Work Text:
Endeavor had his masterpiece.
After securing his marriage to the heiress of the Himura family, he began pressuring Rei for a pregnancy, as stipulated in their contract. The only thing she needed to do was give him a child with the perfect quirk to surpass All Might.
When, nine months after the wedding, he arrived at the hospital after a rewarding patrol and saw the head of perfectly split white and red hair, he knew the woman had fulfilled her part.
His masterpiece was born.
After that, he started to see that Rei could be useful for other things as well—a stress reliever, for example.
And so, a year after Shoto Todoroki was born, little Fuyumi was added to the family, or the collection, as Endeavor saw it. After all, a wife and a family, according to his PR agent, were good for his ranking. So Rei, Shoto, and Fuyumi began to be paraded around red carpets, year after year.
Endeavor’s reputation skyrocketed.
The only thing everyone could say about Endeavor was how good of a family man he appeared to be.
Even though this was far from the truth.
But Enji didn’t stop there.
A couple of months before Shoto’s fifth birthday, his quirk manifested. A bit of a late bloomer, if you asked everyone, but as expected, it was a combination of his parents' ice and fire quirks. Not content with just that, Rei told Enji, with a cold expression, that she was pregnant again.
So, Shoto’s own little hell began, or training, as his father called it.
A few months later, Natsuo was born. Like Fuyumi, he was just another trophy that Enji would show to the public three or four times a year on the red carpet, and that was it.
But not for Shoto.
When Shoto first sneaked out of his part of the estate, he heard it.
A tiny cry.
A tiny cry accompanied by soft-spoken words, and Shoto had to see what was happening.
Shoto knew that his new little brother, Natsuo, was recently brought to the estate from the hospital, but per his father’s orders, he had to remain isolated from the rest of the family—something about keeping his focus on what was important.
That didn’t mean he didn’t know or love his siblings. He cherished the time he spent with Fuyumi when their father wasn’t around, and she loved her “Sho-nii,” always eager to ice his bruises when she saw them.
But given how recently Natsuo was born and how, for some reason, Endeavor seemed more irate during training, Shoto hadn’t had the opportunity to actually see his new brother.
But now was his chance.
“Baby brother, please stop crying. I don’t know what to do,” was what solidified Shoto’s resolve to sneak out of his room more often.
“Yumi? Why are you awake? Why is Natsu crying? Are you okay?” was the first thing his five-year-old brain could muster, entering the room.
“Sho-nii!” Fuyumi spun around to see her big brother, and Shoto realized she was seconds from crying herself. “Sho-nii, I don’t know what to do. I heard little Natsu crying and thought I could help because Mama is always so tired and Papa was really mad, but Natsu is still crying and, and, and…”
“Shh, Yumi. Sho-nii is here, isn’t he? I will help you. Let’s see what’s wrong with baby Natsu, and then we can go back to sleep, okay? But I need you to calm down. I can’t take care of both my little siblings at the same time,” Shoto said.
And if he was being honest, he didn’t know where all that came from. He remembered Mama once telling him a few months ago that as the oldest brother, he needed to take care of his siblings, but he hadn’t fully grasped it at the time.
But now, looking at Fuyumi about to cry and hearing Natsuo’s little sniffles from the crib, he understood.
“Okay, Sho-nii. I won’t cry anymore. But what about baby Natsu?” Fuyumi asked while drying the tears from her cheeks.
“Leave that to Sho-nii, Yumi.”
After that, Shoto took Natsuo in his arms, trying to remember how Endeavor carried one of his sidekick’s babies a few months back at the agency.
When Natsuo opened his eyes and looked directly at Shoto, he knew he would do everything in his power to protect his siblings.
That night, unbeknownst to their parents, the Todoroki siblings slept together.
Almost a week before Shoto’s eighth birthday, his dad asked him what he wanted for his birthday.
That, in itself, was a rarity.
Every year on his birthday, he was taken to his father’s agency to train with his sidekicks, join his father’s patrol for the day, and then have dinner with his mother and siblings.
Only the last part was what Shoto actually looked forward to on his birthday.
If he could, he would spend the whole day just playing with Natsuo and helping Fuyumi with her studies.
But his father had a reputation to maintain.
Endeavor had sold the public image that Shoto was deeply inspired by his father’s hero persona and wanted to become a hero himself.
Shoto did not want to become a hero. His father was a hero and he did not want to become like Enji.
Endeavor knew how to manipulate Shoto to do his bidding, and that was through his siblings.
Every time Shoto objected to training or opposed going to a hero gala with Endeavor, his father always said the same thing:
“If you don’t want to, I’m sure I can train Natsuo or Fuyumi to replace you.”
The last thing Shoto wanted was for his baby siblings to go through the same grueling training he endured, so he obliged.
But when his father asked what he wanted for his birthday, he didn’t hesitate.
“I want to be in the hospital when Mom gives birth.”
Yes, because even though Endeavor had already milked the family image for PR, he didn’t stop with poor Rei.
For Enji, Rei was an amazing stress reliever, and whatever came from that, in the end, was good publicity for him.
When his father actually let him go to the hospital when Rei’s water broke, Shoto was over the moon.
His mother even allowed him in the delivery room.
After six grueling hours of labor, the newest Todoroki was born.
Rei was crying and didn’t even look at the baby when the nurses tried to hand him to her.
So they gave him to Shoto, the only other family member present at the hospital.
And when that baby with a tuft of red hair opened his bright blue eyes and looked directly at Shoto, he knew he would do everything in his power to keep this baby as far away from Enji Todoroki as possible.
Shoto now had a purpose.
Shoto was going to be a hero, just to save his baby brother from anything and everything.
“Excuse me, kid,” a nurse approached Shoto with a clipboard in hand. “I’m Nurse Nobara, and I’m in charge of your mother and your baby brother. Your mother says she doesn’t remember the name for this little guy, and your father isn’t answering the phone. His secretary said you should know the name. Do you remember what your parents were going to name him?” The nurse looked a little nervous but tried to sound calm.
Shoto knew that his mother had always been the one to name his siblings because Endeavor wanted nothing to do with the
family after Shoto was born. Looking at his mother...
Rei was crying and mumbling things that would make no sense to people outside the family, but Shoto could make out the small cries of “Just like him,” which made a little too much sense, so he knew she wouldn’t be much help.
Shoto looked at the baby’s big blue eyes and knew.
“Touya. His name is Touya.”