Chapter Text
“You’re guilty too, Mom.”
˙ . ꒷ 🍰 . 𖦹˙—
Toya’s eyes, a horrible, terrible, piercing turquoise, practically boil away Rei’s icy nature under his heated glare, as if just looking at her is enough to scorch straight through skin and bone.
For a long, brittle moment, she’s stunned into an unsteady silence, throat working uselessly around words that refuse to form.
When she finally gains the breath to speak again, the shōji door slides shut in her face with a blunt, final snap as her eldest son storms off to train. Again.
Scenes like this are not rare in the Todoroki household.
But the accusation, referencing the disgusting circumstances of her marriage, therefore his birth, is.
How he even came to know such things is beyond her; those details were supposed to stay buried beneath the garden outside, and the lie that this family was ever built on anything like love.
With a shuddering breath, Rei stumbles back, one hand braced against the wall for balance, before hurrying to the kitchen, where the clatter of pots and the hiss of the stove can at least try to drown out the echo of that boy’s words.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
The dining room is silent save for the clicks of chopsticks against expensive dishes and the soft, awkward sounds of Shoto clumsily sipping his water, each swallow loud in the weighted quiet.
Nobody speaks.
No one even really makes a movement beyond the basic mechanics of eating, like gamblers waiting for the winning lottery numbers, until someone mutters.
“...I don’t like fish, eugh… why’d you bother making it…?”
All eyes snap to Toya while he taps his foot under the table, and then the room goes dead quiet, not even a breath can be heard.
Steam curls from the untouched fish on Toya’s plate as he nudges it like roadkill with his chopsticks, wrinkling his nose as if the smell alone offends him.
A moment later, Enji sits up straighter, looking at Toya with barely restrained fury. He sets down his water glass with a sharp thunk that makes Rei and Fuyumi jump in their seats. Natsuo scowls and focuses on his plate, while Shoto looks around warily, eyes wide. Rei finally averts her gaze, looking down in shame.
How could I forget Toya doesn’t like fish…? Am I really such a failure as a wife that I can’t even remember what Enji’s son doesn’t like?
“Toya.”
Enji finally speaks up, his tone heavy and fatal in the suffocating tension in the room. Toya looks up at him, his expression a mix of anger, exhaustion, and hardly suppressed desperation.
Enji’s look of rage, something akin to detest, almost makes Toya flinch, but the delight of being looked at by his father, Endeavor, makes something reluctantly warm bubble up inside him.
Fuyumi hesitantly speaks up, glancing between Toya and Enji as she fidgets with her chopsticks.
“Toya-Nii, maybe you could-”
“Silence, Fuyumi.”
Enji’s words make Fuyumi physically recoil, instantly quieting. He exhales in annoyance before returning his glare to Toya and gesturing for him to stand.
Toya stands up with a sharp huff, crossing his arms as he pouts.
Don't cry, damnit. Not now! Not in front of everyone, not in front of dad! Stop!
Toya’s eyes start to burn as tears threaten to well up, but he shakily exhales, swallowing his tears before they have a chance to surface. Now, his throat feels like barbed wire instead, but he ignores it in favor of trying to look indifferent in front of Enji.
“Toya. I raised you better than this. Yet somehow, you still manage to embarrass me. You disgust me. Go to your room.”
Enji’s voice is harsh, detached as he turns his attention back to his dinner like nothing happened, leaving Toya trembling and outraged as he storms to his room.
When Toya gets to his room, he slams it, a small burst of flames getting snuffed out as he clenches his fists and flops onto his bed with a muffled scream.
Natsuo’s fists clench in the fabric of his pants, pulling it taut as the sound of Toya’s door slamming reverberates through the house.
Shoto squirms before sitting still, Fuyumi shrinks in her seat like a spooked mouse, and Rei sits in her seat, staring blankly at the now-cold fish on Toya’s plate.
༄˖°.🪐.ೃ࿔*:･
Natsuo trudges up the stairs after dinner, feeling exhausted mentally and physically as he groans about having to finish his homework, and probably another night of gossiping and venting with Toya.
"geez... I'm too tired to listen to Toya-nii tonight, he'll just have to leave me alone till tomorrow or something..."
Natsuo huffs, cautiously entering his room, seeing Toya on his side of the room and not messing with Natsuo's figures for once. With a reluctant shrug, he goes and grabs a change of clothes, shooting Toya another glance before hurrying off to the bathroom to get changed.
huh. Dinner must’ve really sucked for him if he’s not even messing with my stuff… that's new…
Toya, meanwhile, was curled up in bed, not making a sound, picking at the elastic of his hoodie, and glaring at nothing in particular. His palms were red, his stomach hurt, and his throat was sore from holding back sobs.
I just wanna get outta here… if my family were different, would I be better…? Would I be paid attention to? Would I be an only child? Would I be happy? Maybe my stupid quirk wouldn't burn… But if I left, I wouldn't be able to eat or live anywhere, idiot… You need money to live in this stupid society… I could get a job! But to get a job, I gotta be older. Damnit. Why doesn't anything work in my favor? I bet Shoto wouldn't have any problem feeling perfect if he just stopped with the crying and looking like a spooked animal.
… I’ll just talk to Natsuo when we go to bed.
"-I shouldn't blame Shoto, Enji is the one to blame. It's not his fault we're failures, is this just what heroes do with their kids?"
Toya rants, absentmindedly rubbing Natsuo's back while he speaks. Natsuo shifts, barely opening his eyes before he drowsily grumbles a response, burying his face back into his pillow.
“Toya-nii, go bother Fuyumi about this stuff or something…”
Toya pauses for a second, looking at him in disbelief, before he quickly takes on a distraught expression. He’s nearly in tears in a matter of seconds, his voice high and wobbly.
“No, Natsuo! I- you’re the only one who understands! She won't get it, and Mom won't either! Why don't you ever wanna listen to me?! Come on!”
Toya sniffles, noticing that Natsuo fell asleep, before deciding to change and pull on his shoes.
He slips out of the room and down the stairs, before sneaking out of the house and running down the path towards Sekoto Peak, with the only sounds you can hear being the soft sound of shoes running across gravel and soft pants.
⋆꙳༄˖•❅‧*₊⋆ ˖𖠰 𖠰
"We are all, in the end... slaves to our families' wishes."