#and yes it would be a touya endgame

[yinyuedijun]

honestly if touya gets a bullshit ending I will write the next 80k words of hell fic just to give him a different one HWFDLSHFDJSKD

[ilikelookingatthings]

Some thoughts on Cardcaptor Sakura and destined love.

Okay so a theme by the people who made Cardcaptor Sakura is love is love. Age gaps and circumstances or gender won’t stop the feelings so to speak because its destiny. and there are ships that overlap looks throughout other works by the same team who made cadcapture sakura.

But I think what I find most fascinating is I actually think two of the main ships aren’t actually destined love despite what overlapping character models would have you believe(looking at you tsbasa chronicles)...what makes them strong is they are defying destiny.

these two ships are  Sakura x Syaoran and Yukito x Touya.

it sounds crazy but here me out because I actually think the base for my theroy makes sense.

One of the ‘destined’ loves the show brings up is Sakura’s mother and father who fell in love as a teacher and a student(yes is sus on principle, it being sus isnt exactly relevant but it must be repeated for the people who didn’t figure it out).

A second(spoilers) is a relationship or deep love implied from Yue(a moon powered spirit towards/between the Original Card Captor Master Clow from centuries before.

and technicallya relationship counted that I don’t want to count since I hate it and isn’t even in the anime at all but I will mention since it may help you see the pattern is the teacher with one of sakura elementary classmates.

Touya actually takes after his mother in not just spiritual awareness but also taste as he actually falls for a lady teacher with spirit powers/is a priestess/shine maiden of some kind when he was in middleschool(again even more sus..not entirely relevant but it bears repeating).

Sakura also has an interest in an older boy the same age as Touya named Yukito. in her case its while Yukito(seemingly) is in highschool while she is in elementary.

Something I noticed was a patturn of an older person getting with potentially younger student.

its easy to forget since sakura x syrean and yukito x touya seem so obvious endgame.

but for the majority of the series Sakura was in love steadfastly with Yukito. Yukito is very sweet to Sakura throughout the series. Sakura was also the one who became the Cardcaptor connected to the cards(not touya), which is connected to Yue(Yukito arguably real/original personality that is centuries old and guardian to the cards that sees if the owner is worthy). and Yue had been deeply in love with Master clow who had made the cards originally. Arguable Sakura was destined to be very close to Yukito on both sides and it was implied that Yue might have gotten close to Touya to get close to Sakura and specifically the cards in their house in the guise of Yukito. the sweet is very hungry best friend of Touya. it would be very easy to argue for Sakura and Yukito as a ship in theroy based on these aspects.

I had thought that it was only logic to dismiss yukito x sakura as a ship because of the age aspect....but there was a conversation between Master Clow and Sakura that gave me a hint that Sakura and Yukito had actually been destoned to be with eachother because Master Clow had actually predicted that would have been the case of Yukito/Yue returning her feelings near the end of the series.

but of course...if your paying attention that is NOT the case....which made me think about WHY that wasn’t the case.

A major aspect is of course that Yukito had actually fallen for Touya. Sakura’s brother.

But if Clow knew of Sakura then it would make sense if he actually could antipate accurately the idea that yukito/yue wouldn’t fall for Touya.

What I think he hadn’t antipated was TOUYA’S destined love choosing to step aside.

as much as people like to treat Touya’s love for the teacher as just a redherring to cover his love for yukito....its actually more fascinating if its sincere. He had brought up he had someone he loved before(like when the girl from the play confessed) which we all assumed was yukito until it was revealed later from Sakura seeing the past by a tree he was actually in love with a female teacher/priest/shrine maiden.

She is someone who its implied can see or predict the future as she tells Touya when she leaves abroad that he is destined to fall for someone else and she is destined to fall for someone else as well abroad so they should part and not fight it.

What I think would be interesting is if she actually IS Touya’s destined love...but her choice to leave and say that to Touya actually left an opening to challenge destiny which she did on purpose.

its arguable that if she had stayed or if she had kept in contact with Touya or didn’t cut off his hope before she left like that Touya would still be loyally in love and end up with her. The same as his mom did with his dad or that weird waiting game for the teacher and sakura’s classmate. 

In that scenerio where his love with the Teacher wasn’t cut off Touya wouldn’t have been as focused on Yukito(even with the hypothetic that Touya isn’t romantically in love with yukito yet in the main timeline since technically a prerequisite for yukito falling for touya isnt touya returning romantic love) and so hypothetically could have gotten more attached to sakura since Touya would have been clearer on not being available romantically since he would have the idea the teacher returns his feelings.

In that hypothetical scenario yukito might have had less reason to turn down sakura’s confession or even sakura would have less reason to accept the rejection if Touya was not a romantic hurdle due the teacher being stronger in his heart. 

A second aspect is that teacher actually deals with the reincarnation of Clow in the show. If she was strait forward with Sakura or Touya early on about clow that could have had a very different aspect when it comes to yukito and sakura. as much as the fandom likes to pretend her saying touya will find someone and she will fall for someone abroad to imply she fell for that kid..she doesn;t actually seem into that literal child reincarnation. SHe also seems aware of some of Clow’s plans or how some of the tests work due to how her family had a connection or role passed down from being connected to the original Clow.

Yue is technically the real original personality of Yukito with Yukito being a amnesiac version with a different personality that is suppoused to fade or disappear once Yue awakens...the reason Yukito is able to say is the strong bond he had created with Sakura but also Touya’s spirit powers helping. 

If Touya was less in love with Yukito he might have not given up his powers or might have been too late to help him.

And of course another aspect that Clow failed to predict was one of his descendants Syaoran.   Clow had predicted that Yue/Yukito and sakura would have returned feelings.

but its clear throughout the series that Syaoran and Sakura have a built up friendship and support. if Syaoran was there less then yukito/Yue and Sakura most likely would have bonded more. even during that last battle/test where Sakura was struggling to focus on turning the darkness and light card for her own....she succeeded....but she succeeded because Syaoran was there for her and supporting her that things would be okay. 

Syaoran entered the chat and helped sakura grow and have someone to bounce off of and who could understand her feelings at times(like feelings toward yukito or unrequited feelings). 

Clow had predicted that Sakura would succeeded and become a master of all the cards but it this Syraon hadn’t been there to steady her when she was freaking out at the idea that everyone would stay asleep she might not have been able to succeed the way she did. and sakura might not have realized it...but she was starting to feel something a bit special to syroan that probably helped sooth or make her feel better after getting rejected by yukito.

and if the teacher hadn’t been there to advise the reincarnated Clow there might have been some extra drama when it came to Yue and the reincarnated Clow. or heck its possible the reincarnated Clow and his group might not have made it in time properly to help test Sakura’s growth to push her to adapt the cards quickly.

the pattern had been Sakura’s mom and dad(age gap teacher disciple)

Sakura’s teacher and her class mate(age gap teacher disciple)

master clow and yue(age gape master disciple)

potential ship of yue and reincarnated master clow(age gape sort of master disciple exs)

the lady teacher and Touya(teacher disciple)

and yukito/yue and sakura(age gap with the odd master servant thing with her being a carcaptor)

yet what broke the mold was Touya and Yukito(who are the same age grade wise with Yue not REALLY being factored in) who are best friends throughout the show and building up moments of care together.

and Syaoran and Sakura who start of as rivals to each other for the cards and in love(or crush on yukito) and eventually friends and supporters of each other to fall for each other(or at least deeply care on her end which hasn’t had time to develop yet with love towards her on Syaoran ’s end.

the great Master Clow could predict and have plans for so many things...yet his prediction about love wasn’t correct.

So that is my argument that Sakura and Touya ended up not with their destined loves but love forged through choice and friendship and time.

I also like this theroy because it makes Touya’s first love the teacher kind of cooler in changing destiny because it would be healthier for him to be with someone his own age. giving up your true love to save the Yukito part that would have been destined to fade or die away if Touya’s dynamic with Yukito had been even a little weaker. saving the Clow reincarnation and Yue from chasing the past in each other. and Sakura gets to succeed in a way different from what Clow had predicted. and it gives a happy ending to Sakura with someone her own age as well.

It  would also make her worth of Touya’s love even if this is the timeline they aren’t going to be together because in my eyes... by choosing to let him go she gave better more possibilities to Touya and because age gap underage, let alone teacher student romance is NOT okay. for a teacher to be worthy of that love they shouldn’t return it or should be the adult and put a stop to it.

She also didn’t get much time to shine in the anime so her having that much of a impact would be interesting and kind of make the weird age gap aspect through cardcaptor sakura have an extra purpose.

It would also have an interesting contrast with the previous generation that sakura’s generation parallels. her mother got with her age gap teacher(the dad) and might have been happy and had two kids(sakura and Touya) but ended up cut off from her family. her cousin who had a weird crush in her was more bitter but in the end the mom died and everyone mourned and never properly made up. the age gap(and more importantly the teacher student aspect) had really negative affects on the people around the mom even if it could be argued she was happy with her love(the dad who was sketchy for going along with it but did seem to have  a good relationship with her).

to contrast and parallel how sakura’s sort of cousin who has a crush on her just wants her to be happy). how sakura and touya have older crushes(especially touya’s who was a teacher) and yue/yukito being ridiculous age wise on the yue side and highscool on the yukito side. just like the mom had on the dad. only unlike the dad who accepted the mom.....yukito rejected sakura and touya’s teacher left him for his own good. and even Syaoran who loved sakura did leave but gave a health space and communication to develope things because there is time. ...so yukito is saved in the long run as a personality, yue is given more closure. and connects were remade...not lost.

what are your thoughts community?

[haleigh-sloth]

Back in the days we were really desperate for hrks to save us from insane social issues with his funny characters from his comic book huh hdhsgdjsajsgsh

It's been a while since I've been in that space but I do remember my own thinking back then, so I can say a potential reason I think for why, back then. Currently...well, idk.

Back then for me, and for a few others, it was less about the actual social issues part and more about the anxiety that the villains wouldn't be saved.

I think back then during 2020-era the endgame for the League wasn't SO solid and a lot of us were operating under this mindset that the League HAD to be a positive force in the story in order to be saved. It was anxiety for their endings. However in retrospect, it doesn't actually make sense for them to need to be "saved" if the story was going to uphold them as "right" or "correct". That wouldn't work, actually. The reason they need to be saved is because even if they have valid complaints about their surroundings, the only thing they're productive in doing is killing everyone else and slowly killing themselves. They aren't accomplishing ANYTHING.

For me, and the few people I talk to who also transitioned out of the fandom space, it took quite a bit of hammering in on the villains obviously being saved, and the story obviously refusing to validate their actions. I feel like at a certain point, chapter 342 for example, it became very very clear that their hearts would be saved while their actions were condemned.

Part of this comes with hero-hate too. And again, back then it was easy to just spout that hero society is corrupt (I mean it is) and that all the heroes are responsible for it (which they are not). There are still points to be made when people (me) compare the heroes to cops. Hawks's actions and role in the story weren't an accident lol. Gran Torino is not an accidental contradictory to the themes. The heroes' role being extensions of law enforcement and the notion that some of them go into the profession for god awful reasons wasn't an accident. But I think what got lost in time was the fact that the story was showing that the profession itself within the story WAS BEING REDEFINED. Hence a coming of age story focusing on kids doing better, and adults openly changing their minds (Aizawa and Tsukauchi anyone??, and even side characters like Mt. Lady who was introduced in CHAPTER ONE). So yeah, criticisms of the hero side weren't like, completely off the mark per say, because the story put them there literally in chapter ONE.

BUT it got taken WAYYYY too far to a place that just didn't belong in this manga. And then people started getting MAD.

Did I want the "LOV fighting for change" scenario at one point? Yes. But what were my reasons? I wanted them saved. AND, if people backread my blog, they'll find some pretty rancid takes. BUT one thing that has remained consistent with me is that I have always always always wanted Izuku, Ochacko, and Shouto to be the saviors of Tomura, Toga, and Touya. Even in my most raw villain stanning days, that never changed.

It just took a while for me to realize that those two ideas are pretty exclusive. The villains can't be "right" if the story is about the kids saving the villains' HEARTS. Their hearts are hurting and broken and tainted, they need to be saved. If they were ever so in their right minds to be cognizant enough to actually formulate a real plan for change, it wouldn't make sense for them to NEED SAVING. And there was only one certainty within the story immediately following the PLF war chapters: Izuku saw someone who needed saving. The story wasn't about to be like "yeah psych" and make Tomura this badass revolutionist.

I understand why these takes existed at one point. What I don't understand is how they.....still exist. When people find themselves saying "the villains are just in the wrong manga" then maybe it's less about the villains and the author and more about the reader reading the wrong manga. Stop blaming the author, like I was doing, and focus more on why you're mad and not enjoying the manga ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ best lesson I learned following this series.

Needless to say...my anxiety about the villains getting a happy ending is long gone. I'm really, really confident in how the chapters are progressing. Every chapter just feels more and more like it's hammering in the idea of the LOV getting what they want, and the heroes also getting what they want. It seems almost certain that everyone in this story will get what they want, save for the obvious antagonists who are not written to be thematically relevant, or of course the big bad AFO.

[franstastic-ideas]

Actually, you know what the funniest thing about shipping Leaf or any of the first four gen girls is? THEY'RE ALL WAY OLDER. You'd think the biggest complaint fandom would have is going nooOOO they're ELEVEN. Except for the part where Gen 1 and 3 happen at the same time. As do Gen 2 and 4. With a three year timeskip. And then a TWELVE year timeskip. Two more; BW2 and XY happen at the same time. Add another year for Alola. Red and Blue are stated to be like. I think it was 31 in the S/M/USUM games last I checked. Leaf would be almost 10 years older than Leon (his Charmander could've been a child of Red's Charizard for all we know! I actually like to write Kantrio visiting Galar and inspiring the next gen of trainers in game-verse.) Instead I'm mostly meddling around in the anime-verse which is mostly a found-family fic so all my ships are really just joked about. Doesn't mean I haven't recycled through a ship or two as I was playing around with the fic though lol, but alas the interest wore off and I need to stick with my themes. I'm curious though, is Leaf and Green endgame for you? Also LOVE whatever you're doing including Mizuki in your Au. With the aforementioned "Kanto kids are millennials" my Leaf (game-verse) has lowkey adopted the Alola kids (with them completely unknowing she was One of The Famous Kanto Trainers From The 1996(7?) Indigo League, until Red and Blue come to Alola and hugs! reunions! tfw your mom is super friendly with your idols and your world view is flipping upside down) what's your version :D also YES shaking your hand Red and Leaf siblings trueee. out of all the protags, they look the most like twins to me. Even Hilda and Hilbert have diff eye colors, May and Brendan literally have diff parents and skin tones. Probs the only character other than Kris and Gen 2 Gold who doesn't appear as an NPC. Also, I like Thundra as a name for a Raichu! I think it fits :) laughing at you going with Kaminari as a name tho, bc I legit did the same thing with the Jolteon I give her in pre-anime fic AU (its a whole mess) or Denki (yes bnha lmao) until I saw someone spell it was "Denshi" as a nickname and thought that was cute and made it less like an obvious reference. Also considered Raijuu.

I think the funniest thing about the core series timeline topic is the fact that technically, according to several developers, there actually IS no true canon timeline.

Masuda: It starts to get a little complicated if you pay too much attention to timelines. Like, there might be a professor that appears, and it wouldn’t make sense at all if we applied that kind of timeline logic. So we try not to apply it too rigorously.

Matsumiya: Elapsed time is secret. Imagine freely!

I certainly will imagine freely, Mr. Matsumiya.

I stated this in the last ask I answered, but Sisterhood operates under a different timeline than the "canon" one. For example, the events of SwSh take place after HGSS/DPP and before SM/USUM, which takes place before B2W2/SV. BW also takes place at the same time as XY, and between FRLG/ORAS and HGSS/DPP.

I do have a visual guide, for reference.

As for Leaf and Green being endgame, I've considered Sisterhood being somewhat similar to an otome game, in the sense that the protagonists have a selection of boys they could date in a series of alternate story paths. However, for most of them there is someone who I consider their "true" love interest in Sisterhood.

For Leaf, this is Green. For Touko, this is N. For Haruka, this is Steven. For Hikari/Akari, this is Volo. And so on.

Some of the male protagonists are the sibling of the female protagonists in Sisterhood: Leaf is Red's younger twin sister, Touko is Touya's older twin sister, Gloria is Victor's younger sister by two years, and Juliana is the older twin sister of Florian. As a sidenote, Gloria and Juliana are first cousins.

Even when they normally wouldn't appear in canon if not chosen as the protagonist, every character has a role in Sisterhood somewhere. Kris is Kotone's friendly (but still tough) rival!

And speaking of Leaf's Raichu, 'Kaminari' was sort of a beta name until I found something else I liked better.

This ended up being 'Lumine'.

[superworldunkown]

Popping on here to say

I will update The Queens Champion this month

I am catching up on my monthly prompts challenge (so many good ones in February I WILL make time to post)

I’m having thoughts of writing a Natsuo x Y/N (nothing to back this up but I feel like he’s going to make Touya come to his sense in endgame)

And, now I have this random headcannon that Bakugou would be the WORST at goodbyes. Sometimes he just walks away without saying anything. Doesn’t matter if the conversation is still going or if someone was still talking directly to him. When he’s done,

He’s out.

Calls are even worse. He will just hang up out of nowhere. Once he has what he needs or his very small social meter is full. Peace out, do not disturb.

And yes, he puts everyone on read in texts.

Most of the class just goes along with it. That’s just who he is. You? Not so much.

When you confront him about it he gets all defensive. “I was done talking so I left! The hell you want me to say?!”

“….goodbye! You’re supposed to say goodbye Bakugou!”

Now that you two are dating, he’s hyper aware of it. But still an ass about it.

“Can I hang up now?”

“Oi! This conversation done yet?”

Or he’ll just obnoxiously shout “Ok GoodBYE!” At the end of every conversation.

And the one time you didn’t say goodbye to him?? Whew.

6 texts and 5 missed calls asking WTF was wrong.

And, of course, you left him on read.

[redphlox]

The Wrong Way to Put out a Fire

Not sure why a common take after chapters 301-302 is that the Todoroki family has yet to understand or see Touya. If anything, the chapters establish the opposite. Rei came to Endeavor’s hospital room to discuss their family, aka their parenting failures. The flashbacks were ugly and hard to stomach because that’s what abuse and dysfunctional families look like. That was the purpose of chapters 300-302: to paint how the family spiraled the more ambitious and violent Endeavor became. The flashbacks showed how each Todoroki family member unintentionally made Touya feel unloved, unseen, and unimportant. Or, more like, how Touya interpreted these instances. Everyone felt alone, scared, and trapped, but Touya spiraled loudly while everyone else suffered quietly. After rehashing their past, the family then collectively had a discussion about how they felt like they failed or could have done better. Whether this was misplaced (the children) or true (the parents), everyone saw not only Touya and his pain but each other’s as well.

TLDR:

The family sees and understands Touya, which is a good sign for his endgame because that’s all he ever wanted.

It was Endeavor, not the children, who scapegoated Touya in the past.

The family loves each other unconditionally, though they weren't able to show it because of the abusive home environment.

Rei always saw Touya’s pain but wasn't able to help because she was a victim too, and it wasn’t her attention that Touya wanted.

Natsuo and Fuyumi feel guilty for not being able to help the family, even though it wasn't their fault or responsibility.

Rei wasn't calling Shouto the 'good' child and Touya the 'bad' child when she called Shouto the ‘family's hero’. She was stating that Shouto has carried a lot of burdens trying to help himself and the family heal, but now it's time for the parents to rightfully take over that responsibility. That’s why she talked Shouto out of going to confront Dabi by himself.

The Todoroki family backstory chapters are called "The Wrong Way to Put out a Fire" because Endeavor sparked that fire in Touya to surpass All Might, but he chose the wrong way to convince Touya to stop training after Touya’s quirk started hurting him. The correct way would have been to let go of living vicariously through an heir, to have set an example by setting aside his ambition and focusing on his family. Instead, he decided to double down and ended up hurting his family.

The framing is unclear, but the family most likely wants Touya back. If they had planned or wished otherwise, Shouto wouldn’t have made comments about wanting to get to know Touya over dinner.

Read below the cut for an in-depth analysis:

For Natsuo and Fuyumi, the moments where they “rejected” Touya were small and innocent. Fuyumi was genuinely worried about her big brother’s owies. But when she said this, Touya immediately stomped off crying because he felt invalidated, probably expecting his sister to say, “you can do it!” instead of “don’t train anymore.” What she said sounded all too similar to what Endeavor told him, and it was upsetting to hear because Endeavor rejected him instead of continuing to bond with his son. In the present, Fuyumi goes on to lament that she tried to keep up appearances, but that that didn’t help at all; the family was broken despite all the attempts she made to bandage the situation superficially. This is her way of expressing regret and helplessness in a situation that she didn’t create but wanted so badly to fix because she wants a real family. I don’t think any of this means she’s looking back and saying Touya was at fault for their family’s problems. If anything, this leans more toward, “Touya was suffering, and I tried to ignore the family’s problems because I didn’t know what else to do.”

In the flashbacks, Natsuo was tired and too sleepy to understand his older brother. Yes, he was able to understand Touya because he was also a neglected and failed son, but he had the unique position of being the family’s baby for a while before Shouto was born. He was given extra care and love by not only Rei but also Fuyumi. Unlike Touya, Natsuo never had Endeavor’s approval taken away from him, so in his eyes, he could survive the rejection because he found approval and love elsewhere. He states so in the fifth light novel. Now, it’s not that simple because Natsuo is still reeling from this rejection as an adult, but my point is that Natsuo had support while Touya didn’t. After he was saved from Ending, Natsuo basically tells Endeavor that Touya was right about him and how he treated the family. He starts crying because Endeavor trying to change seems all too late and Touya isn’t around and Natsuo can’t help but feel guilty for not listening to Touya. He probably thinks about that night he “rejected” Touya a lot, even if it was absolutely not his fault. Natsuo harbors a lot of guilt about not being able to help Touya or fix the family, which is noble of him but also wasn’t his responsibility because he was a child. In 302, Natsuo lamenting that he didn’t force Endeavor to talk to Touya and stating that Endeavor is the root cause of the family’s issues comes off as more casting blame on Endeavor than on Touya. As in, Natsuo isn’t scapegoating Touya. If anything, he’s been staunchly advocating for not only Touya but for Shouto and Rei as well.

Now, before I go on to talk about the parents, I think we have to be careful not to conflate unconditional love and actions. Touya didn’t feel unconditionally loved because the environment Endeavor created didn’t allow the family to express their feelings and connect in a healthy manner. For example, in the fifth light novel, Natsuo reflects that Rei poured all her time and energy into protecting Shouto from Endeavor - so much so that Natsuo was jealous of Shouto and felt like he stole their mother. Not spending enough time with Natsuo wasn't something that Rei did because she didn't love him, though. It was a response to Endeavor's abuse. This same logic - the absence of quality time, or being seen - can be applied to Touya, too. There’s nothing in the text that suggests Rei or the siblings loved Touya any less because his quirk hurt his body, or because he didn't follow Endeavor’s orders to stop training. They worried about him and told him to stop, which he interpreted as not believing in him and thus not loving him, which is understandable because of his trauma. He interpreted his father's rejection as a lack of love and acceptance, which he started associating with all rejection, even from his younger siblings. I wrote about this more in-depth [here].

Even though Natsuo and Fuyumi didn't understand Touya, they still loved him, as demonstrated when they went out of their way to invite him to play ball. They wanted to spend time with him. And though Rei’s actions (not stopping the abuse because she was also an abuse victim herself) don’t scream unconditional love, it was there. This unconditional love was unexpressed because of the toxic environment: Rei’s mental health was deteriorating because of the physical abuse she was experiencing. So, it’s valid that Touya didn’t feel unconditionally loved even though it was there - the Todoroki household was an oppressive environment. This didn’t only affect Touya, but also Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shouto as well, because they carried a lot of misplaced guilt about the family circumstances and what happened to their mother.

So, Rei does love Touya – she loves all of her children – but she didn’t know how to help him and thus considers herself as having a hand in hurting Touya. Yes, she was a victim of abuse too, but she still had the responsibility of keeping her children safe and couldn’t do so because of the effects of the abuse. This is probably why Touya’s death was the last straw for her mental health, which I wrote about [here]. She’s not as responsible as Endeavor because he was the instigator, but she acknowledges that she failed as a mother by not doing more, which is why she thinks Shouto is doing her a favor for calling her ‘mother’ again and wanting to rebuild their relationship. She knows he doesn’t have to, and yet he wants to and she’s grateful to be given a second chance because she doesn’t think she deserves one.

Speaking of Rei - chapters 301-302 established that she DOES see how and why Touya was suffering. In fact, she knew the whole time, as noted when she tells Endeavor after Touya tried to attack baby Shouto that all Touya wants is for his father to pay attention to him. She also shows understanding during that talk she tried to have with Touya when she caught him heading out to Sekoto Peak. The talk didn’t help because Touya thought it was hypocritical - she didn’t have a choice in what was expected of her from her parents, so why is she saying he has a choice? He doesn’t, because, like her, he had familial expectations to fulfill. He was born for a reason, and for her to stand there and tell him to look elsewhere was tone-deaf to him. In his opinion, she was doing to him what her parents did to her: pretending like he had a choice or agency over his future, when in reality he didn’t.

So, Rei knew and saw Touya’s problems and understood what he wanted and needed, but she couldn’t do anything because the correct way to have put out that fire in Touya would have been for Endeavor to stop pursuing the #1 spot, which he refused to do. This is why the chapters are titled “The Wrong Way to Put out a Fire”. He threw himself into his career instead of focusing on his family, which is repeatedly condemned by the narrative (see: Nana and Koutaro). The correct way to put out that fire in Touya would have been for Endeavor to let go of his own personal mission to surpass All Might vicariously through his children and instead engage in life outside of being a hero, too. While it was good he stopped training Touya, he still chose to have more kids not so he could raise them with love, but as tools. This made Touya feel like he was being replaced, and on top of that, was blamed for how he reacted to rejection. Even the way that Endeavor says Touya "shows up" with more burns places the caregiving responsibility away from the parents and onto the child. This is scapegoating - blaming Touya for valuing training when Endeavor instilled that in him - and it’s also passive parenting. Even though Enji cared for his son, he didn't know how to show Touya this because he put his own needs first. I talked about this in detail [here].

Horikoshi chooses to repeat certain phrases to add emphasis and highlight important themes in the story. With the Todoroki family, one of these is fire and raising the heat up [I wrote a meta here]. During the Joint Training Arc, Shouto goes overboard with his fire quirk to the point it hurts him. The same thing happened with Touya when he burned to death. This motif of “fire” and putting it out is a reference to Endeavor’s ambition and plan to surpass All Might. How was Touya supposed to let go of training and making strong flames when that was all Endeavor focused on, too? Touya was around that obsession all the time and he learned that his father values strong quirks, so to him it made sense to continue training to strengthen his quirk to gain his father’s approval. It’s like a young child around their parents’ and society’s constant dieting - the child will likely experience higher rates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Parents create the environments their children live in, and children watch and learn even when parents aren’t purposely trying to teach them. It’s called mirroring. That’s why children freak out when their parents freak out, yell when parents yell, why children bully when they experience violence at home, etc. Young Hawks watched his parents and told himself NOT to be like them. Touya watched his father and learned TO BE just like him on top of being told at an impressionable age by his father that he was born to surpass All Might. How was Touya supposed to let go of that while his father ignored Natsuo for not having the ideal quirk? When Endeavor was maniacally overjoyed to finally have a son with the perfect quirk and kept telling said son that Touya was ALMOST perfect, and that his brothers were failures?

That being said, chapters 301-302 serve to place the responsibility on Endeavor’s shoulders. They don’t paint Touya as being the scapegoat in the present. The biggest indicator of this is that Rei went to confront Endeavor at the hospital to make him do something to help their son. Endeavor was in the midst of giving up (“Endeavor died out there… all these regrets… It’s too late”), which would just be doing what he always did – running away. This was a callback to him placing Touya in Rei’s care instead of facing him himself. After all, it was Endeavor’s attention and validation Touya craved. Endeavor claimed he couldn't do anything for Touya because he was a hero and thus in a different world, but Rei called him out for running away. He was a hero who couldn't save his son's smile, which is what heroes are supposed to do. And this hits all too poignantly when Touya burns to death ten years later on the same hill where Endeavor used to train. This is another reference to the fire motif Horikoshi uses to denote that Endeavor’s ambition to be #1 wasn’t a good thing.

Now to address the contested “Shouto is our family’s hero” statement that Rei made in 302. I don’t think Rei called Shouto the hero of the family in a family systems “he’s the family’s goldenboy, and Touya is the blacksheep” way, but in a “Shouto’s been healing, and it gave me the strength to heal too” type of way. As in, he took the initiative to take steps toward recovery. He’s been the one brave and strong enough to do something about the mess of their family, and she’s not saying that to praise Shouto but to scold herself and Endeavor because that should have been the parents’ role. “Shouto is our family’s hero” means “Shouto has been doing all the work to heal this family and we can’t have that anymore. So step up.” This falls in line with Shouto saying “I thought you couldn’t do it anymore…” because he was right, Endeavor was giving up right until Rei gave him no other choice but to keep going and until Hawks and Jeanist proposed a team-up. Rei talked Shouto out of fighting Dabi solo, so I’m not sure how Rei’s comment has been seen as her making Shouto be the family’s hero, or the ‘good’ kid. I don’t think Rei meant “hurt Touya'' when she told Endeavor to fight him. If the narrative has established that Dabi is the manifestation of all Endeavor’s abuse and negative traits, then he has to fight, aka face, Dabi in order to get through to Touya.

Anyway, the flashbacks explained how and why the Todoroki family was dysfunctional, starting with Endeavor’s plan to marry in order to create a perfect hybrid offspring and ending with the breaking point: Touya’s death. Rei escalated after this and has been institutionalized ever since. Endeavor dug in his heels and continued to train Shouto for his own personal gain and live vicariously through him. He admits so in 203: “I ignored your will and your feelings…” Shouto has been isolated and angry at his father for abusing his mother, Natsuo has been angry at his father for causing Touya’s death, abusing his mother, abusing Shouto, and neglecting him and Fuyumi, and Fuyumi has been trying to fake being a happy family and keeping the peace, which didn't foster an environment for anyone to talk about feelings. None of that has helped anyone individually, nor has it helped move the family forward.

But, what has helped is Shouto remembering his mother’s words and separating himself from his father’s shadow. Reconnecting with his mother has done wonders for Shouto because he obviously missed her and resented Endeavor for removing her from his life. Shouto realized that spiting his father accomplished nothing. It was limiting, stunting, and isolating him, so he decided to start making friends and letting others in his life. This has helped him understand how healthy relationships work, which is what Rei means when she says he went to UA and made friends. He looked away from their dysfunctional family and made connections with people despite his heart being broken so many times at home. That’s admirable. But ultimately, fixing the family isn’t his responsibility - it’s hers and Endeavor’s, and since she isn’t combat trained, she tells Endeavor he can’t give up even if it seems hopeless right now. He can’t. Their son Touya is out there and has to be stopped. Endeavor is the one who Touya wanted approval from anyway, the one who Touya wanted to be noticed by because Endeavor was the one who rejected him.

I’m not sure how any of this is painting Touya currently as the scapegoat. Chapters 301-302 showed us how Touya was a scapegoat for Endeavor in the past. He blames Touya’s pigheaded bullishness on everything but his own influence and example. Endeavor became so fixated on surpassing All Might - becoming stronger - that Touya couldn't let go of the idea that hotter flames = stronger and therefore more worthy. Endeavor chose to have more kids in his refusal to let go of his selfish ambitions to become #1. However, currently, the family seems to be holding Endeavor accountable, and he is holding himself accountable too… or, trying to, through atonement. No doubt facing his eldest son is difficult for him. He didn’t know what to say to Touya back then, and he probably doesn't know what to say to him now. But, it’s clear that the family isn’t using Touya to scapegoat their family issues. If they were, Shouto wouldn’t have said that he would like to get to know Touya. Natsuo wouldn’t have said he wished he could have made Endeavor talk to Touya in hopes that their lives would have been different and he could have had a relationship with Shouto. Fuyumi wouldn’t have said that she tried to pretend the family wasn’t broken. Rei wouldn’t have faced her abuser for the first time in ten years and told him that he’s not allowed to give up, and she wouldn’t have told him “but you didn’t show up” when they were recounting how Touya died at Sekoto Peak. This sounds like regret, guilt, and acknowledging the source of the abuse and chaos within a household’s past. It’s not painting Touya as a scapegoat, or the ‘bad’ child.

The framing is messy and unclear, and I think that’s the issue - it’s not clear what the family wants with Touya because Horikoshi probably wants to build suspense or whatever. But they’re not saying, “This is all Touya’s fault and we were doing great until he revealed himself.” They didn’t say, “If Touya had just stopped causing problems, we would have been a happy family.” Nor are they saying anything close to this sentiment. If Shouto’s statement about wanting to have dinner with his brother is any indication to go by, the family wants him back, too.

[springmarshmallow]

I've been thinking more about what endgame I would like for Dabi, because I'd just been going through snippets of a post-canon fic I've had sitting in my drafts since WAY before his reveal and backstory.

In that Dabi goes through jail-rehab centre-house arrest-reintegration over a period of several years, and a lot of his most important moments in his emotional recovery are with his father alone.

I'm still on board with the first part of this, but given how chaotic society has gotten and the painting of Tartarus as inhumane, I'm leaning more toward skipping the "jailed" part entirely or cut very short (which yes I wrote for more angst) and going pretty much directly into a correctional/rehab facility. Obviously there will be public dissent, but I think since the kids are already thinking about "what needs to change" it's only a matter of time that it is advocated for by leading heroes as well, especially if the kids manage to turn their villain counterparts in time to contribute against AFO's plans, instead of this being a scenario where "All Might/Endeavour pulled some strings to get these people some leniency".

The second part of this, however, gets an instant rehaul.

With the extent of how consumed Touya had been and still is by his identity as a rejected "failure" of his father's, I'd like a pattern of healing similar to Shouto's. His little brother was similarly unable to look past his existence defined by his father's ambition and quirk and stewed in the same self-harming spite. Just like how Shouto needed to forge connections as his own person with others before having more clarity and support to properly re-visit his traumatic relationship with his father, I think Touya being low contact with his father after he receives a full and heart felt apology from him is the best way to grow out of the man's influence.

Because to be very honest while Enji has improved, I don't think he is yet fully capable of functioning as a reliable parent or source of stability judging by his current state of mind (which is a huge factor in the deviation from my earlier visualisation - Enji didn't live upto my expectations lol). It would be much healthier for Touya to re-connect (or establish bonds in Shouto's case) with his mother and siblings in the meantime, and with Enji only later if needed once Touya is well on his way to moving on from the past.

[hamliet]

Hi! Thanks for answering

About Touya, I really hope your right. As far I mostly agree. It just in such a nerd for medical stuff and while your reading is very nice and I really hope it plays something similar (or instead of losing his quirk , Touya’s quirk getting back to colder flames or similar) if Hori goes for a simil realistic anatomy I’m worried for the health affect. With how it’s progressing on his face, which is not the part he ignite the most, the body might be even in a worse condition and this would led Touya to be in a pinch in an health care POV. Maybe more than Eri i really miss Overhaul’s quirk. That would patch him good enough! Who knows if AFO quirk contain a similar one…

About Toga, I see you’re very knowledgable! I’m much attuned with the concept of sublimation, the issue about her though is that she is more than fine with the method she came to find right now. Sure she had really improved. She loves the league yet no one fell victim of her so she has some restraint, however sublimation is much harder to consegue once you already taste the “real stuff” (or what her minds perceived it to be). In fact usually serial killers tends to have an increasing escalation after the first time they realise their fantasies/philias as they want “more”. Strictly put I find it hard to think Toga might get content with being a surgeon satisfying her desire for blood after having being one with her loved ones already. A pre first victim Toga , I could totally see her, but as she is right now I find it even harder especially because her first victim was not intentionally (she didn’t want to harm , she wanted to become one). Wouldn’t be any form of sublimation unsatisfying at this point? Especially because thanks to this last chapter we now know that her desire for blood and gore is much more complex than a simple fixation. The more I look into her the more i see a proper paraphilia of her for blood , and usually this type of things tends to be perceived as unavoidable by the person. Unless she finds a partner who is up to vampirism I don’t see how she can quell her thirst for the desire to “become one” which is symbolically linked to drink their blood.

And this was the core of my question! Maybe o express myself not correctly. And also I expressed wrongly when I told she is just a villain for the lust for blood. Yes you are right, what I meant is that at the base of that exclusion by both parents and society started because people couldn’t come to accept and aid an eventual sublimation with this desire of her. The place it under the carpet , forced her and mistreated her and that’s the result. What I meant is that nowadays Toga’s complex is fully expressed and well defined and it’s a big important in her being a villain. This also pile up with what happened to Jin and the league philosophy, which formed hers to (to live and die normally merging into one with the one she loves).

So to rephrase better my question: what do you think Toga can practically do/ what do you think will be Toga endgame to be saved keeping in account that her desire and core of desiring blood can’t really coexist with society because she will be prone to repaet what happened with the first victim? How can Toga manage/ control that desire without stopping to be herself? Or do you think her desire for blood will transform further and eventual stop to being this but it will be something different (maybe that’s what you were trying to tell, if that’s the case sorry if I di don’t get it before) ? Basically : how will toga live with her desire for blood after the endgame ?

I don't think Hori's going for remotely realistic anatomy, sorry! I think there's 0 chance of that. Even in universe the rules for anatomy are pretty much never followed (Deku's arms and legs).

As for Toga, I think, again, you're being too realistic when it comes to this story. BNHA is a fantasy in a lot of ways, and it is not in any way a seinen; it's as shonen as they get. There's no digging into the psychology with any intent.

Toga has *not* shown escalation at all; in fact, if anything she's shown more restraint as the story continues. She just doesn't have that. I would guess she'd be able to use her quirk to do something heroic by the end, and/or be friends with the other kids at UA, maybe even join them. Again, realism is not really an element of this story when it comes to that kind of thing. What she wanted in the first place was to have a good way to use her quirk, but no one gave that to her. I would guess she'd get one afterwards, but the how and specifics if you squint aren't likely going to deeply dug psychological certainty.

I do think Toga's arc, while technically pretty good, might be less... important or have less of a punch at the end because her parallel is Uraraka, and Horikoshi isn't good with writing female characters. Meaning if some things get glossed over, I wouldn't be surprised.

[imagineabrighterworld]

A/N: I fought tooth and nail for this prompt so I hope you like it anon 👀

—

Dabi had left the Nightscape for several reasons.

For better scenery, for less screaming, for.. for a third reason, and to escape his crazy as fuck ex girlfriend who never seemed to get the point that they were done. She was a phase, she wasn’t the endgame.

Did she get that as he tossed her ass out of his apartment? No, she just came back with a lighter to set his home ablaze. But the woman didn't realize he controlled flames as easily as he did breathing.

So he left. He packed a few things, clothes and whatever currency the humans were using nowadays and went up to the world beyond. His father was one of the lords of the Nightscape, but he didn't need to worry about slipping past him, Dabi was thought to be dead for ages.

More like “Touya” had been dead for ages, but that was a clusterfuck of different issues he didn't care to unfold.

Living above ground had added perks beyond escaping a crazy ex and not being surrounded by shades and wraiths on the daily. He could take on the form of a true human, not the horned and fanged form he usually wore. His tail was gone, and his scars and staples were replaced with tattoos and piercings, but he grew used to his new form very quickly.

In the human world, humans had long since developed quirks, so his flames were not an oddity. He was thankful for them when he was questioned about how he got his scars, scars that would occasionally show through his glamour. It was an easy answer, his body couldn't handle his “quirk”. People gave him sad eyes and let him go.

Easy.

What he did struggle with was the occasional demon hunter nearly tracking him down, but he always managed to turn their eye the other way. Was it testing the line choosing to live so close to a school that trained demon hunters? Yes, but he was always good at magic, a simple glamour always did the trick.

When he scored a job at a coffee shop, he was pleased to see it was a simple transaction kind of job. No one would be able to ask him why his eyes were constantly rivaling the blue of his flames or why a phantom tail would lash out and occasionally spill the row of cups behind him.

He pegged it as a ghost haunting the shop, and so it became a little inside joke within the workers ranks and some of the shop's patrons.

Opening on a rainy Wednesday, he looks around the room before lighting the candles at the tables with a flame on his pinkie finger. Setting up the tables and scooting in the chairs, he walks back to the counter and sets up the machines when the door rings, signalling someone had entered.

“Welcome.” He rolls out in a soft purr, a habit from years of toying with his playthings as an incubus. Eventually he would get rid of the habit. “What can I get for you today?” He turns around.

You were soaking wet with a satchel above your head, you were shivering and looking at the coffee machines as if they were god sent.

You looked adorable.

He leans on the counter with a growing smile. “Wet out there isn't it?”

Your gaze snaps to him. Your eyes were a soft mahogany color, reminding him of a tree. It wasn't the most romantic thing he could come up with, but trees were also very rare to find in the Nightscape, so he supposed it was based on your point of view. “C-Coffee. Please.”

“Sure thing babe, what kind?”

“A mocha cappuccino with three shots of espresso.”

He quirks a brow as he types in your order. “Three?”

“I usually get five but my doctor told me I need to cut down.”

“How about you aim for two?”

“I don't think I’d survive that loss sir.”

He chuckles. “Sir?” He asks as he tells you the price of your drink, accepting your soggy wad of cash and giving you your change once the transaction was complete. “Well madam, your drink will be out shortly, take some napkins to dry up, they’re by the sugar.”

He spots a small blush on your face as you go to the condiments counter. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” He prepares your drink as he hears you pluck a plethora of napkins out of their container. Small curses are all he hears as you open your bag, he hears the clicking of latches and the zipping of zippers. You scuttle past the counter and stop in front of the register again.

“Do you have a bathroom? My bag is drenched..”

He brings you your drink and tilts his head as he debates your question. A bathroom wouldn't solve the water issue, you just thought it would.

Dabi places your drink on the counter and holds his hand out. “I can dry your bag.”

You smile, adjusting your glasses in the mean time. “You have a wind quirk?”

“I'm not a blowdryer.” He grins. “But I can still dry it for you.”

You debate his words, looking down at your soggy satchel that was only getting worse as time passed. You hand him the bag with an accepting sigh. “Please.”

He takes your bag and lights his hands on fire. You nearly scream before he speaks up. “I can control my fire, this one won’t burn anything, it's just warm.”

“Oh.” You shut your mouth with a sheepish bow of your head. “Sorry.”

“It's alright.” He turns the bag in his hold, looking at the patches and bad attempts at embroidery on its edges. It was cute. The sad little attempts seemed to get better as they reached the top, which led him to believe this was your first attempt at embroidery.

What would you do if he had burnt it to ash?

His flames were highly destructive, and sometimes even he couldn't handle them.

Maybe he was being risky to test his powers like this. It had been ages since he last used his flames for something more than lighting a silly candle or a cigarette.

“So..”

Oh right, you were still there.

He looks at you and rotates the bag in his hold. “Yes?”

“Is it always this empty?”

“Only when you're here.” He winks.

“Rude.”

“Rude, sir.”

You laugh, and from that point on he's hooked to the sound.

-

Dabi used to like his job, now it was turning into something akin to gratitude. It allowed him to see you on most days.

He had learned quite a few things about you ever since that rainy day.

You were a teacher in training, specifically the nearby high school. You were aiming for Shiketsu and had a foot in the door with the vice principal taking notice of you during their mock trials. He didn't peg you for a demon hunter, but everyone had a hidden side to them. Hah. You had two pet birds named Sweet Pea and Darlington, you had a snake named Petra and were looking into getting a newt.

You loved coffee but hated it black, it needed sugar or chocolate of some kind because you couldn't stand bitter food. You loved spicy food even if you couldn't tolerate it, and you adored sour candies.

While you looked book smart, you were also street smart, and he was beginning to believe you might be vying for a spot as a demon slayer teacher. He just didn't know what your quirk was yet.

“Hey Dabi.” You chime in unison with the doorbell as you walk inside, this time with an umbrella to keep yourself out of the rain.

He leans on the counter with a grin. “Hey babe. What is it today? The usual?”

“Just a shot of espresso this time.”

He narrows his eyes. “Are you sick?”

“Nope.” You fold your arms behind your back, rocking back and forth on your heels with a huge smile on your face. “I got news.”

“Do tell.” He says as he starts preparing your shot.

“I got the job!” You squeal in excitement, arms coming out of hiding so you can clasp them in front of you. “Starting in the spring I’m going to be the new first year homeroom teacher!”

He genuinely smiles. So you wanted to ruin your happiness with a shot of liquid bitter? He didn't understand you sometimes.  “I thought your celebration drink would be a sakura latte, not a shot of espresso.”

You wave your hand dismissively, already removing your wallet from your pocket. “I'll come back for one.”

“Two visits in one day? Is that a gift for you or for me?” He chuckles and hands you your espresso, taking your yen and entering it into the register.

You adjust the glasses on your face. "I figured I would grace your presence because you've been so humble as to fuel my caffeine addiction."

"It's my duty to make sure you don't kill some other sorry bastard with a coffee maker."

Your eyes flash green for a split second, and in that moment he has to keep from reeling back. Did he really see that?

The cups behind him tumble to the ground.

His tail had appeared in his brief moment of shock.  

You cock your head to the side. "What happened?"

He kneels and collects the cups. "The shop's ghost. Don't mind it."

"I thought I saw a-"

"How about I give you the latte now? On me." He interrupts you mid sentence, standing up with the cups in his arms.

The blush on your face was one of his favorite sights in the human world.

"You don't have to Dabi."

"It's just a drink." He waves you along to one of the booths. "Sit, it'll be ready soon."

You take your shot of espresso and go to the booth he had motioned you to.

The way you scrunched your nose in disgust as you drank your shot was also one of his new favorite sights.

Maybe it was just you.

--

After you had gotten your job at Shiketsu, you were around every morning to prepare for the day. Sometimes you would come by for lunch, unfortunately he clocked out on those days, but sometimes he would make sure he was in the area just to catch you off-guard. Those days he spent his lunch with you, and you got to tell him stories about your students.

It was one of your lunch breaks when hell came to toll.

His eyes were trained on you as you spoke, you were talking about a girl who wielded fire similar to him when the bell of the cafe rang.

The sound resonated through him, and in that moment he knew who was at the door.

What was at the door.

His glamour of his new human form nearly drops as he hears a woman's voice ask from the counter of the cafe.

“Is Dabi here?” She croons in a sickly sweet voice he hadn't heard in nearly a year. He doesn't hear his coworkers' response but he feels the air fill with the flowery scent of her. He grits his teeth to keep his fangs from showing through as he hears her heels click against the ground.

You had stopped your explanation and looked behind him, adjusting your glasses as you did so. “You're looking for Dabi?”

“I am, what a sweet peach you've got here Dabi~ I didn't know you still had it in you to snag such a cutie, your charms must still be working even in this sad form.” He feels her hand on his shoulder, her fingernails drumming along the stitching of his jacket. “Did you catch her, or did she come crawling to you?”

He knows he has to speak up, before she says another word, but his fangs were already piercing the inside of his lip as his glamour slipped.

He looks at you with the most apologetic gaze he can muster. Grabbing his coffee, he lifts it to his mouth to hide his fangs and he speaks. “Excuse me.” He stands up and slams the cup on the table, grabbing the wrist of the woman behind him and dragging her out of the shop and into the closest alleyway.

He slams her against the wall with her arm pinned above her head. His glamour drops completely, his scars and horns bared for the world to see as he growls with rage. “You!”

The succubus in front of him smiles coyly, dragging a finger across his scars and the staples holding his mouth together. “Aren't you happy to see me? To see one of your own again?”

“No. What do you want?”

She plays at pulling on one of the staples but is stopped as he pins her other hand up as well. The succubus sighs and turns her head, “I come see you and all I get is this. And seeing you with a little human.” She peers at him with violet eyes. “Don't tell me you've gone soft Dabi. She’s human, she’ll die just like a human too.”

He hadn't let that thought slip into his mind and wasn't planning on starting to. He tightens his grip on her wrists. “We broke up, I made that clear.” A feral grin forms on his face, pulling at the staples on his face. “I told you, if you try me again, I’ll kill you.”

“I heard you had a human now. We all heard.” She whispers, her eyes glowing in the dark of the alley. “They know Dabi.”

His grip falters.

Shit.

Shit. Shit Shit-

He lets go of her wrists and he paces in the alleyway, flames licking at his face as his emotions spiralled.

“They need your power, but you’re squandering it here with a girl who will die before you know it. While you're full of youth, she will be an old crone with nothing but a coffin awaiting her.” She didn't sound bothered at all as she rubs her wrists. “Honestly Dabi, you were the one that taught me never to fall for a human. They’re too brittle, their life essence too weak.”

He did teach her. He taught her to keep her heart shut and to leave it open only for him. He taught her a little too well, as she now believed she had rights to him.

But he never taught himself as well as he did her.

He fell for you bad, and you were mortal.

“Anyway, I was told one of two things. Either bring you back with me, or expose you so you have no other choice but to return.”

He looks back at her, his rage quelled only by the dread that was now spiralling in him. “You will do no such thing!” He roars, his flames igniting and setting him ablaze. “If you dare go near her-”

The succubus’s body transforms into mist starting from her feet then rising to her waist. She puts a finger to her lips. “I’ll be back in three days. If you don't do it, I will.”

She was gone. Leaving him alone in the alley with nothing but flames that wouldn't stop burning.

-

Dabi spent the next two days trying to find ways to tell you, but with each scenario came the same question.

What would you do if you knew he was a demon? You worked at a school that trained demon slayers- what other option for you would there be if not to turn him in? It was your duty to turn in any demon that showed up at your door, and here you were having coffee with him.

He couldn't do it.

On the third day, it was raining, just like the day he met you.

He hated the mist that had surrounded the shop, reminding him of the succubus and her promise.

Three days.

He had to tell you.

But why was it so damn hard to do? He used to be cold and calculated, having his fun toying with human emotions and killing without regret. He had no empathy, no sympathy for the lives he ruined.

But you were kind. So incredibly kind.

He rests his head on the counter as the door opens. He scents you in the air before you even step through, the smell of milk and honey wafting in the air as you approach the counter.

He had to tell you.

“Morning Dabi!” You cheer as you fold up your umbrella. “A mocha cappuccino with two shots of espresso please!”

He looks up and smiles crookedly. “Finally down to two?”

“I figured I would finally listen to you.”

“That's my girl.” He chuckles as he grabs a cup and prepares your drink. His hands were shaking, but he knew what he had to do.

When your drink was ready and paid for, Dabi keeps his hand on the cup as you take it from him, your hand overlapping his. You look at him with curious eyes behind your wide rimmed glasses. “Dabi? What’s wrong?”

“If I told you I was a bad man, what would you do?”

You narrow your eyes, but keep your hand over his. “Stealing a croissant from the place you work at isn't evil Dabi-”

“Not that.” He laughs but it's noticeably strained. “Not that.” He looks you in the eyes, greedily taking in the sight of you, for perhaps the last time. “What if I told you I was a bad man, who did horrible things. Whose caused terrible things.”

Your hand tightens around his, he feels the tremors in your body before you still.

“I would tell you I know better than to judge you for what you've done, and tell you that I judge you for who you are now. Does that forgive you of what you've done or what you've caused? No. But I judge what I see. And I see a good man.”

He lets out a shaky breath as his glamor drops, revealing his true form of scars and fangs and horns. His flames curl around him as he whispers. “What if I'm not a man?”

You jump back, hands flying to your glasses before they could tumble off of your face. You stare at him with your jaw hanging.

He looks at the coffee still in his grasp. At the scars covering his body.

He knew it.

He puts down the cup.

He knew it.

Clapping comes from the corner of the room where the succubus has taken form, her body still halfway between corporal and mist. She smiles, showing off her sharpened canines. “Bravo Dabi, I almost thought I’d have to do it myself.”

You shut your mouth and look at the succubus. “You're from before-”

“I am.” She purrs. “And I’m here to take Dabi home. Shigaraki will be happy to see his lieutenant again.”

Dabi burns away his apron, leaving him in his normal attire, the stitches of his black coat catching his eye. Memories of your embroidered bag slip through his mind, though are soon flushed out entirely when he hears the shattering of tables as a high pitched shriek comes from the mist succubus.

He phases through the counter in a wall of heatless flame as he sees you covering your ears.

The shriek had destroyed the tables and windows turning them into scrap, and had shattered your glasses. Blood was running down your ears from between your hands.

He stands between you and the succubus, his arms lit with powerful blue flames. “This wasn't part of the deal!”

“Not our deal. Shigaraki doesn't want you to have any temptations for returning to the human world. We need your girl gone for good.” She grins fiendishly. “She will never grow old, isn't that the best gift you could receive?”

“Dabi-” You call out from behind him.

“Stay back!” He yells at you. “Get out of here!” But he knew if you went into the rain outside, you would be done for. The succubus would be able to drown you where you stood.

Her body turns to pure water as she rushes at him. With her power boosted by the rain that washed in through the broken windows, all he could do was send wave after wave of fire to evaporate the water.

But what was evaporation if not mist?

He was fighting a losing battle as he backed up until he finally reached you. He covers you with his body as he puts up a wall of flame.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers to you as his flames are soon put out. “I’m sorry.”

You lift your hands to his face, eyes still closed, and pull him in, pressing your forehead against his.

“Don't be sorry for the things you can't control.” You whisper in return.

The succubus’s body turns corporal from the waist up. She coos. “How sweet, one last goodbye.”

You press a kiss to his lips.

“Don't open your eyes.” You murmur against his lips before letting go of his face and turning around to look at the succubus.

He closes his eyes, prepared to hear you scream in pain, prepared to hear your body drop to the ground.

But all he hears is the loud boom of thunder from outside and the crackle of rock breaking.

Rock?

He opens his eyes and sees you on your knees in front of a marble statue of the succubus.

His eyes widen as he sees you stand up. From the reflection of the marble, he can see your eyes flashing green.

“Did I ever tell you my mother was a demon?” You ask as you kneel and pick up your eyeglass frames from the floor. “She called herself Medusa. Silly, huh? My dad was human though, and well, as you know, they had me..” You turn around, your eyes now closed. “I guess you can say my quirk is having a very strange lineage.”

Dabi gets to his feet and runs at you, barreling into you with his arms swiftly wrapping around you.

You return the hug, your face nuzzled into his chest.

“So.. you're not mortal?” He says quietly, as if the good luck that had been shone upon the both of you would wither out.

“I'm not. It's my hundred and twenty-fourth this year.” You look up from his hold, he could see the faint glow of green from under your eyelashes. “Will you be there?”

He tightens his hold and presses his lips against yours.

“As if I'd ever leave.”

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

So to Recap Double Izumi AU

Izumi Curtis is Female Midoriya Izuku

Maes Hughes is Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic

Roy Mustang is Todoroki Shouto

Riza Hawkeye is Yaoyorozu Momo

Edward Elric is Izumi Kouta

Alphonse Elric is [Aizawa] Eri

Winry Rockbell is Hatsume Mei

Alex Armstrong is Togata Mirio

Olivier Armstrong is Usagiyama Rumi | Mirko

Ling Yao is Takami Keigo | Hawks

Greed is Dabi | Todoroki Touya

Lan Fan is Female Tokoyami Fumikage

Mei Chang is Female Monoma Neito

Past Ships are Canon FMA and One-Sided RoyMaes

Pre-Established Ships are EraserMic

Probably Canon Endgame Ships are IiShinDeku and TodoMomo | RoyAi

Potential Canon Endgame Ships are DabiHawks | GreedLing and MonoToko | LanMei ?

And Alphonse is Nonbinary since he spent a decent percentage of his teenage years is a suit of armor and became disconnected from his gender and his body.

Most of this? Yes!

Except for DabiHawks and maybe TodoMomo.

This is solely due to me just NOT shipping GreedLing. It's not my thing. I fully imagine them in this very queer platonic relationship that's both healthy and not because they shared a body for the longest time. Neither are into each other because it's shades of: yeah I would date myself but no that's to weird with you. They are codependent/independent and it is a MESS. So yeah- DabiHawks doesn't happen because they both go: ewww but also because at least one of them knows it would be a terrible idea. Way to much shit there.

As for TodoMomo... I dunno? I never really shipped RoyAi or TodoMomo so now I'm like: what are my headcanons for them?

Personally, I do think that Roy is bisexual with a small crush on Maes that he never addressed cause Gracia. And I also think he and Riza were in a co-dependent relationship that was mostly Queer Platonic. Maybe there was a little less platonic stuff going on but at the end of the day there were power dynamics. Both career wise... and the fact Riza held a gun ready to take him down if needed. Which can be a very hot thing to write, don't get me wrong, but like... would either be willing to go there?

Then there's the fact Riza's dad was Roy's teacher, and she gave him flame alchemy which led to his fame in the war. I bet both carry so much bitterness and guilt about it, plus disgust at each other and themselves with it.

So... I think that similarly with Greed/Ling, there's to much baggage in their way for them to have a romantic relationship. I can see both marrying and having kids later on as more of a 'buisness' thing but an actuall relationship? No.

[sissytobitch10seconds]

Worse to Worst

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia  Summary: He didn't want to be a bride and baby-maker to some rich asshole, so he ran away. Little did he know that he was about to meet someone who was worse than his father in terms of abuse. Warnings: Rape, abuse, grooming, pregnancy, birth, trauma, trauma recovery, and childhood abuse Word Count: approx. 57,000 Ship(s): Todokri Touya|Dabi/Toga; Endgame: Todoroki Touya|Dabi/Chizaki Kai|Overhauli/Tamaki Keigo|Hawks/Shimura Tenko|Shigaraki Tomura

Archive link!

Chapter 1: Perfect Omega

“Touya, come here,” Enji growled out. His face was contorted in the normal, dark scowl that he always wore. The child in question looked up from the book that he had been reading. He slid off of his chair, following after his father as they walked into his office. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest as he knew what was going to come. He had been down this path over and over again, but it was still terrifying every time that it happened. His bare feet stuck to the wood of the floor, making small padding noises as he walked. He rubbed up and down his arm as his head was bowed down to the ground. He could see his shirt hanging off of him delicately, due to how boney and waifish he was. He wished that he had the same muscle mass as his father and some of the other teenagers in his class, but that was a wish that would never come true.

The young omega stood in front of the giant mahogany desk that was nearly immaculate except for a computer with an open web browser and a couple papers in front of him. His father sat down in the desk chair, folding his hands in front of him and scowling a bit more. “I didn’t pay for all those lessons for nothing, Touya,” he snapped. The omega dropped his hands down to his sides, looking up through his eyelashes at the dominant alpha. 

He had been forced to go through all sorts of classes to make sure that he would be the perfect omega bride, but sometimes the things he was taught didn’t stick to him. He wanted to be more than someone who was going to make children and clean a house, but his father seriously disliked the idea of him doing anything other than that. He was seventeen and had been waiting for the day that his father would call him into his office once again since he was ten. 

“I apologize, Father,” he mumbled, his stomach rolling with nauseousness. He hated having to be submissive and compliant to every whim and thought that any alpha or beta around him had. 

“You ought to be,” he snapped, the scowl returning doubly as fiercely as it had been before. “What kind of a husband are you going to be if you can’t even obey your father correctly? An alpha that you’ve been around your entire life should be the first that you obey before you can move on and have a husband.”

“Husband?” the seventeen-year-old asked, his voice shaking in fear. He should have known that this was what was actually happening. There was really no other logical explanation for why he was being called into his father’s office. He had been made up his entire life to be someone’s perfect trophy husband, but he somehow hadn’t really realized that as soon as he turned eighteen he would get married off. That was what had happened to his mother, and the knowledge of what had happened to her only made him more terrified of what was going to happen to him. 

“Yes, you idiotic omega,” he spat. Touya shrunk back into himself. His shoulders came forward, causing his chest to concave in. He hated the way that it felt when he did this because he had been kept so thin and bony that his collar bones dug into each other uncomfortably. 

“I apologize, Father,” he whispered, his eyes welling up with tears. He wished that he had been born a beta, like the twins. Natsuo and Fuyumi had both been allowed to do whatever they wanted with their lives. They were only a little younger than him, but they were already searching after their dreams. Natsuo was trying his best to get into the STEM high school so that he could become a psychiatrist and Fuyumi was taking all the classes that she could about childcare so that she could become a teacher. They had been allowed to go after their dreams because they were betas, but Touya had been groomed and molded until he had become the perfect omega wife. 

“I thought you would be better about watching your tongue by now,” the alpha sighed, nothing but disappointment resting on his face. He didn’t give his son the chance to reply again as he started to talk. “As I know you are well aware, you’re turning eighteen in a week. Another thing that I hoped you learned in that worthless school is that that is the legal age for omegas to marry and be mated. Because of this, I have arranged for you to be married to a very powerful alpha.”

“Oh,” Touya breathed, not loud enough for his father to hear, but just enough to let him breathe once again. He hadn’t realized that he had been holding his breath until his lungs had begun to burn and constrict with the need for oxygen. 

“You’re going to go to dinner with him the day you turn eighteen. You will be on your best behavior,” he commanded. His eyes hardened as the seventeen-year-old looked up at him through his lashes as he had always been taught to do. Alphas only liked omegas if they were pretty, after all.

“Yes, Father,” he answered with a small nod of his head. His stomach clenched, causing his nauseousness to skyrocket to the point where he thought he was going to vomit then and there.

“You are dismissed,” the alpha rolled his eyes, looking back to his computer. As usual, he was only interested in his omega son if he could get something out of him and as soon as he couldn’t he hated him.

The omega nearly sprinted out of the office. He ran into the closest bathroom that he could find and immediately vomited into the toilet. The acid burned his throat as it came tumbling out and fell into the bleach-filled water that filled the toilet. His razor-sharp nails cut through the pale, delicate flesh on his arms, causing small droplets of blood to ooze out of the new wounds and slid down his skin onto his skirt. Self-hatred filled up his newly empty stomach, causing the tears that had been in his eyes earlier to finally pour down his face. He curled in on himself, covering up his face with his arms as if it would block out the torturous life he was being forced to live. He brought his legs up to his chest, resting his face on his bare knees while he continued to sob quietly. 

After all of the years that he had been put through Hell, he had learned very quickly how to cry silently. His father both hated and loved it when he cried, but it was always bad when he found him crying. The alpha man hated it because he found it obnoxious and annoying, but he loved it because it showed that his son was a true submissive and he felt that it was a display of how weak he really was. 

That was really all he was, was weak. But he didn't have to be. There were plenty of omegas out there that had gone out and made a name for themselves. Hell, his father’s arch nemesis was an omega with two mates of his own choosing, both of which were betas. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the type of household that he had been raised in. 

Omegas were supposed to be thin and waifish until they were pregnant, and then they were supposed to lose all that weight and remain desirable. That process repeated over and over again until they lost their attractiveness or fertility. Alphas were the ones that ruled the world, but they had to be muscular, powerful and commanding at all times. Betas were useless since they were the middle ground.

Thus were the reasons why Touya had been made up into a bride, the twins were allowed to do whatever they wanted as long as it was damaging to the family name and Shouto was already being made up into the perfect successor. 

The omega placed his head against the cool wall behind him, taking in a couple deep breaths to calm himself down. He took in a couple extra just to make sure that he was really calm before he pulled himself up off of the ground. He moved to the sink, rinsing out his mouth to get rid of the taste of vomit before he remembered to flush the mess he made down the toilet. He splashed some cold water on his face, scrubbing at his eyes for a moment before he glanced at himself in the mirror. He turned his face from side to side, making sure that he didn’t look like he had been crying before he left the bathroom.

He walked down the hall silently, bowing his head and sticking to the wall. Just like a proper, submissive omega was supposed to. God, doing ‘what he was supposed to’ always made him feel like he was betraying who he really was inside. He had to, there was no option about it. If he acted like he really wanted to then he would be in more trouble than he could even imagine. He shuddered a bit, the memory of the first time that his father had used his Command on him returning to him and dragging him back into his mind.

“Touya. You’re acting like a child. You’re ten years old, it’s about time for you to learn how to do the things that you’re going to need to do for the rest of your life,” the alpha growled, standing in front of his son with his arms wrapped around each other behind his back. He had his chest puffed up and his scowl on his face, which was close to standard with him. His eyes, which were normally like liquid fire, had turned into a dark icey color.

“I’m not acting like a child! I’m twice as mature as most of the kids in my class!” he screamed indignantly. He stamped his foot down on the hardwood floor, causing the sound to echo throughout the room. He was tiny, and the only reason that the childish act made a noise was because the room echoed terribly due to the lack of actual furniture.

“If you’re supposedly twice as mature as your class then you’ll be fine going to the classes!” he responded, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

“What if I don’t want to be some asshole’s wife? I want to be a police officer!” the ten-year-old shouted, throwing his arms up in the air.

“You will do no such thing,” the alpha growled, his tone switching from the normal anger into an alpha Command tone. The omega stood stalk still, his heart racing loud and clear in his ears. It was like sheer terror had taken over his entire body, causing his blood to turn to an icy river in the middle of a winter forest. He began to shake a bit, looking down at the ground and shrinking down into himself. He felt tears well up in his eyes and cascade down his face before his body began to move on its own. 

He sat with both of his legs tucked up underneath him, his thighs and calves touching each other. Both of his hands remained face up and his head was staring down at his lap. He tilted his head to the side, revealing his neck as a sign of submission. Tears raced down his face and fell onto his hands, dampening them. 

“Stop that, it’s obnoxious,” Enji hissed, walking out of the room and slamming the door behind him, which left Touya completely alone. He began to shake heavily, leaning over as sobs tore at his throat. He felt like his body had been taken by someone else and used before it was given back to him. 

His mind was screaming at him to get the alpha who had used his Command on him to say that he was a good omega, but he knew that that wouldn’t happen with his father. 

He clapped a hand over his scent gland, being able to smell the fear in his normally cinnamon-y scent. He blushed to himself, worried that if anyone caught wind of the fear that he would get yelled at and punished. He continued down the hall, this time faster than he had been before. He pushed open the door to the living room that he and his siblings were allowed to use. 

The twins were both sitting at the table, talking with each other about what had happened at school and their homework. Damn, did he wish that he could be doing the same thing. Fuyumi looked away from the paper in front of her, her brows knitting together with worry. “Touya? Are you okay?” 

“No,” he answered, his shoulders slumping forward again. Everything was horrible and awful, and it was only getting worse and worse as his life went on. He remembered at one point one of his teachers had told him that teenagers couldn’t believe that the world would get better because they were only in bad and have never been through bad to get back to good. While that may have been true for the rest of his classmates, it seemed like it was only bad for him. There was no good in his life and there never would be, not while he lived in the same world as his father. 

“Bro, what happened to your arms?” Natsuo asked, springing up from where he had been sitting and grabbing his older brother’s arms before he had a chance to hold them.

“Touya, please tell me that those weren’t made with a razor,” Fuyumi gasped, standing next to her twin brother and looking down at the wounds as well. They were no longer bleeding, but it was very evident that they were self-inflicted and not a mistake.

“They’re not from a razor,” he answered, looking down at them as well. Those scars are on my legs, he thought, shifting back and forth uncomfortably. He tried to get his arms back from his siblings, but he was far too skinny to be able to do so. He was just allowed to eat more he would be physically capable to defend himself, but no. He had to be thin and waifish.

“What happened? Why did you do this to yourself?” Fuyumi asked, her motherly tone coming out as it always did. She dropped his arm, placing her hands on her hips as she looked from his arms back up to his face. 

“I didn’t do it on purpose, it just kind of happened,” he answered, his voice slurred and casual now that he was in a place where he wouldn’t be hurt for being himself. “You two know about how Father is trying to make me a bride, right?”

“Yeah,” Natsuo said for both of the twins before they glanced at each other for a moment. 

“Did he do something to you?” Fuyumi asked, reaching forward and grabbing a hold on his arm, trying to make him meet her eyes. He continued to avert her, rolling his lip in between his teeth nervously before he spoke again.

“He didn’t do anything to me. Remember, he only hits Shouto because he’s trying to make him into the perfect alpha. He also didn’t use his Command on me today,” he rambled a bit, skirting around the real issue that was going on.

“Okay then, what happened?” she asked again, her tone gentle and loving and still firm and strong. That was the perfect description of Fuyumi after all. She was an unwavering field of snow, inviting and accepting but still dangerous if you went about playing the wrong way.

“He came and got me from where I had been studying and brought me into his office to tell me that I’m going to have to go on a date with a powerful alpha,” he mumbled, his words muddling and sticking together as he worried that if he said them it would make the situation more real.

“Your birthday is in a week,” Natsuo sighed. “Which means you’ll be legal to marry off, so Father is going to do it as soon as he can, isn’t he?” the white haired boy asked, his eyes turning sad and slightly misty. 

“Yeah,” he answered, running a hand through his bright red hair. That was another aspect about himself that he hated, though there were a lot of those. His hair reminded him every day that he was his father’s son and would forever be tied to him through the curse of his genetics. “God, I’m so scared,” he whispered, shutting his eyes tightly to keep from crying again.

“Why?” Shouto asked, his childish face peeking around the corner to look at his siblings. His heterochromic eyes glistened with confusion and the small bit of innocence and purity that he still had. Fuyumi sighed, bowing her head for a moment before she walked over to her little brother. She picked him up, placing him on her hip with the muscle that Touya envied. 

“Touya is going to have to go meet someone who is really scary and may hurt him,” she explained, her voice soft as she tried to make the situation as simple and easily understandable as she could. The younger boy, who was just barely understanding enough of the world around him to choose his own pronouns, frowned deeply.

“Why?” Shouto asked, his brows furrowing together as he tried to understand the situation at hand. 

“Because I’m an omega,” Touya answered. He walked over to Fuyumi, taking his little brother off her hip and sitting down on the nearby couch. He was so weak from his low-calorie diet that he couldn’t even hold the four-year-old up in the air for more than a couple seconds. “You’re an alpha, so you have to do other things when you get older, but I’m an omega so Dad thinks that my job is to have children and do work around the house.”

“Like Mom?” Shouto asked, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes for a moment.

“Yeah, like Mom,” he agreed. 

“What if we helped you run away? So that you didn’t have to go through this anymore. I hate seeing you be so weak when you obviously have the potential to be the exact same as us,” Natsuo hummed, tapping his chin as he thought about what they could do. 

“If I was going to run away, where would I go? There’s nowhere I know to go that he wouldn’t be able to find me,” Touya asked. His heart beat a bit faster in his chest as he thought about the prospect of getting to escape from his horrid cage of a life.

“Across town?” he offered with a small shrug. “There’s an omega shelter that you could stay at until you get a job and start living independently.”

“But I still have a week before I’m legal and if the cops found me they would just bring me back here,” he reasoned.

“Then why don’t you leave on your birthday? That will give us some time to get some things together for you so you’re not completely unready,” Fuyumi reasoned. Both of the boys paused for a moment, looking at her with baffled expressions.

“No offense, Yumi, but I never expected you to be on board with this plan,” Touya sighed. His heart softened in his chest as he realized how much his siblings really cared about him. 

“I’m not really on board with it, but I prefer this to watching you be raped and impregnated over and over again,” she explained, sitting down next to him and placing her hand on his knee. “I love you, Touya. I don’t want to see you get hurt all the time. I want you to be happy.”

“Thank you,” he whispered, trying to stop the tears that had taken refuge in his eyes as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

That settled it then. He would slowly get some things to help him live by himself and on the day of his birthday, he would run away from this Hell hole that he was forced to call home. In a week he would be free.

[theteapotofdoom]

i think bnha is a story that's carefully constructed so when the reader pays enough attention to the details, they will be able to see a map to where the plot is going. instead of dropping something out of nowhere, the plot twists are carefully planned and delivered, and i think that's why we're able to predict/theorize about them. i know it's the bare minimum for good storytelling but hori is truly nailing it. also it's refreshing to see this bc popular media these days focuses more on shocking

Yes, I agree completely with this!

You're right, it's so refreshing to see an author who worries more about telling a good coherent satisfying story than "subvert our expectations".

This is why I'm always a little confused by hot takes like "Deku won't save Shigaraki because this is too predictable and there are too many clues leading up to it" like ... yes? This is how storytelling works? It's true that nothing is certain yet, but it's so odd to see people thinking that carefully planing out the endgame of your story is a bad thing.

It doesn't mean that you have to LIKE everything of course. I personally think that the Touya reveal dragged for a little too long, to the point where I started to think that there would never be a true revelation and that it would just be implied the whole time. But that's just my personal take because I'm not overly invested in the Todo storyline as a whole, I still think that it was objectively beautifully executed. Even if I didn't vibe with it as much as most people did, I'm still very happy that Horikoshi planned it so carefully and took his time with it rather than dropping it out of nowhere and too early!

I would also like to point out that having his whole story carefully planned out doesn't stop Horikoshi from making a few changes here and there, which is GOOD! He has been writing this story for SEVEN YEARS now. He has grown and learned as a writer, so I'm glad that he feels comfortable moving things around a little if it fits better.

I talked about this a few times before (especially concerning Shigaraki) but I think that Horikoshi is very good at balancing the "I have a story planned out and I'm following the clues and beats meticulously for a satisfying pay off" mindset AND the "I've been writing this story for seven years now so I'm not afraid to let it grow and change organically as I get better at writing" mindset.

Just looking at Shigaraki, you can see that Horikoshi had his whole backstory and characterisation figured out as soon as he was introduced in the USJ arc. I already made a post about this, but A LOT of people immediately picked up on the fact that Shigaraki was being abused as soon as he showed up. Everything as about his relationship with AFO was already there in that first arc.

But I also think that Horikoshi allowed himself to make Shigaraki more and more likeable with time. He was always meant to be sympathetic, but Horikoshi also made him likeable. I lot of people like to bring up one of Horikoshi's early comment when he said that he didn't want to reveal much about his villains to make them as scary as possible. Of course, maybe he was just straight-up lying to avoid spoiling the story, but I think it's also possible that he simply changed his mind as the story continued. Shigaraki is clearly one of his favourite characters, and I think that he has been in his head rent-free for a long time now (probably since his one-shot "Tenko" in 2007). So I think that he always had a plan for him, but also that he got more and more comfortable writing him through the years if that makes sense.

Other people pointed this out, but I like to think that Horikoshi kind of "tricked" his audience early on, by making the story overly wholesome and following all the classical shonen beats. "Tricked" is not a good way to say it, but it's likely that he always wanted to tell a more mature and complex story than just "superhero school" and that he waited for MHA to be a safe success before pulling out the big guns. Kind of like a Trojan Horse trick! It doesn't mean that the kids of UA aren't important of course, but now we clearly see that Horikoshi's focus was always going to be on the Shigaraki + Deku + All Might + AFO conflict, and on the failures of hero society.

So yeah! I feel like I've kind of derailed from your point a little bit! But like I said, I agree completely. It's true that A LOT of media are completely obsessed with breaking the codes and surprising the audience these days, to the point where good storytelling and coherence almost become secondary. So you're right, it's so refreshing to see Horikoshi planning his story so carefully without worrying about it being too predictable. Again, considering that Horikoshi has been writing this story for seven years now, I'm truly amazed that MHA as a whole manages to still be so fresh and coherent at the same time.

King shit if you ask me.

[haleigh-sloth]

shouto will try to save dabi as his younger brother and not a hero, not someone with a better quirk; just shouto who suffered same as touya and wants to reconcile with his older brother as well as tell him his feelings and abuse are validated. shouto saving dabi is okay for me (ofc it depends on how the author handles it) but deku "saving" shigaraki is a lot more complicated tbh. because deep down, what shigaraki really craves is not complete destruction but the safety of a happy home (2/5)

that has been completely lost to him (not that it was ever there to begin with) yet he was happy with his family except for the time his dad was around. the guilt of killing his family and the fact that they would never come back to him still weighs down on his heart ("it is like i will never feel better again") unlike dabi, for whom the least his family gotta do is acknowledge his struggles and his person; for shigaraki, there is nothing left in the world. i want something more meaningful(3/5)

in "saving" shigaraki in the end, something that makes him (as well as me as a reader) feel that: yeah, this is something worth living for and not some inspirational talk (courtesy this being a shonen manga) which suddenly makes Shigaraki leave behind his (very rightful) convictions and change his view about the currently-rotten hero society. Because again and again, all that has happened to him is even his found-family torn apart (kurogiri, twice etc) so how is he supposed to (4/5)

trust the very heroes who are the reason for his life being a tragedy (same with twice) & allow to be saved by them? meaning, now it's Deku who needs a stronger conviction. just "i wanna save that little crying boy" is not conviction strong enough coz Shigaraki is not a crying boy anymore. unlike a young impressionable Eri who got saved by a hero with a cape, he is an adult who knows very well about the hero society and their hollow words. (so sorry it went so long; i had to say this to you)

ANON!!

I think tumblr ate part 1 of your ask so I'm sorry, I'll answer based on what you were able to send

So I agree with everything you said!!!

I'll say first that Shigaraki's convictions don't need to change. Just his methods. But moving on--

I've said it many many many times. I want Shigaraki to find family in those around him. Yes, the LOV is a found family, but the jury is out on who all will survive aside from the main 3. I don't expect them to die really but...trust issues. Also, the fact that Touya's endgame is with his family, it just makes me think that while they'll all always be very close and a found family, they might not necessarily spend every second of every day together like they do right now. Like, they'll start their own lives. The lives they want to live. Spinner literally has a fandom lmao. I wouldn't be surprised if he was like the face of advocacy for people with heteromorphic quirks. Compress deserves to become the magician he always wanted to be. A magician who steals from the rich. Lmao.

But in all seriousness--I so much agree that Midoriya's conviction needs to be stronger. And I think him saving Shigaraki will absolutely go beyond just taking him away from AFO. It has to. Like once he gets him away from AFO, it would be dumb for him to just say "bye" and go back to his normal life. No, they need to stay together and help each other. Midoriya saving him needs to extend to him staying with him after and helping and watching him heal and grow. Like, I've no doubt that Shigaraki will want keep the one person who viewed him as worth saving close and in his life. And I've no doubt that Midoriya will want to stay too after he's saved him.

I had to emphasize that ^^ because some asshole yesterday thought it'd be cute to test my patience on this subject that I talk at length about....and draw....and very obviously care deeply about. Anyway~

Shigaraki absolutely needs a family. I've said it many times that I want him and Midoriya to act like brothers eventually. After all, the whole AFO and OFA conflict is a war between two BROTHERS. Soooooooo yeah. But not just Midoriya. Toga and Bakugo too. Toga is not gonna go home to her family. Her parents had no problem shunning her so, I am doubtful she'll go back to them. So her and Shigaraki will probably remain really close, and Midoriya and Bakugo can be there for that too. And Ochacko! Like....all of them should stay together. The Todosiblings included. Shouto and Touya would definitely be a part of that group in MY ideal ending.

Shigaraki needs to be surrounded by people who accept him and love him. Touya has that with his biological family. Shigaraki will have to find that with the kids who worked to save him, and the LOV members who accepted him from the beginning.

Also, the kids who worked to save him would absolutely benefit from seeing him improve and heal and live his life. That's seeing their hard work pay off. Seeing that they made someone's life better and therefore made the world a better place and less cruel. That's hope. That's a happy ending.

Everybody ending up together and staying with each other is the best ending I can imagine, and I hope we get something similar to that, if not exactly that.

[i-keepmyideals]

Dabi is Touya

First things first: their similarities.

Their hair is styled in very similar ways. Dabi's bangs fall in nearly exactly the same way Touya's fall. You can look at any character we've seen as a child in the series and can tell their hair doesn't change very much, if at all, as they age

Next are their eyes. Yes, Touya's are much rounder. Of course they are. He looks pretty young in that picture, but I'll get to that later. Manga illustrators portray youthfulness and children with large, round eyes. Still, you can see the corners of Touya's eyes point downward like Dabi's do. For comparison, look at young Bakugo and him now. His eye shaped changed drastically as he got older

My friend was yelling at me early this morning when I was looking at different character's ears and how Natsuo and Touya's are the same shape. Ear shape is based on genetics and Dabi, Natsuo, and Touya have rather round ears. See best boi Natsu here:

Their ears are different from Shouto's and Enji's:

Next is Touya's rather round jawline. Again, children have round faces and that changes as they grow, but Dabi's jawline is still rather round.

(And to be fair, Izuku and Bakugou still have fairly round faces at the ages of 14-15)

There was a theory that I read not too long ago about what may have happened to Touya. I agreed with it completely and the arguments they made against their own theory. Why didn't Shouto really react when Natsu mentioned him? It's been confirmed that Fuyumi is the second oldest sibling. Natsuo is four years younger than her and Shouto is seven years younger. Shouto was raised separately from his siblings and with Touya being the eldest, he probably saw him the least and wouldn't remember him well, if he even saw him at all. Enji did believe that since Touya couldn't use his quirk without seriously harming himself, he was useless. The Todoroki estate is large, he could have been kept far away from the rest of the kids most of the time.

Now to address his age. That is difficult. When we saw Touya, Fuyumi and Natsuo playing in the yard, Touya was undoubtedly the smallest. He has thin arms compared to his siblings and was the shortest despite being the eldest as we learned here:

I'd like to go back to the new picture of Touya. At first glance, you'd think him a young child, elementary school age based on his features. Upon looking closer, I noticed he is indeed wearing a school uniform. In Japan, elementary school students uniforms do not look like that. The coats typically only have a single large button, three larger buttons or have double breasted buttons. Most elementary school uniforms do not button at the neck. What he's wearing looks more like a gakuran uniform with gold buttons which is what we typically see a boy wearing in middle or high school in anime and manga. Sakamoto wears one, the boys in Yu Yu Hakusho wear them and so on. It's a more traditional uniform from what I understand but are a bit more common than the more Western Catholic inspired uniforms we see, which is what the UA uniform is. This implies that he was at least in middle school and could have been 11 at the youngest and 14 at the oldest at the time that picture was taken. Going from that picture, in the shot of them playing, Shouto was 5, Natsuo 9, Fuyumi 13 and Touya 13 if he is Fuyumi's twin and 16 at the oldest. Of course, it is possible Touya went to a private elementary school where young kids also wear this uniform, but I might doubt Enji would send his "failure" children to a school of a higher caliber.

Quirks manifest by the age of four, but the first quirk manifested in a newborn baby. It's not impossible, just unlikely for that to happen too often. Enji stated that at the age of only 20, he felt that he would not be able to surpass All Might. We know he is 46 and Fuyumi is 23. He had Fuyumi when he was about 23 or 24 years old, which means he could have had Touya when he was 20 and shortly after he married Rei. Approximately three years difference between the two siblings, just enough time to see what his first child's quirk would be, if it sufficed and if not, planning for another baby. So, Touya could have been 13 when he "died". Practically everything about Dabi is unknown, but a police report stated he appears to be in his early to mid-20's.

Shouto is 15. Natsuo is 19. Fuyumi is 23. Touya/Dabi would be 26 at the oldest.

What about his height? Again, Enji said Touya was weak. He had his mother's weak constitution. Natsuo said they can't withstand heat very well, most likely because he and Fuyumi inherited her ice quirk but most likely a little weaker than hers. If Touya was born premature, he would be even weaker to fire in addition to having his mother's constitution. My sister is premature and despite being several years older, I am taller. Height is just one thing that can be effected by being born premature, but that isn't always a life long situation. A study by the University of Auckland had stated that by late adolescence, those born premature often catch up to the average height. What age exactly is late adolescence? Between 18 and 20.

Dabi is a lanky boi. He's taller than all of the females in the show and taller than or the same height as a majority of the males, which proves he is about average height. Dabi is taller than Shigaraki. That is clear even if Shigaraki was standing straight, but not by much. Shigaraki is 5'9 or 175 centimeters, and Shouto is 5'9 and 1/4, 176 cm. Hawks is 172 cm or 5'7 and 3/4, but I'll just bump him up to 5'8. Bakugo is also 5'8 and Dabi is definitely at least a couple of inches taller than him.

Natsuo is a bit taller, standing at 5'11 and is definitely taller than Bakugo. He's still taller than his dear big brother, but not by much anymore.

It's all coming together. We're in the endgame now, folks

[haebeomsleftbuttcheek]

Imagine that you're reading this far into the manga and are still thinking that the villains are going to die or end up in prison. 😂🤡🤡🤡

Hori had their redemptions on the table since he created those characters. Why would he throw it out now? That's his intended endgame for toga, tomura and even dabi.

If some fans are so desperate to see them dead or not saved. Go read another manga.

I'm having my cup ready for their salty tears. 😂

Hi anon 😊 yeah it’s been foreshadowed now for so long now, it’s literally been set out that they’re going to be saved by their rightful counterparts! Shiggy - Izuku, Toga - Uraraka and Dabi/Touya - Shouto, like Horikoshi’s not going to throw that out the window now.

Eitherways, that other anon is a troll who’s sent basically the exact same ask to another blog whom I happen to follow, and they’ve been floating around in many Villain stans ask boxes as of lately. 99% sure they’re an absolute troll who’s trying to get a rise out of peeps! Also yes Anon I am too definitely going to have my cup ready 😂🤣!

[redphlox]

Hi redphlox

idk if ur still taking questions or not but I wanted to ask what you thought about the todoroki endgame since AFO looks like he may be defeated here. I see people saying that the todorokis will team uip and defeat afo and idk how i feel about that. I thought it would be shig. What are your thoughts?

Hi anonymous :)

Yes, I'm still taking questions! I love getting and answering asks. I've been very busy with life changes recently (moving, starting clinicals, lala) but my askbox is always open! ♥

I personally think, following the themes of the story, that AFO isn't the Todoroki family villain so it wouldn't make sense for them to defeat AFO. Having the three (Dabi included) team up and defeat AFO would make sense if AFO was someone who was the catalyst for their problems, but he wasn't. The family's villain was their father. Endeavor's ambition and selfish choices brought on the family's problems. In order for the family to move on, that has to be addressed (and it has been, slowly.)

If I had to guess, I feel like it would make more sense for the three Todorokis to return to UA and protect the citizens there (including Rei, Fuyumi, and Natsuo) from the spies AFO has planted among the refugees. Something along the lines of the Todorokis reuniting, coming to terms with the abuse and trauma, and Endeavor expressing remorse and taking accountability would fit and tie up their story line nicely

AFO is Shigaraki's villain. I mean, AFO is everyone's villain and he did try to groom Touya but Touya was like, "No thanks. I'd rather go home to my family than stay here ✌️" and the ironic thing is that Touya is alive because AFO intervened -

BUT

The person who directly is being used by AFO is Shigaraki. AFO is literally trying to take over Shigaraki's mind and body at the moment, but his involvement with the Shimura family has spanned generations. He killed Nana's husband, Nana, and probably kept tabs on Koutaro from afar and then gave his quirkless son Tenko the decay quirk, waiting for tragedy to happen so he could step in. AFO is directly responsible for a lot of the tragedy in Shigaraki's life, so it would make more sense for him to defeat AFO in the vestige (severing the link between them) before defeating him in the real world or aiding Deku.

Hope that makes sense!