Chapter Text
Chapter One - Forgotten Kids Club
Touya POV
How is it so hard to love your own children? I often find myself wondering about it when I’m alone in my room. Which is a lot. Honestly, it’s all the time. If it weren’t for Fuyumi bringing me food, I’m sure I would have died by now. I haven’t bothered to leave since he called me worthless. He spent years making me torture myself, only to what? Throw me away when something better comes along?
A knock on the door drags me out of my thoughts. I force myself up and walk to the door to open it. Natsuo. Of course. “What do you want?”
“I’m here to drag you to dinner, so come on. You’ve wallowed in self pity enough, it’s time to join the forgotten kids club.” He says so nonchalantly, like being forgotten and ignored is the most normal thing ever. I start to protest, but he interrupts, “Nope! You’re coming so that you can see that your life isn’t over. Let’s go.” He grabs my arm and pulls me from my room. He keeps a grip on my arm all the way to the kitchen where Fuyumi is setting the table.
“Touya! You came!” Fuyumi says, she smiles so brightly that it could’ve lit up a room.
“Wasn’t given much choice,” I say and send a glare to Natsuo.
“Hey!” He defends, “You need to get over yourself. You aren’t the only one that Dad pretends doesn’t exist. The only difference is that you know what his attention feels like.”
“While I wouldn't have phrased it like that,” Fuyumi starts, “He is right… it’s going to be okay. Maybe it will even be better without the constant training?” She looks at my scars and I cross my arms self consciously.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway.”
I can see the look of concern that passes between my younger siblings, but they don’t comment any further. Fuyumi puts food down on the table and fills three bowls of some kind of stew. I looked around confused. “Where are the twins and Cairo?” I figured Shoto wouldn’t come- I was rarely allowed when I was training- but the others should be here, right?
Fuyumi looks away but Natsuo gets a hard angry look and answers me, “He decided the twins were “good enough to be worthy of training” and took them. They’re under the same strict orders as Sho.”
I pause. Absorbing the information. Not only has he forced Shoto into the torture he calls training, but the twins, too? “...and Cairo?” I have to force my anger down, lest I start smoking.
Fuyumi looks at me with tears in her eyes, “Dad said he wasn’t good enough to be a Todoroki… We don’t know what happened to him, but we haven’t seen him in weeks!” She says it with a sob, covering her mouth and burying her face into Natsuo’s shoulder.
I stare blankly at her. No. No. There’s no way. Dad has hurt us, he’s neglected us, he’s forced us to be perfect, but he’s never gotten rid of one of us. Just no. Even if we aren’t up to his standards he’s never done that. What could Cairo have done to warrant this? “Why?” The word is forced out. It’s all I can do to say that much.
Natsuo is the one to answer. He looks as angry as I feel. “We don’t even know! ‘Yumi tried to get him to tell us, but that’s all he would say! ‘Not good enough to be a Todoroki’. Bullshit. I’m quirkless and he hasn’t gotten rid of me! He won’t even tell us where he is!” Natsuo takes a deep breath and shakes his head.
I feel anger boiling under the surface. The familiar heat of my quirk coming with it. I stand abruptly and turn, moving before I can stop myself. Fuyumi calls out, “Touya? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to fucking kill him.” I hadn’t actually had a plan when I got up, but that’s what comes out of my mouth. And suddenly it’s very clear to me that that is exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to kill the asshole that can’t even be bothered to like his children.
“Touya! No, stop!” Fuyumi races to me, grabbing my arm, but pulls her hands away immediately because of the fire building just under the surface.
Natsuo gets in front of me, “Touya, let’s think about this…”
“Get out of my way, Nat.”
“No! Use your brain for once idiot! How do you think that storming in there and fighting him is going to go, huh? You think that you’re going to beat the number two hero in a fire fight? No, you aren’t, so don’t even consider it. Not to mention the fact that if that fire fight were to get out of control, you would be stuck in a burning house. And you aren’t immune to fire. Don’t even argue, you are covered in burn marks.”
I glare at my brother, but I can’t ignore his points. He’s annoyingly right. I’d be beaten and burned if I went in there. I take a deep breath and calm down a small bit. “What do you suggest I do then, oh wise one? Let him get away with whatever he did to Cairo? With everything he’s done?”
Natsuo shakes his head. “No, I don’t. But at least think of a plan first.”
“Guys… I don’t think we should be planning to murder our dad,” Fuyumi says, moving to stand beside me so that she can see both of us.
“We aren’t going to muuurder him,” Natsuo retaliates.
“We aren’t?” I say.