Chapter Text
His father had never been the kindest soul, even before he started training Touya, but anything would have been better than this.
It had all started when his flames had turned blue. The hero commision had always watched him, even before then, as the son of the number two hero but they’d never expressed a lot of interest or attention in his training until the flames shifted on his 10th birthday.
He hovered nervously in the doorway as he watched his father open up yet another letter from the hero commission at the kitchen table. He leaned forward and the board beneath him creaked.
His father’s eyes snapped towards him, “Get out of here, Touya. Everything will be fine, don’t worry about it.”
He wasn’t sure when or exactly why that changed, but two weeks later he was in the back of his father’s limo with a packed suitcase after saying goodbye to his siblings.
“Dad? Where are we going? Why are you doing this?” he asked his father as the limo pulled out of the driveway.
“It’s fine, Touya, the hero commission is just going to watch over your training for a little while. They’ll realize that you're not good enough with your quirk hurting you, and then you’ll get to go home.”
“Then why didn’t you want me to go? Why’d you tear up all those letters?” he replied innocently despite already knowing the answer. The commision probably wouldn’t just let him go, not as the son of the number two hero. No, they’d be keeping him for a long time. And perhaps worse yet, his father didn’t get a choice. His father, the number two hero and one of the most influential people in the country, didn’t get the choice. He’d seen the letters. They’d threatened to take away his father’s hero license on account of excessive property damage if he resisted.
There was no good way out.
“It’s complicated. Don’t worry about it, they’ll send you home soon enough and everything will be fine. Just trust me for once, Touya,” his father pleaded. Yet, trust was hard to come by in their relationship. There had been too much damage, too many years of hurt for their relationship to be like any other trusting father son dynamic. There was too much between them.
Afterall, how could he trust the man who had hurt his mother to the point of almost snapping. The man who had hurt him day after day for years under the guise of training. It wasn’t right, nor was it fair.
But, in the end, the commission was worse. He’d heard the rumors of the boy they took at age 5, quiet whispers barely heard from through his father’s office door. He’d heard what they did to him in training to be a major hero or assassin. Which one it was, or if it was both, was unclear from the barely heard whispers but it was still concerning. Five years in the system that only ever caused pain. He wouldn’t be able to make it that long, he knew it. He would have vanished into the void by then, whether from running away or death.
Touya was quiet for the rest of the ride, staring out the window, unwilling to let his father see his fear of the system. His father went on his phone, replying to emails as the long car ride continued.
As they approached the facility on the outskirts of the city, his father looked up from his phone, “I care about you, Touya. I really do. So, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for this.”
The car pulled through the entrance and the gate snapped shut behind them with a clang, sealing them inside the complex with a sense of finality.
A few minutes later, they pulled up to one of the buildings and the driver got out to open the door, ushering them inside of the windowless stone building. They emerged from the doors into a brightly lit lobby, the driver taking their bags who knows where as soon as they were inside.
“Take a seat, sir. Your son’s tour guide for while you sign the paperwork will be coming along soon.”
Reluctantly, they sat down on the hard benches against the wall. The fluorescent lights beamed down upon them and Touya began to sweat. He wasn’t ready for this. How could he do this without his siblings by his side? They’d always been there for him, through thick and thin, protecting him from the worst of his father’s training and helping patch his wounds when his mother couldn’t.
After a few minutes of waiting, a young boy with stunning crimson wings spread behind him emerged into the lobby, shoulders tense and nervous. They both stood up rapidly.
“Hello, you must be the guests I was told we were having. It’s nice to meet you both. My name is Hawks. I’ll be helping you around here and to get a hang of the place,” the boy, Hawks?, said as he wrung his hands nervously.
“Hello,” Touya replied awkwardly. So this was the boy that the commission was training to be a hero assassin. Briefly, he wondered what the boy could do with his wings. Surely it was more than just flight or the commission wouldn’t have taken him in. Wing quirks were uncommon, sure, but they weren’t extraordinary by any means. Perhaps he had proficiency in combat with a sword? Or claws? There had to be something unique about him, right? The HPSC wouldn’t just take in anyone.
The secretary stood up from her desk and walked around to where they stood, her skirt rustling as she walked, “Hawks, please show Touya around the facility. He will be your roommate. Endeavor, if you would follow me to sign the paperwork.”
Without a second glance, the secretary turned her back to them and walked swiftly out of the room. His father gave him an apologetic look and followed her out of the room, leaving Touya alone with Hawks.
As soon as the door snapped shut, the tension in the boy’s shoulders vanished, “Sorry about her,” the boy said with a quick smile, “Shiroma’s kinda a bore and rather strict, but she means well.”
Touya nodded numbly at the total personality switch of the boy.
Hawks continued on with his little ramble rant, “So, like I said, I’m Hawks. I’m sure this must be weird for you but I promise you’ll have a good time here. The training can be a bit much sometimes but I’m sure you’ll adjust to the schedule quickly. It can’t be much worse than what your father has been teaching you.”
Hawks began walking out of the room, through the door he had originally come from.
“Come on. We should get this done before your father finishes up.”
“What do I need to see? I can’t be staying too long, right?” Touya replied hopefully. He wanted reassurance from the one who had been here for a while already that he would get to go home eventually.
“Well no matter how long you’re here, you’ll need to at least know where to get your food, where to sleep, and where to train. After all, you don’t want your skills to slip.”
He nodded along. He didn’t really trust himself to say anything yet. It wouldn’t be wise of him to show how unhappy he was yet. Punishments here weren’t something definitive that he knew yet. With his father, it’d always be harsher training, usually emotional manipulation or torture.
Hawks continued walking through the halls for a few more minutes, pointing out the cafeteria and random bathrooms as they walked.
“This is the primary training room, it’s got a sparring area, an obstacle course, and a few extra padded rooms for miscellaneous training,” Hawks motioned to one side of the hall for a moment before pointing at the opposite side, “Over here we’ve got our classroom. It’s set up so we can take all our lessons in the same room, the couple of teachers just rotate.”
Touya continued to nod along.
Hawks walked down the hall a ways longer as Touya trailed behind, “And here is our room.”
Hawks opened the door and beckoned Touya inside. “That’s our bathroom and that’s our shared closet,” he said as he pointed at each door in turn.
Touya cautiously sat down on the bed with his suitcases, seeing that Hawks had already clearly claimed the other bed, judging by the stuffed figurine of Endeavor and the rumpled bed sheets that the other had. Hawks gave him a light smile and sat down on his bed, facing Touya.
“So… why’d they want you? They haven’t taken anyone since they got me, as far as I know. There’s only one more of us, actually, an older girl who goes by Lady Nagant. I think she’s an assassin, judging by what I’ve seen of her,” Hawks asked.
Touya shrugged nervously, “I’m not really sure. My flames are stronger than my father’s, but it hurts me. Not really a point to a quirk that I can’t really control all that well, if ya know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” Hawks was quiet for a moment before speaking up again, “So Endeavor’s really your father? He’s been an idol of mine for ages.”
Touya made a sound of agreement and replied, “The old man’s harsh, can’t say I’m the most fond of him all things considered. The media may show him as a hero, but at home he’s anything but.”
Hawks grimaced, although his facial expression was noticeably muted. Was it expressions training like the kind his father had put him through or something else? “I know a lot of people like that,” Hawks stated almost with a sad tone, but firm as though it left no room for question or discussion.
“I was wondering…” Touya was hesitant to ask anything of the other boy, but he really wanted to know, “What’s your quirk?”
“Oh!” Hawks’ eyes brightened and he seemed noticeably more cheerful. The dork. “I can control my feathers individually and use them to fly!”
“Cool.” That explained quite a bit. No wonder he was here, with a quirk like that and proper training, he would probably be amazing at rescue work or even hero work if he trained with an additional weapon.
Hawks’ watch buzzed and he glanced down at it, “We should head back, your father is just finishing up.”
They went into the hall and Hawks glanced over at Touya, “The door’s all the way at the end of the hall, wanna race?”
Touya glanced behind them to make sure no one else was around, “You’re on.”
Hawks lifted off of the ground, wings beating steadily as he held himself aloft. “Three.”
Touya got in a sprinting position. “Two.”
“One.”
They both took off down the hallway, Touya using little wisps of flame to propel him forward and Hawks flying.
There wasn’t really any true competition. Hawks was at the end of the hall in less than thirty seconds while it took Touya almost two minutes to catch up. Hawks just grinned at him, “You’ll catch up eventually. Now my question…”
Hawks paused for a moment.
“What’s your name? I think I’ve got the last name, Todoroki, but is there a first name to go with that?” Hawks asked bluntly. Well, that was definitely not what he was expecting, but it was easy enough nonetheless.
Touya gave him a light and reassuring smile through his nervousness, “Touya. My first name is Touya.” It had been a while since he’d been able to just mess around like this, just like kids. The way it should have been. It was… nice.
“Nice to meet you, Touya! Well, let’s go in.”
They went into the room where his father and Shiroma stood.
“Good. You’re here. Todoroki. You may say goodbye to your father. Then return to your room with Hawks.”
As soon as Shiroma spoke, his father wrapped him up in a hug and ran his fingers through his hair.
Touya awkwardly pulled away from the hug, unwilling to get affection from the man who was abandoning him, no matter the circumstances. Trust and physical touch had never been their thing, it had always been pain. He didn’t really see why it should have changed now.
“Goodbye father. I hope to see you again. Soon,” he didn’t really mean that of course, but anything would be better than what the hero commission had in store for him. In the end, he knew the pain at home. Here, here was a whole nother story.
“Goodbye,” his father said bluntly and turned his back to walk out.
Hawks placed a guiding hand on Touya’s shoulder and walked him back to their room. When it all came down to it, Touya felt almost blank. Until this very moment, it hadn’t really hit him what being here meant. It hadn’t hit him that he wouldn’t be waking back up in the morning with his sister and mother hoving over his face so that they could hang out before training or school.
Gods, why was it always him?