#I guess i just hate for Io to have any kind of happy backstory oops

[thirdfavoritemom]

Deal Breaker (Io Toshinori x Shoto Todoroki)

hey there’s mentions of abuse, so please please don’t read if that will trigger you p l e as e

“Wait, Io, what?” Izuku asked, utterly floored by the words that had just left the mouth of his best friend.

Io looked at him in confusion, not really sure what was wrong. Until Shoto’s fists clenched at his sides and Io felt as if she was 2 feet tall in comparison. She hadn’t felt so small in a long, long time. Not since Him. Not since she managed to escape. 

But she hadn’t ever told anyone abut Him. Not until just now. Not until Ochaco had asked if Io had “ever even had a boyfriend before?”

“Yeah, one.” Io had told her with a shrug before really thinking about Him for the first time since starting UA “He was.....the worst...” and her voice must have betrayed something, because that’s when she got the questions.

Before she could answer Izuku, Shoto’s hand was on her arm, making her blood run cold.

“What do you mean?” Todoroki asked, his voice dangerous and low, which obviously distressed Toshi, so he tried to clear his throat and sound less....livid? 

“Io-” he began, but seeing her flinch as if he had raised his hand to hit her made him stop speaking entirely.

“Io, please, you have to explain..” Ochaco said softly, glancing at the two boys with somewhat of a warning in her face, telling them to shut the fuck up. “When you say he was the worst....” But Uraraka didn’t want to finish her thought in fear she was right.

“I...Well, He...”

3 Years Ago

“You know your’re beautiful, Io?” His deep voice dripped like honey down her neck as he peppered kisses in his path, earning a breathless “you keep saying that, idiot,” from Io and he smirked against her collarbone, nipping there gently before Io (once again) pushed him away.

He groaned in annoyance when she told him “not yet” for, like, the 8th time this fucking week. “Then when?” he demanded, the doting, sweet voice replaced by one filled with anger.

Toshi shrugged, rolling her eyes as she pulled herself to her feet. 

The early morning sun  pooled into the dingy room from between even filthier blinds, swathing her small frame in golden light as she pulled her sweater from the night before on over the tanktop she’d slept in. “I don’t know, asshole, I’m just not ready yet.”

He scoffed from his spot on the twin-sized bed they’d shared the night before, eyeing her with a type of...malice, she’d never seen there before. “He when do you think you’ll finally cover up that shit on your back? I told you, my tattoo guy can do it for cheap.”

She winced a bit, as if his words were a whip that reopened the year-old marks on her shoulders, and she had to bite her lip to keep from saying something back. That might make him more mad.

Io kept her back to him as she slipped her sneakers on and packed her bag, not wanting him to see the tears welling in her eyes. That bastard knew what her scars meant. He knew about her father. Shit, he knew how much she hated them, and he still said something so cruel? But she was pulled from her mind when she felt his arms suddenly wrap around her middle as he pressed himself against her back. 

She could feel his boner through her jeans and it made her feel...dirty. “It’s been, like, two months, babe. You can trust me, I’ll be gentle-” he purred in her ear, making her skin crawl as she tried to gently remove herself from his now vise-like grip.

“Dude, let go. My foster parents are already gonna be pissed, I have to go.” She spat, finally forcing herself away from him and stumbling forward, steadying herself on the half-broken dresser.

“Fuck them! They treat you like shit! Stay with me another night, babe, come on~!” he whined, practically floating towards Toshi to caress her cheeks “You deserve better, babe.” he cooed, and her expression softened as he kissed her nose.

“Yeah, well, I don’t have better now do I?” she asked with a smirk before pecking his lips and grabbing her backpack and skipping out the door. 

The walk from his apartment to school took Io about 30 minutes, but she didn’t really mind it. Hell, it was better than the 10 minute drive with her oldest foster sister, anyway. These were her 30 minutes. No shitty ‘parents’, no boyfriend, no anything. Just her and her music and her thoughts.

Speaking of thoughts, Io couldn’t help but remember the anger in His voice when she told him no again..how much longer would he put up with it? Or how hard he held her when she tried to move, or how he mentioned her scars for the sole purpose of hurting her. Why was he acting so..off? Io couldn’t rememebr doing anything in particular to him, so why?

Io shrugged, chalking things up to him having a bad morning and continuing through her day, soon forgetting anything had happened at all.

But what started as a bad morning turned into a bad week, and a bad month, and a bad six months. She went through two more foster families and he kept getting meaner, angrier, harsher. 

It got to the point when she’d train just to avoid him, preferring to spend extra time to herself before facing his wrath when she got to his disgusting hovel of an apartment. 

This went on like this; His cruel and spiteful words, her intense and exhausting training, His torrential downpour of negligence and anger, her further isolation from her peers to avoid upsetting him, His borderline physical attacks on her, her closing in on herself and closing off her mind so that it was as if she wasn’t even living anymore.. It just continued.

And she took it. 

Io filtered through foster home to foster home, a hollow shell that did nothing but practically kill herself training every day for what she told herself was vengeance for her father, but more realistically kept her mind focused on something other than the fact she hated herself and everything, hated living, because of Him.

But she found her happy place; one that wasn’t a training ground. 

One gold nugget among hundreds and hundreds of pieces of dirt.

And finally, Io Toshinori snapped.

“Get back here you miserable little whore. We aren’t finished yet.” He growled, grabbing her by the hair and aiming a blow directly to the middle of her back. He had never hit her before. He feigned like he would, be he knew her quirk and never chanced it. 

She could feel the force coursing through her veins. She could feel the power jolting to her fingertips. 

She’d been training to be the best since her father died. 

She’d be training day and night to get into UA. 

She’d been killing herself to fight villains. 

And this was her chance.

She whipped around to face him, a wicked grin splitting her face in two.

The police wanted to incarcerate her for what she did to Him. She was almost exempt from the UA entrance trails. But her foster family fought for her, and won.

And slowly, she removed herself from the shell she’d built. She found happiness n her new home, found joy and laughter and herself again.

And she got into UA by placing 5th.

And she met the most amazing people there.

She also found Todoroki, a beautiful, caring, soft boy. A boy that didn’t ever call her fat, or tell her that her scars were anything less than a trophy to love and cherish and be proud to wear. A boy that had his own damage, but was able to have so much love for her. And fuck did she love him so. fucking. much.

The three around her just...stared. 

Her, in front of her, were her two best friends and the boy she loved so completely, so desperately, and it dawned on her that this might be a deal breaker for him.

That he didn’t know how fucked up she really was.

“I understand if you want to break up. I can see how this could be pretty overwhelming to learn, and I know I should have told you before you asked me out, but I pretty much hate myself for ever being so weak and I was really hoping you’d never know. Your dad mentioned it to me, when you let me meet him. He told me he didn’t like me because of it. But I, of course, told him to go fuck himself becasue as long as you like me I don’t care, but i can definetly see how this would make you super not-like-me-anymore and-” Io was rambling, refusing to look Shoto in the eyes, until she was in his arms.

Shoto’s arms were so..different..than His. Shoto’s arms were strong and warm and protective. They held her to calm her instead of to intimidate her. 

And relief flooded her body when he told her to shut up, but in a good way.