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It was a normal afternoon at the Todoroki house. Touya had just returned from his shift at the bar, Fuyumi had taken Shouto home and Natsuo was going to sleep at a friend's house.
Touya sniffed.
He could get used to that family tranquillity, where he didn't have to be afraid of sudden screams and backbreaking workouts.
It was all perfect. Until Shouto decided to drop the bomb.
"I want to be a hero when I grow up."
Touya felt like an old nightmare. He saw himself at Shouto's age, full of hope and optimism, saying the same thing.
But how much was a child's wish worth when he'd been installed by someone else?
Touya didn't know what he wanted, he was told that being a hero was cool and that he should be number 1.
He thought that was what he wanted. He didn't know any better than what the bastard was telling him.
He knelt and grabbed his little brother's shoulders in an iron grip, perhaps too strong considering the kid's moan.
He didn't hear it, the words I want to be a hero echoed in his mind.
“Who put this idea into your head?”
“Tou-nii?”
“Was it the bastard? He tried to brainwash you too, didn't he? The court order is clear if he tried..."
“Touya!” Fuyumi interrupted him.
She looked at him with a look that would have made the most asshole of supervillains feel guilty.
“You're scaring him.”
It was true. Shouto looked at him in terror, and Touya let go as if he was burned.
He remembered what it was like to be a child and be scared, looking at an adult and not understanding what one had done wrong.
He had looked at the old bastard like that. He didn't want Shouto to look at him like that.
Fuyumi, bless his little sister, took Shouto's little hands and said, “Touya isn't mad at you. You said something that triggered a bad memory.”
The boy sniffed at him, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
"It's not your fault. Indeed, it is he who has to apologize. You're not responsible for other people's reactions,” she said harshly, not turning to look at him.
Touya lowered his head guiltily.
He will apologize later. Not now, otherwise, he would have ruined what his sister was doing.
(Fuyumi was a mother to all of them. Even though she was two years younger than him, she had taken charge of the family since Mom hadn't been able to cope mentally. It was another of the gifts that their sperm donor had given)
Shouto wiped his eye with the back of his hand, the floor crisis momentarily over. Encouraged by this, Fuyumi asked, “Why do you want to be a hero? Has anyone at school told you about this? Or another adult?”
It was a nice turn of phrase to ask hey our bastard of a father during one of the few moments allowed by the court to see you did he put it into your head to become a hero?
If the answer had been affirmative, Touya wouldn't have held back and would have killed that bastard.
It would have made a good villain origin story.
Shouto shook his head. Fuyumi asked, "Why then?"
The boy didn't answer. He was more evasive than Natsuo when he didn't want to reveal what his quirk was. It was good that Fuyumi was handling it now, Touya doubted that he would have the patience.
Gently, she said, “We're not mad at you. We are curious. You've never expressed an interest before."
It was obvious he hadn't. Shouto had grown up with a hero at home for the first few years, and he hadn't set a good example.
Touya managed to get them all out of there, but it was too late for mom. The bastard had destroyed her, and there was nothing left of the woman who raised them.
(Sometimes he resented her for marrying a man like Enji Todoroki. But then, it wasn't like she had much of a choice herself in the first place.)
In their apartment, there was nothing of their old life. No fancy merchandise or action figures. Nothing at all.
That's why they were surprised.
The pro-heroes topic wasn't taboo, but they didn't even talk about it willingly. They pretended there wasn't a corrupt system out there that made hero number 2 a shitty man, constantly obsessed with reaching the top.
Wasted effort. There will only ever be one number 1 hero, and All Might will not be surpassed by one like Enji Todoroki.
“My teacher said that heroes protect,” Shouto finally said.
"And I want to protect him."
“Who?”
“Izu-chan.”
Fuyumi looked surprised. Touya was too, “Who the hell is Izu-chan?”
The girl turned her head so fast it was a surprise she didn't get a stiff neck, glaring venomously at him.
He'll have to put some change in the jar afterward.
“He is my best friend.”
"Friend? You have no friends!"
“Touya!”
He had been tougher than she intended, but it was true. Shouto wasn't much of a talker, and he had had a childhood closed within the four walls of their villa.
It wasn't an environment that facilitated friendship. The bastard didn't even let them play with the neighbors' children. He said the Todorokis didn't mix with the rabble.
He should have remembered that this mob decided who made it to the hero ranks.
You had to know how to captivate an audience, and Endeavor was incapable of that.
Shouto was gripping the hem of his shirt with his free hand, red as a tomato, perhaps out of embarrassment or anger at being mocked by his older brother.
Fuyumi sighed, "Don't listen to him, his friends are a bartender and a thief."
“Former thief,” Touya corrected her.
“Keigo is now abiding by the law. Mostly.”
Fuyumi ignored him, “So you needn't be ashamed. You are a special child and you need to find people who understand that.”
"I've already found one. It's Izu-chan."
“Izu-chan is a good friend?"
Shouto nodded again, “He's the best. He knows a lot of things! He's super smart, he likes All Might, he knows everything about quirks…”
From the tone, it sounded like he'd be blabbing about this Izu-chan for hours. He looked like a puppy in love.
It couldn't be, because he was five years old, and he'd already known how to put shoes on the right foot for a long time, let alone have a crush.
Fuyumi smiled, "He looks cool."
“He is! But he's quirkless, and everyone makes fun of him. “
"Oh…"
Poor wretch. Touya didn't know if it was worse to be born with a powerful quirk but a flawed body like his or to be born without one.
In any case, society looked down on them, deeming them shoddy products and shelving them.
Izu-chan was just a kid, and he didn't deserve to be treated like trash just because his genetic code had decided that a quirk wasn't necessary.
“For this, I have to become a hero,” Shouto continued.
“I have to protect him! Kacchan hurt him, burned him, and called him a shit nerd.”
And then he was the one who had to clean his mouth with a bar of soap. He had to refrain from hitting five-year-olds (although he would have loved to do that.)
He wasn't going to fix it. He was convinced that some teachers fostered bullying, especially when the bully had a promising quirk worthy of a pro-hero.
"What did you do?" he asked him.
"I froze his legs."
"Good job."
"Touya…"
The young man didn't let her finish, "Don't start with violence isn't the solution. He helped a friend. To me, it's self-defense."
"You know we can't make any missteps. The lawyers…"
"I don't care about lawyers!"
Fuyumi glared at him, “Dad's lawyers might say we're a bad influence and take him away from us.”
He deflated.
The old man didn't care about Fuyumi or Natsuo. He wanted his perfect product back, the heir who would inherit his fight against All Might and surpass him.
Touya would die before allowing such a thing.
He and Fuyumi had the same concern. Except that he didn't consider legality as much as his sister.
(Why would he do that when the bastard's lawyers had blamed it all on mom? She wasn't even able to defend herself.)
"Did I do a bad thing?"
Shit, Shouto was about to cry again. Fuyumi hurried to say, "Violence doesn't solve things, Shou-chan. Kacchan will continue to bully Izu-chan. Teachers need to be involved."
"But they don't do anything! They see Izu-chan crying and pretend nothing happened! I have to become a hero so they will stop ignoring it!"
He closed his eyes and counted to ten. The anger didn't go away, and he kept counting until he reached a hundred and lost count.
He knew the system was unfair. Confirming it still sucked for him. His first reaction would have been to resort to violence. Fuyumi was, "We have to talk about this situation with Izu-chan's mom. The adults have to deal with it."
Ergo, he and Izu-chan's mom, given that Fuyuni was seventeen and a child to him.
He scratched his cheek, wondering if he'll scare the woman with all of his scars.
Shouto looked at him determinedly, "Will you help Izu-chan?"
"I'll do my best, little guy."
"If you fail, I will freeze Kacchan and build a castle just for Izu and me."
Dear God. Where did such ideas come from?
"Shouto, you can't freeze people you don't like, or kidnap other children."
"But Izu-chan said he wanted to!"
There was a problem with both of them. It'll be fun trying to explain why it wasn't a good idea for five-year-olds to live alone, even in an ice castle.
Shouto was determined to be Izu-chan's hero. It didn't mean that he will necessarily become a pro-hero. Maybe he'll just be his best friend's very protective bodyguard.
Touya could afford to delude himself. The children were constantly changing their minds. Nothing was stopping Shouto from wanting to be a firefighter in a week, or a doctor in a month!
Too bad Izu-chan also wanted to be a pro-hero, and Shouto was totally on board to do anything Izu-chan wanted...
Puppy love was the worst.