says Tokoyami before he disappears down a hallway.
He comes back moments later with a bulky white first aid kit in his hands. Shoto doesn’t think it is necessary at all but seeing how worried his friend looks he lets him help him anyways. Tokoyami looks very unsure about what to do next but he eventually pulls out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some gauze and asks Shoto if he can clean the cut on his cheek. Todoroki just hums affirmatively and closes his eyes. Next, Fumikage grabs some kind of cream that smells like herbs and extends it over where he assumes there is a bruise before putting a bandage over it.
The bird-boy slowly puts everything back on its place and leaves once again. This time he comes back with a big tub of chocolate ice-cream and two spoons. He grabs the remote control and plops down into the couch next to Shoto handing him one of the spoons. Todoroki hesitatingly takes the spoon he is being offered and begins fidgeting with it.
“Do you want to talk about it?” asks Fumikage all of a sudden.
Todoroki immediately shakes his head no and braces himself for more questioning. Surprisingly enough, there is no pushing by his friend. He is beginning to relax again when the, now opened, ice-cream tub is shoved in front of him. He almost drops it because of the surprise but he manages to catch it before looking at Tokoyami questioningly.
“Eat some. Ice-cream makes everything better.” His friends states while he browses through a movie catalog.
By the way he says it, it seems as if ice-cream making everything better is a proven absolute truth. Shoto somehow doubts it, but he can’t really judge considering he has never had it before. After some time of just staring at it he can feel the condensation drops wetting his hands and finally he decides to try it. It is cold and soft and sweet and perfect. Shoto loves it and thinks that maybe, just maybe, ice-cream does make everything a bit better. His approval of ice-cream must have shown somehow because he hears Tokoyami try to suppress a snort by his side.
The movie starts playing and Shoto is suddenly acutely aware of how bright and loud everything is. His head is throbbing with a vengeance and the rapidly changing lights and sounds from the TV are really not helping. Then one of the characters drops a pile of pots and before he can even think about it Shoto hisses at the screen. Right after realizing what he has done he feels his ears growing hot and he makes a point not to look at his friend who is chuckling by his side. When he stops laughing Tokoyami does lower the volume and adjusts the brightness of the screen which Todoroki greatly appreciates. He must have appreciated it a bit too much because a couple of minutes later he falls asleep.
Tokoyami, seeing as Todoroki is asleep, immediately pulls out his phone while he internally freaks out. He turns it on and unlocks it with his fingerprint before realizing he doesn’t really know what he was going to do with it. He knows his best friend is getting abused by his father. He also knows that said best friend’s father is Endeavor, the number two hero. And as much as he loathes it, there is probably nothing he can do to fix it. So he does the next best thing he can think of, he makes sure that Todoroki has a safe place to go if he needs to, and mentally apologizing to Shoto for telling someone without his permission, he texts his parents. He explains the entire situation to them and they assure him that his friend can come over whenever he needs to.
The credits of the movie are rolling down the screen and Tokoyami has just put his phone down when Shoto stirs awake. He looks confused for a few seconds before he spots Fumikage.
“Errh.. mh… I’m sorry about… uhm… yeah…” He says sleepy.
Tokoyami looks unimpressed by that statement, which Shoto must admit has not been his most brilliant moment.
“You have nothing to apologize for… If you ever need anything you can come here” Fumikage says, trying to force a smile that looks more like a grimace than anything else.
“-kay, thanks” Shoto replies, showing a small genuine smile.
They stay sitting in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes. When Todoroki looks more awake, Fumikage finally gathers enough courage to talk about what had happened that day.
“You should tell the teachers. They might be able to help” Tokoyami says bluntly. He had tried to come up with a more subtle way to suggest this, but subtlety is not his thing and Shoto can be rather dense sometimes.
“I- I can’t. Just not- not now. Maybe later?...” Shoto stutters out as an answer.
That was better than what Tokoyami was expecting. It is not good, not even close to good. But it isn’t a no, which is the answer that he had been expecting.
“Okay, that’s okay. How about telling the others?” Fumikage tries again. It might not be much help but if he is not available at some point it would be better if Shoto had more people he could go to.
Todoroki is surprised by how accepting Fumikage is of his every answer. He is also now having an internal debate. Until this moment he had been rather sure of what his answer was to every question but, does he want the others to know? He is afraid of them knowing. Afraid they will treat him differently. Afraid they will force him to tell someone else. But they didn’t treat him differently because of his disabilities and Tokoyami has been very helpful and understanding. He takes in a big breath and makes up his mind.
“Okay. I-I can do that” he answers with resolution.
It is only after voicing his decision that he realizes that now he has to tell them. He has to go to them and tell his friends that his father beats him up. How does one do that? It is not something he can just walk to them and blurt out. He is completely lost about what to do. He was already running through dozens of possible scenarios in his head, all ending up in disaster when Tokoyami interrupts him.
“Do you want to do it or do you want me to do it?” his friend asks.
“You. You please.” It had been a long time since he felt so much relief about something.
Tokoyami looks about to ask something when his phone starts beeping. It was the alarm to go home. It is already 2 o’clock and he has to leave now if he wants to catch the train. Shoto hurriedly grabs all his things and as he is going out the door Tokoyami stops him.
“Are you safe?” He asks seriously.
Shoto tenses hearing this question. He wants to say yes, but he can’t. He does not want to start lying to his friend now. So he does the next best thing he can think of. He unclenches his jaw and with what he hopes is a reassuring smile he responds to his friend.
“I’ll be okay”

Chapter Text

Shoto spends all Sunday and the next week getting trained by Endeavor. It is harsh. The training is longer and he has to push his quirk further than ever, but he endures it without a thought of complaint. He pushes himself harder every day, knowing that there is barely a week until the sports festival, terrified of what will happen if he doesn’t win.

Shoto’s routine becomes a cycle of beatings disguised as combat training, of ice and fire that leave raw patches of pink skin faster than they heal, of waking up on the training room floor because he was too tired or just passed out, of putting on makeup and going through school paying more attention to not wincing than the classes, just to go back to that house and start over again.

The days mix into each other to the point that Todoroki no longer knows how much there is left and whether he will be able to withstand it. He is so absorbed by his twisted routine that when one day Endeavor tells him to leave the training room without having ‘trained’ at all it takes him several minutes of staring blankly at a wall to realize that it is Sunday again. That the sports festival is the next day.

Shoto shuffles back to his room dragging his feet, still shocked by the fact that he does not have to train today. He has been completing the same exact cycle for almost a week, and now that it has been broken he does not know what to do. He spends perhaps one hour just sitting on the edge of his bed and just nervously playing with the bandages below his sleeves before he realizes that it might be a good idea to check his phone.

He has 389 messages on his friends group chat.

He slowly reads them all, although the majority of them were small pictures with sometimes a sentence that did not make sense to him. Some of them also moved. Shoto gives up on understanding them after a solid 20 minutes of just staring at his phone. Finally, he manages to figure out that they are all meeting for brunch at Koda and Shoji’s, who apparently share an apartment because their families live too far from UA. They are going to spend the rest of the day together, playing games and watching movies until after dinner. It takes him another 15 minutes of scrolling through the messages and weird pictures to find the address and that they are meeting there at 11:30. He checks the time at the top of his phone and it reads 9:17, just enough time to shower and reapply all the bandages and makeup before going. So he texts that he will be there.

Showering has always been a process that Shoto despises with all his heart. Taking his clothes off in front of a mirror has always made his skin crawl. He is aware of how he looks, after all he is the one that applies cream to the burns and stitches shut the wounds that later become scars, but it is a different thing knowing than seeing. He always tries to avoid the mirror for this reason, but the bright sickly colors that adorn his skin make it hard to avert his gaze. He thinks it is stupid, considering he has no issue looking at his wounds to patch them up and cover them, but he tries to not think very hard about it.

Having to see his reflection is not even the worst thing. What he hates the most is the painful feeling of water and soap going into his wounds. He knows it is necessary to avoid infection, but that does not make it any less agonizing and it still leaves him nauseated for a couple of minutes afterwards.

This time there is a particularly nasty burn on his lower left abdomen and just having water run over it is twisting his stomach into knots. The nausea mixed with the pain is revolting and he waits a few minutes, hoping it will pass. He really does not want to throw up, even after years of practice, moving without his prosthetic is awkward and slow and he does not want to make a mess.

The queasiness subsides slightly so he decides to put on the soap. It becomes immediately apparent that it was not a good idea when the gut wrenching feeling returns with a vengeance. He immediately gaggs and has to leave the shower heavily leaning into his crutch. He is still dripping wet and covered in soap when he starts retching into the toilet. He can feel the sweat mix with the water on his forehead as he heaves, pulling uncomfortably at his wounds every time. Thankfully, the vomiting bout ends rather fast and after a few minutes he feels good enough to go back and rinse the soap.

Shoto carefully pats himself dry, being extra mindful of the burns. He reapplies the creams and bandages without much trouble, his hands going through the motions automatically after having done it so many times. There is surprisingly very little need for makeup, after all he is going to be seen by millions of people tomorrow so Endeavor has been careful not to touch any visible part. Just in case he still puts on some makeup on some bruises that might peek out of the collar of his shirt and his right sleeve.

He finally puts his prosthetic back on which instantly makes him feel much better as he can now move freely. He gets dressed in simple, long sleeved clothing, grabs his wallet and his phone and gets ready to leave. Shoto is checking the groupchat to make sure that there has not been any changes and notices that it is almost eleven. The train ride to Shoji and Koda’s is close to an hour.

He is going to be late, which he does not like one bit but there is nothing to be done about it. He is slightly confused since he thought that he had time for everything. He is considering where he had miscalculated when a slight churning of his stomach reminds him that he had gotten sick in the shower, which takes some time.

Reluctantly and rather nervously he texts the group that he will be around twenty minutes late. He immediately puts the phone back in his pocket, not wanting to know what their answer is. He goes downstairs to leave the house and sees his sister Fuyumi with an older boy he vaguely recognizes as his brother. He does not know his name but he decides to ignore him and just say goodbye to Fuyumi since he is already late so he does not want to start a conversation with him.

Chapter Text

During the train ride the slight churning of his stomach completely fades, which he greatly appreciates considering that he is meeting for brunch. Feeling better, he finally gathers the courage to check his phone to see the reactions to him being late. He stares at the screen for longer than it is strictly necessary before he unlocks it. They don’t care at all. In fact, along with the several messages with varying degrees of incorrect spelling he reads that Sato is going to be 15 minutes late.

Shoto gets there at 11:47, not even 20 minutes late.

When Tokoyami opens the door he looks done with the world, but he still gives Shoto a small smile. In the cozy living room Sato is still dropping his things on a chair as he just got there. Ojiro, Koda and Mashirao are in the kitchen preparing the food. Sato immediately joins them to make some pancakes while Tokoyami hops onto the counter and starts playing music.

Despite how appetizing the pancakes sound (and smell), Shoto is giving all his attention to Shoji, who is making the scrambled eggs. He would love to help, but considering how his last attempt at making an omelet went he probably shouldn’t touch anything. He is content to just watch and try to learn anyways. His staring must have been more obvious than he thought, because Shoji turns to look at him.

The taller boy is holding the pan in one hand, the spatula in another, he is cracking an egg open with another two and has a second pair of eyes at the end of two arms to watch the food while he looks at Shoto. Shoto is shuffling awkwardly under the other’s stare and he can;t help but think that having so many arms is cheating.

“Do you want to do it?” Shoji finally asks.

“I.. ehr… can’t cook?” Shoto squeaks softly. He can feel his cheeks and ear grow warm as he answers. He thinks he could make the blush go away with his quirk. But they are his friends so he doesn’t care enough to try.

“It is scrambled eggs. You don’t need to know how to cook to make scrambled eggs” Shoji answers.

Shoto strongly disagrees. His experience with a carbonized omelet proves that he should stay away from making food beyond heating it in the microwave. However, it seems like disagreeing was not an option as the bigger boy ushers him towards the stove and hands him the spatula and the pan.

“This is not a good idea” Shoto mutters, looking shell shocked. Shoji ignores the comment but he can see Tokoyami giggling out of the corner of his eye. What a traitor.

Shoto is standing in front of the stove as stiff as a board. He is giving all his attention to the scrambled eggs that are getting cooked in the pan, now by him. He is so focused on not carbonizing them that he doesn’t notice that the attention of the rest of his friends is now on him. They are trying and failing to muffle their laughs, dumbfounded by the amount of concentration he is putting into such a simple task. They have never seen him focus so much on a single task; not in math or physics class, not in english, not even in hero training.

“You have to stir them or they will get burnt” Shoji says softly over his shoulder.

Shoto had been thinking single mindedly about the eggs and is startled by the sudden interruption. He jumps a little in surprise and his eyes widen when he processes the new information. He is now diligently stirring the eggs but he looks every few seconds at Shoji to make sure that he is doing everything correctly.

“They are done” Tells him Shoji nodding.

This is all the prompting Shoto needs to steadily lift the pan and tilt it carefully over a bowl while he uses the spatula to push the eggs. They are creamy and fluffy with a golden yellow color. They smell good.

“They are not burnt” Shoto says, looking ridiculously surprised.

He hears a snort coming from his right and when he looks around he sees that all of his friends are looking at him with wide smiles plastered on their faces. He is suddenly very aware that he is the center of attention and he starts shuffling awkwardly, giving them a sheepish smile back. He flinches a bit when Shoji ruffles his hair, but he relaxes immediately when he realizes that he is not going to get harmed.

“Congratulations, you can now make eggs” Shoji says with a surprisingly light tone.

Shoto is happier than he probably should for such a small thing, but he can’t help it. No one had ever congratulated him for anything and he doesn’t even try to withhold the content grin on his face. He feels save with his friends, he feels free to express himself in a way he doesn’t feel anywhere else. Even in school he still keeps his face a blank mask since anyone can see him there.

Koda finishes frying the bacon shortly after he is done and Sato tells them that the pancakes will be done in 10 minutes. The smell is mouth watering and everyone is as eager as himself to eat as they set the table. Ojiro is even using his tail to carry more plates to set the table while Shoji is using all of his arms. None of them has to make two trips to get everything to the table with the amount of limbs getting used.

They don’t talk much during the brunch. All of them were hungry and are much too focused on eating to bother with making small talk. They are done in less than 30 minutes and they hurriedly get all the dishes on the dishwasher so they can start with the board games.

The first game they are playing is a new one that Tokoyami got for his 15th birthday and never got to try it, it even has the protective plastic still on. None of them know how to play so Ojiro snatches the instructions and reads them before explaining them the rules. After some questions on technicalities by Tokoyami and a long time spent explaining to him that no, you can’t kill the prince, you are supposed to get him away from the monsters still alive. They are finally ready to start.

“The youngest person gets to start sooo… Birthdays?” Ojiro asks.

“Mine is May the 28th by the way” The tailed boy adds as an afterthought, knowing that he is probably the oldest.

“19th of June, younger than you but probably not the youngest” Says Sato, still chewing on a pancake.

“31st of October, almost Halloween” Tokoyami mentions.

“I’m February the 15th and Koji the 2nd” Tells them Shoji while Koda nods along.

“Shoto?” Shoji prompts him. Todoroki had been so focused on vomiting the important dates to memory that he had forgotten about giving out his own birthday.

“Oh, 11th of January” He states.

“Okay, Shoji is the youngest so he starts” Ojiro says, looking surprised that the biggest teen is the youngest.

Shoto is confused for a moment before he remembers that the whole birthday conversation was so they know who starts the game. After a brief moment he is even more confused, he skipped a couple of years of school to go to UA, by his age he should still be in Junior high not high school. He hesitates for a second before deciding to interrupt.

“But… I’m 12” Todoroki blurts out.

They are now looking at him in an eerily familiar way, which reminds of when they found out about his prosthetic. The calm is broken by Sato exaggeratedly slamming his head against the table. Shoto winces in sympathy, that can’t be good for him. Ojiro hides his face on both of his hands and lets out a loud groan. Koda is looking at him utterly unimpressed, it is the most emotion he has ever seen the rock boy express on his face. He is fairly certain that Shoji is grinning under his mask and Tokoyami is… praying?

This is not the reaction that he expected and he is not sure what he is supposed to do about it. He settles on checking on Sato, he did hit his head pretty hard. Koda seems to be the calmest along Shoji and signs to Shoto, asking if he skipped three years of schooling to go to UA.

“Not really” Shoto says, shaking his head.

“I finished highschool when I was 10. I’m just at UA for the heroics track” He adds calmly.

That was apparently, not the correct answer. Ojiro and Sato are now wheezing and Tokoyami really is praying, even Koda and Shoji seem shocked by this. After they manage to calm down, Tokoyami gathers the courage to ask the question that had been roaming his head.

“Sooo, how far along are you with your schooling?” Tokoyami asks, failing to suppress a wince in fear of the answer.

Todoroki hesitates to answer, having seen how exaggerated his friends’ responses are to anything. However everyone is now looking at him with eagle eyes and he feels pressured into answering. It would be rude not to, anyway.

“I have a degree in medicine and another one in physics” He mumbles.

This gets a reaction out of everyone, even Koda and Shoji. He can hear Tokoyami saying ‘what a mad blanket of darkness’, whatever that means. Sato and Ojiro are back to wheezing and Shoji and Koda had let out startled gasps.

“Why?” Shoji asks, in a bit of shock.

“Hhm… Physics are fun” Todoroki states plainly.

They all start laughing at that. When they finally start playing the game they all have smiles on their faces and Ojiro and Sato have red eyes from crying from laughter. They go through several different games and Shoto gets to start in most of them since he is the youngest, he also wins in most of them. It is not his fault that the others don't count the cards to know which ones remain. Dinner time has final arrived so they put back the final game.

“So guys, what do we want to eat?” Sato asks with an easy going tone.

“Ice cream” Shoto replies immediately and completely serious.

“That… is not dinner, Shoto” Says Sato, hesitant to refuse the petition.

“Why?” Asks Todoroki. He looks confused and a little heartbroken by the answer.

“You know what, who cares?” Sato declares suddenly. He felt bad at how upset Shoto looked when he had told him he couldn’t have ice cream for dinner. The fact that the younger boy was 12 probably exacerbated that.

“We are having ice cream for dinner” Koda whispers. He must have been very happy about that to actually speak up.

They eat the ice cream directly from the tubs while they watch a movie. Everyone’s ice cream is getting melted and has started resembling soup more than any kind of cream. Shoto’s is the exception, since the boy is keeping it cool with his quirk.

The movie eventually finishes and they all go to their respective homes so they can rest before the sports festival. Shoto feels happy and relaxed and he easily falls asleep on his bed, not even sparing a thought to his terrible morning.

Chapter Text

Shoto Todoroki rose from his bed, the cool morning air brushing against his face. Today is a day like no other – the prestigious sports festival awaited him, a stage where young heroes would showcase their abilities and compete for glory. As he gets ready for the event, all he can feel is dread and anxiety filling his mind.

Descending the stairs of the Todoroki household, Shoto is met with the sight of his father, waiting stoically by the door. The chauffeur standing nearby, ready to drive them to the sports festival venue. The tension in the air is palpable, and Shoto can’t shake off the unease that gripped him.

Endeavor acknowledges his son with a nod, and together they step into the sleek black car. The chauffeur closes the door behind them, and the vehicle begins its journey towards the sports festival. The silence in the car is deafening, broken only by the hum of the engine and the occasional glances exchanged between father and son.

Shoto can barely keep himself from fidgeting, the extended exposure to his father in an enclosed space driving his anxiety and fear into unsuspected levels. However, it is that fear that keeps him still and stoic, knowing that anything that breaks the facade of a perfect little hero is considered a weakness. Weaknesses are not allowed and it has been a while since he was punished for one and he does not intend to break that streak.

After what feels like an eternity, Endeavor breaks the silence that has permeated the car since the beginning of the trip.

“You will win” Enji says stoically.

“Yes father” Shoto answers like he is expected to. There is no other correct answer.

The youngest Todoroki is well aware that his Endeavor’s words were not those of encouragement from a parent to their child like they would be in any normal family. He also knows that they are not those of faith in someone's strength to motivate a beloved one. They are an order. They are a command he cannot disobey. They are a threat of pain and suffering should he fail to comply.

The sports festival, usually a source of excitement and camaraderie, now loomed ahead as a battleground for familial expectations. Shoto couldn't escape the fear that, no matter how well he performed, it might never be enough for his father.

The car pulls over and Shoto is extremely relieved of exiting and getting away from his father. He is focusing on walking at the maximum speed he can without making it look like he is running away. He has never felt this much relief upon entering UA as he does this time, when the feeling of Endeavor’s piercing gaze upon the back of his head disappears as the doors close.

Shoto slowly makes his way to the locker rooms to give himself time to calm down after the nerve wracking car trip with his father. He puts on his well-practiced facade of the stoic perfect hero student, knowing that in a few minutes he is going to be observed and scrutinized by millions. Upon entering the locker rooms he sees that all of his classmates are already there and tries to discreetly make his way to his friend group.

“Shoto! Come here” Ojiro nervously waves him over when he gets near them.

This turns everyone’s attention to the younger boy, as he had arrived barely a few minutes before the event started. Everyone in the room is visibly anxious. Even those that seem more confident are just covering up the nervousness, such us Bakugo overplaying his superiority complex or Iida sticking to rules even more strictly. However, Shoto is as impassive as always which gets him some unwanted attention.

“Wow, you look so calm Todoroki” Uraraka exclaims suddenly.

Shoto is not really sure about how he is supposed to react to that. It was not a question so there is not anything to answer but Uraraka keeps staring at him as if she expects something. After a while of awkwardly standing in silence the girl continues her comment.

“I mean you are probably already used to this. I mean… not the sports festival obviously, but the cameras and people thing” Uraraka rants nervously.

“Ehm. Not Really?” Todoroki answers curtly. What he doesn’t say is that he skipped most of the public events because of bruises, burns and broken bones that his father didn’t want to risk the cameras seeing.

Midoriya seems confused for a moment before his expression lights up. The extreme anxiety seems to bleed off him in a moment as he eagerly turns to Shoto.

“Oh my god, I had completely forgotten, your father is Endeavor right?” Midoriya questions ardently, almost tripping over the words with the hurry.

Todoroki mutely nods, not liking the direction this conversation is taking. He is distressed enough just by the pressure of his father’s future judgment of him during the sports festival, he really doesn’t want to discuss his home life with a boy he has never talked to in front of all of his classmates. However, the rest of the class, including Midoriya and Uraraka, seem to find their conversation a pleasant distraction from the upcoming event so the questions continue.

“Ah, you are rich then. Do you live in a mansion?” Uraraka questions, seeming excited at the prospect.

“I guess so” Shoto answers sharply. Despite how uncomfortable the situation is becoming to him, he maintains his stoic appearance, inadvertently making his short answers somewhat rude or aggressive.

“How is it like to live with the number two hero? It must be amazing” The green haired boy gushes.

“Eh… “ The questions are coming in a rapid fire and Todoroki doesn’t really know what to answer to the last one.

His friends are starting to notice how disagreeable he finds his current predicament. Ojiro exchanging mutters with Shoji, wondering if they should intervene. At this point it should be obvious to anyone that Shoto is not comfortable since the usually impassive boy has started shuffling and fidgeting, suddenly finding his feet very interesting. Thankfully, before they need to intervene or Todoroki come up with an answer Uraraka moves on to the next question.

“He must even train you! I can’t believe how lucky you are. What is the coolest thing he has taught you?” Uraraka’s comment seems innocuous enough, but Todoroki hears it echo weirdly in his head.

Shoto completely freezes at this, as if someone had just put him in pause. His friends notice immediately and Sato comes up with a flimsy excuse of wanting their friend to themselves as Tokoyami pulls him aside. The termination of the entertainment is met with disgruntled comments of “ohhh” and “come on man”, everyone upset at the loss of their distraction.

Soon enough the doors open and they are ushered to the filled stadium. Todoroki seems to be still out of it but he dutifully follows the crowd, blending in seamlessly. His lack of reaction to Bakugo’s “I am going to win” speech is considered part of his impassiveness so no one thinks twice about it.

With the sound of the whistle Todoroki bursts forward, freezing everyone in the tunnel. The rest of the test is rather straightforward so he just runs forward. It is easy enough to freeze the robots, barely taking him a moment to calculate the angle in which he has to ice them so they will topple over after a moment. He slides through the tightropes as if they weren’t there with impeccable balance.

The last obstacle, a minefield, should be easy enough to clear with just a bit of attention and a thin layer of ice he can melt after himself. However, Bakugo has caught up with him and seems determined to make the entire field explode. Shoto is doing his best to keep the aggressive boy away from him with fire but that only seems to make him more angry and temporary.

Todoroki would normally have no problem with splitting his attention in four: locating the mines, icing them over, melting the ice after himself and keeping Bakugo away with fire. However, he has the added task to keep the other boys' explosions from creating a chain reaction that will blow both of them up and probably injure his competitor considering he has nothing to shield himself with.

It is because of that delayance that when Midoriya flies ahead with a massive explosion he is not already behind the finish line. He crosses not even a second later but it makes no difference.

He has not won.

He feels the dread and terror settle heavily on his stomach. All he wants to do is hide, run and never look back. But he can’t. He can’t because more and more people are finishing the obstacle race and he needs to be there for the next part. He can’t even break down nor let any of his feelings show because he is getting observed by millions. He is getting watched by Endeavor.

The cavalry battle is announced what feels like an eternity later and yet still way too soon. He finds his friends looking for him to team up. He would love to go to them. In fact, he wouldn’t like anything more than this being a silly competition watched by too many people, a game between teenagers and friends. But it is not, not for him. So in spite of his wants he turns around and asks the classmates he thinks will make the strongest combination.

With Iida, Kaminari and Yaoyorozu he believes to have secured an almost certain first place. That is the one thing he needs right now. It is not about wanting, not even priorities, he needs to win. He needs to win now and then again and again until the end of this damned competition. He has already lost once and knows there will be consequences for that. He can’t afford to lose again.

His predictions come true when at the end of the cavalry battle not only has he managed to get the 10 million headband but also additional ones, leading to a crushing victory. The congratulations fly over his head as relief floods him, a tiny bit of the tension dissipating.

He spends the lunch break calmly chatting with his friends. Well, they talk and Shoto listens. He is being even more quiet and reserved than usual but they respect his silence, seeing that he seems rather rattled by the recent events. They are keeping to themselves and minding their own business when Bakugou strouts towards their table.

“I’m stronger than you. You are not going to win again you half and half bastard. You better get to the final so I can kick your ass, Icyhot” He proclaims angrily and loudly.

Their entire group is baffled by the sudden approach and gaping. Koda is mouthing Icyhot in confusion and amusement while Shouji slowly nods at him, confirming that he heard correctly. Sato appears to be having the time of his life because of the “half-and-half bastard” nickname. Tokoyami is just staring at him as if he were an alien. Ojiro looks the most confused of them all, gaping openly.

“Did he just encourage you?” The tailed boy questions as if the world was ending.

At that moment they all realize that yes, Bakugo had given Shoto an odd aggressive encouragement to get to the final round. Sure, it was filled with insults and vaguely phrased as a threat, but it was an encouragement nonetheless. They finish their lunch in silence, shocked and mulling over Bakugo’s sudden appreciation of their youngest member.

Todoroki’s battle against Sero is the first one in the brackets. He is not concerned, he feels bad about it but he knows that the other boy poses no threat to him so everything should go smoothly. Shoto was as calm as he could be considering the situation until he entered the hallway.

Endeavor was waiting there clad in his full hero suit with all the flames crackling menacingly and looming over him. Shoto can feel his heart skip a beat at his sudden appearance and can barely keep himself from flinching.

“You are an embarrassment” Endeavor spits out angrily.

“I’m sorry father” Shoto’s answer sounds weak. His father hates weakness.

“You will win” Endeavor says, putting an emphasis on each word and grabbing his son by the arm to bring him closer.

The young boy can only stay still, hoping that the hand holding his arm in a bruising grip won’t be set ablaze. He doesn’t know how he would explain a sleeve of his uniform being gone and a handprint along his forearm. Thankfully his name is called over the speakers and his father lets go so he can walk into the arena.

Shoto is too shaken by the encounter to pay any attention to the announcement. He can feel his hands and legs shaking slightly because of the panic and his breathing is still erratic. He masks it all with a blank face and hopes it will be enough to foul everyone. The moment the bell sounds he ends the battle.

He had intended to only freeze Sero in place, but his body was in fight or flight mode. When Endeavor had confronted him in the hallway he had subconsciously geared up for a battle against him. Because of this, when he lets out a wave of ice it is… bigger than he intended to.

The second his win is declared he melts his classmate out of the ice and apologizes. The harm, however, is already done. Most of his classmates take his attack as an unnecessary show of power, a way to humiliate Sero, who obviously had no way to defend himself against something even a quarter of that caliber.

Todoroki’s friends are instead concerned for the boy, since they know he is not one to make a show of his strength or intelligence despite it being leaps and bounds ahead of them. Bakugo is the only other one who does not seem to take the battle badly despite being close friends with Sero, instead grinning at the monumental display of force.

For the rest of the tournament Shoto sits by himself on the bleachers. His fight against Midoriya is similarly spectacular. The green haired boy seemingly offended by his treatment of Sero and usually cold demeanor and trying to take it out during the battle.

There is a simple concept in physics that he is rather fond of. When something is cooled it contracts, and when it is warm it expands. This can obviously also be applied to the air itself so if he purposefully cools the air down to negative temperatures and then warms it up then it will contract and expand. If said expansion is forced to be at a rapid pace it will create a shock wave similar to that of an explosion and anything not anchored to the ground will be pushed off limits. Todoroki wins again.

The fight against Iida is unremarkable, easily winned with a subtle use of his quirk and ample knowledge of martial arts and redirection of linear momentum. Iida rushes at him mindlessly at maximum speed so with a bit of dodging to prevent grappling, a little push to change his direction and a layer of ice to prevent braking, the older boy practically runs himself out of bounds.

Sparring against Bakugo is more interesting than he had predicted. The blonde is smart and strong and while he is not afraid to harm him he is not purposefully mean. Shoto finds himself having to actually strategize and put in some effort if he wants to get out of the fight relatively unscathed. His explosive classmate is still not at a level at which he can win against Todoroki, still missing martial arts training, muscle memory and experience to have a chance at beating him. Despite all of his bravado Bakugo still flinches slightly when a punch or a kick is launched at his face. He still has not taken enough hits to know how to roll with them, to shrug them off.

In spite of all of that, or perhaps because of it, Todoroki finds himself mildly enjoying the battle. Something he didn’t think was possible after being accustomed to the raw terror his father’s training sessions caused him or the utter boredom that the spars against the rest of his classmates have produced until now. He still can’t completely enjoy the fight, the stakes too high for him to be able to let go, but he draws it out. Even when he probably could have finished it in under a minute he matches Bakugo punch for punch, making sure to flashily display his quirk in order to please his father.

Eventually he finishes the fight, grappling Bakugo in a way that he will blow himself up should he use his explosions. He is announced as the winner once again and leaves to get a new uniform for the medal ceremony, his slightly charred. He is pleased when he notices Tokoyami standing in third place, he had been so absorbed in his own battles that he hadn’t noticed his close friend making it this far. He is also pleased to see that Bakugo doesn’t seem to be trying to murder him or blow him up, not even yelling expletives at him.

Chapter Text

After the medal ceremony Shoto goes directly back home. He knows most if not all of his classmates and even students from other classes, courses and grades are staying for longer to celebrate together, but he is not allowed to. The car ride back is even more tense than the one to get to UA and this time Endeavor does not break the silence. Shoto fears the reason for that.

Once at the traditional Japanese mansion both father and son exit the vehicle in silence and walk to the main door. The moment they are behind closed doors the youngest Todoroki is harshly slammed into a wall. He has the breath knocked out of him and has trouble getting it back as Endeavor holds him in place.

“You are an embarrassment to this family” His father growls next to his ear.

Shoto can’t help but to think that Enji didn’t even win the sports festival when he was in UA. He also knows better than mentioning that, he would like to stay to not lose any more pieces. Therefore he keeps his mouth shut hoping the punishment won’t be too bad.

“You are lucky you need to be in public tomorrow, boy” Endeavor spits out as he throws his son to the floor and walks past.

He cannot believe how lucky he is. Deep down he fears that the consequences have just been pushed to later and he will have to pay a bigger price, but he decides not to look too deep into the gift he has just received. He scrambles to his feet and rapidly goes to his room upstairs, without running because running is for weaklings and cowards and he is not willing to push his luck with his father.

Next day in class Aizawa-sensei hands them the papers for the agencies that have offered them an internship with them. Shoto has a veritable mountain of paper that can barely fit on his desk. He can’t help but wonder why they printed all that information instead of sending it to them online. He isn’t even going to read any of it. The agency he is going to intern with had been decided before the sports festival, probably even before he joined UA. He is going to Endeavor’s agency, his father’s workplace.

Todoroki ignores the pile of paper on his desk and turns around to look for his friends. He is happy to see that Tokoyami has his own stack of offers, looking to be the largest one after his own and Bakugo’s. The rest of his group is sitting behind empty desks. He can see the relief washing over their faces when Aizawa-sensei informs them that those who have not received any offers will be assigned an agency by the school.

The rest of the period is left free so they can talk about the internships while Aizawa takes a nap. Most of his classmates are moving around to check if they are going to share their internship agency with someone else or simply out of curiosity for other people's choices.

For the first time since the beginning of the year, the three separate friend groups that had formed early on are intermingling indiscriminately. Shoto doesn't really want to talk to 'new' people, he has five friends now. That is five more than he has ever had and it is exciting and perhaps the best thing that has ever happened to him. However, the amount of new experiences and disconcerting situations is daunting enough as it is, he doesn't need to add anyone else to his short list of people he likes. He couldn’t help but feel awkward when Midoriya and Uraraka approached him. They were both beaming with excitement, their faces glowing with enthusiasm.

“Wow, Todoroki!” Midoriya started, his eyes wide with admiration. “You’re going to intern with Endeavor? That must be amazing! He’s the number two hero!” Todoroki doesn’t want to answer to that, it’s not like he knows how to anyway. Thankfully he is saved by Uraraka chiming in.

“Yeah, it must be so cool to have such an experienced hero to learn from, and he’s your dad too!” Uraraka nodded eagerly.

Shoto’s smile feels forced as he struggles to comprehend the situation. This is somehow worse than Midoriya’s sentence, at least he asked a question. He really doesn’t know what to do with Uraraka’s statement, does she expect him to answer with something? When the silence prolongs and Midoriya and Uraraka keep staring at him expectantly he determines that they do want him to answer. The only problem now is that he has no clue of what to answer since there was no question asked in the first place. Eventually he settles for the most vague, insubstantial phrase he can think of.

“Uh, yeah, it’s... interesting,” he mutters, glancing away to avoid their curious eyes.

Midoriya and Uraraka continue to chatter about their own internship offers, thankfully allowing Shoto to retreat into his thoughts. He wishes he could be as enthusiastic about his situation as they are about theirs.

Later that day, Shoto’s phone buzzes with a notification. He unlocks it to find an invitation to join the class group chat. Hesitating for a moment, he accepts it. Messages are flying back and forth as his classmates discuss their upcoming internships and share their excitement. He sees a few welcome messages directed at him and promptly ignores those, he had already gotten dragged into a weird, new social situation today, he is not doing that again. His friends had already been added, and seeing their familiar names among the chat participants is reassuring.

Interning at his father’s agency is as challenging as Shoto had expected. The patrolling itself isn’t too bad, Endeavor can’t do anything to him in public, and Shoto finds a strange solace in the presence of civilians and other heroes. Being out in the open means safety, and he clings to that thought as he goes about his duties.

The real struggle begins after patrolling. Endeavor insists on rigorous training sessions, pushing Shoto to his limits. He is exhausted by the end of each day, his muscles aching and his mind numb. There is no room for rest or relaxation, only the relentless drive to improve and meet his father’s impossibly high standards. It was still better than anything he had to go through at home, they have to train at Endeavor’s agency which means there are other people around and in turn, that means there is a cap on how much violence his father can use before his behavior becomes suspicious.

It is evening in Hosu when the Nomu attack begins. Shoto had been patrolling the area with Endeavor and finds himself in the middle of the chaos, his phone buzzes again and again, forcing him to check it. A message from Midoriya in the group chat had been the first he received, setting off the chaos and followed by a lot of questions and confusion since the green haired boy had only sent his location. Shoto’s heart skips a beat at seeing that the location he had sent is just a few streets away from him. Considering the amount of damage getting done by the Nomus, his classmate could be in big trouble. He quickly informs Endeavor of the situation and rushes to the location Midoriya had mentioned, not even thinking of the consequences of ditching his father.

Arriving at the scene, Shoto’s blood runs cold. Midoriya and Iida were locked in a fierce battle with the Hero Killer. The villain was ruthless, his movements swift and deadly. Shoto’s instincts kick in, and he leaps into the fray, using his ice to create barriers and being careful not to assault the villain with his quirk. He doesn’t have his hero license yet so that would be illegal.

The Hero Killer is relentless, but Shoto matches him blow for blow, years of martial training being put into use. His heart pounds as he fights, a mixture of fear and determination driving him forward. He had to protect his classmate, no matter how stupid they were being at engaging with such a villain in the first place.

During the intense struggle Shoto’s sleeve slips up and the Hero Killer’s gaze lands on a burnt handprint over his forearm. The villain hesitates for a moment, a flicker of recognition and surprise in his eyes, Stain had been hunting heroes for not being good enough but burning your own child is a new low. Shoto seizes the opportunity, channeling all his strength into one elbowing the villain in the head. He knocks the Hero Killer out cold, his body trembling with exhaustion and adrenaline.

Just as the Hero Killer falls, the authorities finally arrive, shocked at finding three unlicensed teenagers and an unconscious Stain, the villain that had taken down even high ranked heroes. While they are going through with the arrest a Nomu appears, wreaking havoc in the vicinity. The Hero Killer was not as well secured as they thought, as he wakes up and takes down the Nomu, shocking everyone. Only Shoto notices Stain looking at him as if he was the victim in all this, and can only hope that he doesn’t say anything, not wanting to even think what Endeavor would do to him if he finds out that the Hero Killer knows about his ‘training’.

Shoto, Midoriya, and Iida were taken to the hospital, their injuries requiring immediate attention. The events of the night played over and over in Shoto’s mind as he lay in the hospital bed, trying to process everything that had happened. The next morning, a police officer entered their room, his expression serious. He sat down and began discussing the legal implications of their actions, particularly focusing on the use of quirks. He reprimands them, explaining how it is a serious offense to use your quirk to fight someone when you are not a licensed hero. Shoto listened intently, his heart pounding in his chest.

“Young Todoroki,” the officer says, turning to him, “you used your quirk during the fight, but it appears you didn’t use it to harm the Hero Killer directly. This means you technically didn’t break the law.” He adds as an afterthought, sounding slightly proud.

Shoto nods, relieved but still uneasy. The conversation continues, with the officer explaining the importance of adhering to the rules even in life-threatening situations. Shoto can’t help but feel a mix of emotions: relief that he wasn’t in trouble, but also an all consuming fear of what Endeavor would do when he found out.

Chapter Text

Shoto is terrified. He is sitting on the backseat of a nondescript car his father had sent to pick him up from the hospital and all he can think about is that he is going to spend a week alone with Endeavor. He can feel the panic clawing at his throat and his chest tightening, he knows that he is probably hyperventilating but all he can do about it is hope that the driver doesn’t notice. Both he and his father have the next week off, which has now been scheduled for private training, away from everyone. Their week has suddenly been freed because of the disaster in Hosu. A disaster in which he runned away without permission and proceeded to take down one of the most wanted villains in Japan, breaking at least 3 different laws in the process. And if that wasn’t enough, afterwards, himself and his two classmates had gotten into trouble with the chief of police and Endeavor had been the one that had to cover up everything.

Shoto recognizes that they are entering his neighborhood and can feel himself shaking. The car is getting closer to his house at a constant speed that feels too slow and too fast at the same time. The nerves are piling up in his stomach and he knows that if he doesn’t calm down soon he will end up throwing up. He can now see his house and puts up a blank facade that washes some of the dread off. There is nothing that he can do about this, he will try his best and hopefully he will be able to endure it.

The car finally stops. Getting out takes considerably more effort than it should. He can feel the heat signatures inside the house and only Enji is there. He takes one final deep breath and opens the door.

“I’m home” He says. Surprised, but grateful of how steady his voice comes out.

“The failures are not going to be home this week. I can’t have them distracting my masterpiece” Is all he gets for an answer. The tone is harsh as usual, but Shoto can tell that there is underlying satisfaction in that sentence. It worries him.

Shoto is standing awkwardly, waiting for instructions that are not coming. After what feels like an eternity he starts thinking that at this point even a punch would be better than the mounting apprehension he feels just standing still.

“What are you waiting for? Training starts in 2 minutes” His father snaps.

The youngest Todoroki springs into action, running to his room to get changed into his training clothes. He goes through the motions robotically, his limbs moving on their own to go through the familiar routine. Enji’s sentence is repeating in his head, in a loop. All he can think about is that he sounded… angry. This is bad.

Shoto comes back to his senses when he enters the training room and feels a wave of heat overwhelm his thermal-sensing. He adjusts fast, his body already gearing up to a fight.

He doesn’t get a warning before he feels a fireball coming at him from his blind side. He dodges quickly, not startled at the sudden attack, it has been years since the last time he got a warning. He gets into a fighting position, away from the wall so he has enough space to maneuver but not too close to Endeavor. Shoto places his feet shoulder-width apart and lowers his center of gravity. He keeps his weight on his toes, both on his left leg and prosthetic. He has to be able to react and move fast, Endeavor weighs at least thrice as much as he does, he can’t afford to block any hits.

The fire keeps coming in different forms. Bolts and streams and fireballs come hurling at him. He dodges, blocks with his ice and redirects with his own fire and after 15 minutes of constant attacks he is miraculously unscathed.

That is where his luck ends. That amount of fire had overwhelmed his heat sense, rendering it useless, so he doesn’t feel it when his father approaches from his left side. Endeavor punches him on his left temple and sends him flying. The bicolored boy rolls flawlessly with the punch, standing back up immediately and seemingly effortlessly. However, Shoto knows better, he knows that the hits will keep connecting, that he will get slower and no longer bounce back fast enough until he cannot bounce back at all.

Despite the inevitability, Shoto keeps fighting. Deep deep down, he hopes that one day he will be good enough. He hopes that one day Endeavor will consider him acceptable or that he will be able to fight back and win. Rationally, he knows that neither of these things will ever happen, but he is 12 and scared. He is 12 years old and gave up long ago on someone saving him and has no faith in being able to save himself. And yet, he can’t completely shut down the voice in his head that tells him that one day he will be strong enough. So he keeps fighting.

Another hit connects, this time a kick to the ribs. And then another one. A fireball homes in on his face and he is not fast enough, luckily it is aimed to his fire resistant side. The smoke in the room is choking him and he coughs, it is enough of a distraction that Endeavor is able to grab him and throw him into a wall. His ears are now ringing and his vision is swimming. He keeps fighting.

The blows don’t stop coming, taking place at a constant rate. What does change is the time between the ones that hit. It is getting shorter and shorter as Shoto grows more tired and injured. Everything hurts and he is terrified. All he wants is for this to end, to curl up in his bed and cry. He keeps fighting.

An uppercut sends him flying and this time he can’t roll with it. He slams into the floor unceremoniously. Shoto starts pushing himself up, ignoring the way it sends flares of pain down his chest and the world tilts below him. Shoto is on his hands and knees and no matter how hard he tries he can’t get up.

He can’t keep fighting.

Everything is spinning and his father is talking to him but he can’t hear him over the sound of his own pulse. He is nauseous and can taste the bile at the back of his throat along with the familiar metallic tang of blood. He knows that he needs to throw up but vomiting is never a good answer so he swallows. He is too focused on his own misery so he doesn’t see the boot coming. It impacts directly on his stomach and that brings him over the edge.

He vomits, the sick splattering in front of him. The heaves send painful jolts through his bruised ribcage. Barely anything comes up, as he is fast to reign in the nausea in spite of his body begging him to let it out. It is, however, enough to anger his father. Shoto can feel his pulse speeding up, his heart threatening to leave his chest. He is still kneeling and he can’t get up, so he looks to the floor with his chin pressed against his chest, trying to make himself as small as he can in presence of such an obvious threat.

That seems to be the wrong reaction and Endeavor immediately seethes with fury.

“What are you doing boy? You think your enemies will stop if you cower like a weakling?” Endeavor is practically growling at this point.

Shoto can only think that no enemy will ever make him feel this scared and no enemy will ever be able to hurt him as much as his father has. He doesn’t voice his thoughts.

Endeavor grows inpatient at the lack of response and forcefully pushes his head up. His palm is digging into Shoto’s left eye, his fingers go up his skull while his pinkie rests on what used to be his ear. His giant hand easily covers the entirety of his scar.

Shoto’s breathing picks up. He feels like it is five again and his mother is the one cupping his head. He can hear her apologies as she tries to fix the burn she just gave him by freezing it, making everything worse. He can feel the pain as his face freezes and burns, the skin peeling off. He can hear the screams of agony.

Except the screams are wrong. They are too low pitched to belong to a five year old and they echo weirdly. And he can’t feel the leftover water from the teapot pooling around his knees. And then he remembers that he is not in the kitchen, but in the training room and it is not his mom kneeling in front of him, but the monster he calls a father.

He can now tell that his face is not freezing, it is warm rather than cold. It is warm, warm, warm. It burns. He can now feel the flames licking his already useless eye and he starts thrashing. Endeavor doesn’t let go, instead he holds him tighter, presses Shoto’s back and head against the floor and increases the temperature.

Shoto feels himself grow more panicked and weaker as he closes his right eye to not get blinded by the white hot flames. He knows that his fire resistance is better on his face, like in his hands. It is the reason why he doesn’t have more scarring there. He also knows that it is fire resistance, not immunity, and that if someone holds a flame hot enough for long enough it will scar. It is not like it will make a difference, considering that Endeavor is burning him over his scar. Shoto feels himself giggle hysterically at the thought before he blacks out.

When he wakes up, still laying on the training room floor, it is already dark outside. He slowly and carefully picks himself up, not allowing himself to wince even as his wounds throb painfully when he moves. He is more lightheaded than usual, even for having a concussion, and he has trouble getting to his room while avoiding the parts of the floor that creak.

Once in his room, he starts the familiar routine of going through all his injuries to decide where to start patching himself up. He starts with his head, the concussion is obvious and so is the burn. When he thinks about it his breath hitches and he can feel his chest tightening.

Suddenly, the burn on his face is all he can think about. How his father had held his face and hurt him, just like his mom did all those years ago. Shoto is crying. Foregoing all the protocol he had carefully assembled after all the years of patching himself up he immediately starts treating the burn on his face, not caring about anything else. He carefully applies the burn cream over at least a quarter of his face. The normally dark skin is now angry red and wet, splattered with blisters and patches of white and black charred flesh. As a precaution he applies antibiotic cream as well.

When he finishes bandaging his face he is sobbing. With the white gauze covering the left side of his face he looks like he did when he was five and had just come home from the hospital. He also feels like it. Still sniffling he goes over the rest of his injuries but he finds nothing that requires his attention beyond bruises and burns, which he bandages sloppily.

All that he has left to do is change into clean clothing. He doesn’t want to put on any training clothes. They are comfortable and almost the only kind of clothing items that he owns, but the mere thought of it makes him feel sick. He sluggishly peels off the sweaty and sooty attire he is wearing and changes into the first thing he finds in his closet that doesn't resemble a training outfit. He ends up sporting a white shirt from his UA uniform and a pair of plain black pants that he didn’t know he owned.

Shoto doesn’t remember dozing off, but he is woken up by Endeavor slamming his door open. He is still wearing his hero suit, which is slightly torn in some places and looks livid as he harshly grabs the small boy by the arm and drags him to the training room. He doesn’t even give him a minute to change into a proper get-up.

The first thing that Shoto notices as he is pulled down the stairs is that it is late in the afternoon, the light coming in through the windows is already dim. He must have slept through the day, which is odd as usually his father would have woken him up for training. If he pairs up the late hour with Endeavor’s outfit, it doesn’t take him being a genius to figure out that his father got called for work. And judging by the tears on his costume it didn’t go well.

The second thing that Shoto notices as he gets into the training room is that Endeavor is no longer avoiding hitting his face, his nose bleeding from the sudden punch straight to his face that took him by surprise.

The third thing that Shoto notices is that Endeavor is being sloppy. He is clearly upset and he is taking it out on his son, but his technique and strategizing are being affected by this. At this level he knows that he has enough skills to win the fight.

The fourth thing that Shoto notices is that he is not winning. He is losing. And he is doing so badly, worse than he has in a very long time. Because the monster he calls a father is not the only one not thinking rationally. Shoto is terrified. Yesterday Endeavor had hurt him in a way that would have maimed him if he wasn’t already missing all there was to lose there. And today he is no longer being careful with where he hits, he is aiming to hurt. All that the young boy can think about is that he is going to die. That Enji, in a fit of rage, is going to miscalculate how sturdy he is and he is going to die scared on the training room floor. Murdered by the man that was supposed to be his father, just like Touya all those years ago.