#shouto is a teenager and is allowed to panic like one

[alwaysthesideofwonder]

A slightly different take on Shouto’s response to Fuyumi dating/getting married (though the Todoroki brothers going into over-protective mode over their sister remains one of my favorite set of fics), given that she’s been his surrogate mother for most of his life and assuming that he doesn’t have his brothers around to guide him on what the normal response would be to this (and of course his not very good frame of reference for normal and some underlying abandonment issues...)

***

It comes up during one of the visits Shouto has been able to make to his mother since all the students had been moved onto the campus. Usually they send letters back and forth but he does like to try to see her in-person after they had spent so many years apart.

The visit starts the usual way, where his mother tells him some of the activities that her doctors and therapists have her doing (this week had been painting vases, including the light yellow one that she now has brightening up her room holding the paperwhites that he brought her). Then he fills her in on how school has been going with some light (and sometimes not so light) fudging of the details. One of the downsides of being in the hero course at UA is the amount of media coverage of some of the incidents that generally do not make mothers feel better about their sons becoming heroes. On the upside, Midoriya is his classmate so when pressed he can always tell her about what happened to him and how at least her son hasn’t broken most of the bones in his arm.

Lately though, they’ve added on a new segment where his mother gets the chance to reveal the recent ongoings of his siblings’ lives. While Fuyumi usually has already shared most of the news with him by text or their weekly phone call, there’s this little spark of happiness that runs through him as his mother moves to the edge of her seat, her eyes becoming brighter and even her hands becoming expressive as she shares each story. For so long she had remained at the periphery of her children’s lives that she is understandably thrilled to finally get to be a messenger between them.

After the announcement of Natsuo possibly (which definitely is the key word there) bringing his girlfriend to meet her, she starts to wonder.

“Soon enough it will be Fuyumi bringing her husband and starting a family of her own! Oh, and grandchildren!”

He feels something starting to grow inside his throat, closing it up, quickly joined by his stomach that starts churning without explanation. His body feels untethered, as if the slightest breeze is going to knock him out of his chair, and a tingling sensation runs up his hands and feet as well. At least he has enough strength to nod in response as his mother drifts off to her own musings on the grandchildren she would have someday. Talking simply is not an option with every breath taking extra effort to take in while trying to appear normal.

It takes her a minute to come back to herself, which is thankfully enough time for his body to calm down from whatever it is that happened. She switches off instead to tell him about a new recipe Fuyumi had brought for her to try and with that the conversation is carried away as if she never brought up that particular hypothetical.

It’s only after bidding his mother goodbye that he has the time to try to figure out what had just happened.

Perhaps it had simply been surprise? It wasn’t exactly a topic that was ever broached in their household, though he wasn’t entirely sure whether that was simply neglect on Endeavor’s part regarding his weak daughter or because it was simply a topic that no one felt Shouto needed to be present during the discussion of. Given his father’s own part in a Quirk marriage though, he felt he would have heard of it by now if he had the idea to set up an arranged marriage meeting for Fuyumi. They had lived in the same house after all and most recently it had just been the 3 of them. More likely, his father had deemed his sister’s Quirk to be too weak and didn’t have the patience to wait for a grandchild who was more than likely to have an even more diluted Quirk, especially when he had a son with the ideal Quirk already, and so didn’t care what happened in that particular arena.

Still…if it was just surprise, why is the uneasiness coming back again?

***

A few minutes sitting in the hospital lobby is enough time for his body to settle again and to determine that he needs to talk to someone who can understand this better than him. And really, who better to ask than Yaoyorozu?

Unfortunately, he doesn’t bank on how popular Yaoyorozu is and thus how difficult it would be to find her alone to talk to since they were all living on campus. In the meantime, he settles on the temporary solution of not thinking about the actual reason why he needs to talk to her since that seems to make him feel ill, instead focusing on figuring out when he could talk to her without an audience of some of the nosiest classmates one could ever ask for.

After a week and multiple failed interceptions, he has the good luck to be bringing down his laundry right when she is emptying the dryer of hers.

“Yaoyorozu!”

She looks up and smiles, “Todoroki, are you doing your laundry today too?”

Of course, with all the effort he’s put into trying to find her, he hasn’t considered what exactly to say to her.

“Yes?” he answers, not sure if this is one of those times that he should elaborate further because he figures that was obvious given the basket of clothing he’s carrying.

Also, how much small talk is necessary before getting into an awkward conversation about your really dysfunctional family?

“That washer should be empty. Uraraka just started a load in the other one,” she shares, gesturing at the one at the end of the row. He walks past her towards it but comes to an abrupt stop halfway, finally coming to a decision on what to do say next.

“Could I…ask your advice about something?” He glances at her from the corner of his eye before looking back down at his laundry basket.

She pauses, putting down a neatly folded blouse, before practically bouncing over to him, stopping just inches from him with an enthusiastic “Of course!”

He turns and stares at her expression of pure focus for a moment before realizing that she’s waiting to hear what he has a question about.

Taking a deep breath and forcing himself to keep looking at her, he starts.

“I was talking with my mother…and she mentioned something about my sister getting married…” The uneasiness starts but he’s aware of it now and it’s easier to keep it tamped down.

“That’s so exciting! Have they set a date already? Have you met her fiancé yet?” He feels his eyes growing wider with every question. He really should have rehearsed this before he found her…

“Oh no, it was more hypothetical,” he clarifies, “I think, at least? She said someday.”

Yaoyorozu tilts her head to the side, pondering what he said.

“So your sister isn’t seeing someone? Or she is but they’re not at the point of marriage yet?”

An excellent question really. He doesn’t really know all that much about his sister’s social life but if there was one thing that was guaranteed in his life (other than his father being so focused on becoming number 1, he didn’t care how badly he destroyed his family on the way there), it was that come 8 pm on any night, Fuyumi would be at home, grading papers, packing up leftovers from dinner or coming to check on him, especially if he hadn’t made it out of the training rooms by then. He doesn’t think that Endeavor had been making her do this given how surprised he’d look whenever she showed up, softly calling out that dinner was starting to get cold, but for all he knows a rule was put in place when he was young that no one remembered to rescind.

That isn’t to say that she never goes out with friends. It’s just that she always schedules her outings in the morning or afternoon so she’s home by evening. And while he thinks she has both girl and guy friends, he figures a boyfriend would want to take her out to dinner or other activities that generally don’t mesh well with an 8 pm curfew (but most of what he knows about dating comes from shounen manga so he’s not sure how reliable that is).

“I don’t think she has a boyfriend?”

Although that begs the more important question that’s been mulling in the back of his mind.

“The getting married thing…is that something girls typically think about?” Is that something she would be thinking of? Has she been thinking about it this whole time?

He’s never entirely sure what exactly is normal when it comes to girls and honestly, he really hopes that Hagakure’s giggling is an anomaly rather than the norm, at least for the nice, logical girls like his sister and Yaoyorozu.

The energy in the room seems to calm down as Yaoyorozu considers him quietly (likely because this is one of those stupid questions that he should know the answer to), before she finally answers.

“Most girls do from when they’re young, you know? They start planning out what their wedding looks like, who their husband will be, kids,” she drifts off.

Husband? He’s already starting to get an idea of what the guy would look like – average in every way, not the sort to stand out at least. Definitely a civilian, with some sort of harmless Quirk if he even had one. Even-tempered. The sort of guy who puts Fuyumi’s needs first and always dotes on her.

And the children – there would be 2 (though maybe…maybe she would want 3 or even 4?), a boy and a girl. They would be a perfect mix in looks to their parents, one with each parent’s Quirks.

Dinnertime would be a cozy affair with plenty of praise for his sister’s cooking, everyone sharing how their day went, ceaseless encouragement for the children while gently scolding them for their antics at the dinner table.

No yelling, no glares, no insults, no tension so thick you could cut it with a knife mixed with an almost painful silence filled with the unique terror of even allowing the slightest break in it.

The uneasiness explodes and his stomach starts to churn bad enough that he finds himself pressing his basket against it and leaning forward. Yaoyorozu starts to reach for him, asking what’s wrong, and that triggers him to shout a quick “Thank you! I’m fine!”, racing back up to his room with his undone laundry, whatever she has to say next fading down the hallway.

Well, he finally has some answers. They just happened to make everything worse.

***

It takes another couple of weeks before he decides on the next step.

Yaoyorozu tries to check in on him after his abrupt departure, which he blames on fish going bad that he had for lunch. It only sort of works though, so he’s glad to finally tell her that he got permission to visit his sister, if only to stop the worried glances she kept sending him in class. Midoriya has definitely intercepted a few of them and it’s only a matter of time before Iida catches onto one, after which he’s pretty sure he has no hope of keeping this all quiet. Iida in class representative mode is no laughing matter.

It’s awkward enough asking his sister if he could visit. He almost types the request into the family group chat (which mostly consists of messages from Fuyumi and some funny video links from Natsuo. Shouto’s primary contribution is pictures of what he thinks is some of the nice scenery on campus mixed with a rare picture here and there of his classmates not doing hero-related activities, which he’s pretty sure makes a rather pathetic showing on his part but both of his siblings still send appreciative replies, so he hasn’t stopped sending them yet).

He briefly considers talking to Natsuo about it but he’s not sure if it’s the sort of conversation that they would have when their relationship mostly consists of erratic text messages and sighs and shared rolled eyes whenever Fuyumi drags them into some sort of family bonding activity. They’re not quite to the phone call stage and he’s pretty sure that this isn’t something to be shared by text given how the talk with Yaoyorozu went.

Thankfully Fuyumi doesn’t think too much about him wanting to visit home. She offers to come to UA so he doesn’t have to request permission to leave but ever since Bakugou had started talking up Fuyumi’s cooking in front of everyone, she’s become a little too much of a curiosity to his classmates for him to want her to actually meet all of them.

She’s perceptive enough to know that this is a visit where he doesn’t want Endeavor around and manages to time it with a weekend where he is out of town on a team up. She does try to turn it into a sibling bonding night with Natsuo, which he should have expected, and so that does take a little more work for him to talk her out of. Thankfully Natsuo’s thriving social life (love life?) would have made it complicated to find a date to meet and there is of course the fact that Natsuo generally avoids the house like the plague to help him out there.

He still ends up having to promise that they will have a sibling bonding night with food and activities of her choosing. However, he at least manages to negotiate one veto for him and Natsuo each so they can survive the night in general peace.

Fortunately (he thinks), Aizawa seemed to have also managed to pick up on Yaoyorozu’s worried looks and so getting the permission itself to visit was not as hard as he thought it would be, even without Endeavor there to supervise. Thankfully his teacher did not seem to want to delve into the question of what was bothering him any further than an oblique mention about “worried classmates” and simply set up a plan for Aizawa to wait outside while he visited with the requirement that his teacher enjoy some of his sister’s home cooking during the wait (even Aizawa was learning that there were certain battles you simply do not fight, especially with Fuyumi).

Setting foot in the entryway, Shouto can feel the warmer atmosphere that comes along with Endeavor’s absence. Funnily enough, no one manages to win against Endeavor in this house. Everyone has to leave to gain some sort of victory, to become themself – Natsuo to college, himself to UA.

Touya to death, though it’s a pyrrhic victory if anything.

Fuyumi is the only one to be able to stand her ground here and he can’t tell if that’s because her goal was completely different from theirs in her demands for a normal family or if she’s able to hit a level of stubborn that none of her brothers ever could.

He finds her in the kitchen, just finishing up the soba (and the many additional side dishes she’s prepared. No matter what he tells her every week, she remains certain that he’s trying to live off of only cold soba without someone watching to make sure he eats everything else on his plate).

He moves to the sink to start cleaning up. Fuyumi’s particular (or maybe Endeavor is) that the kitchen is cleared up before she starts to eat and he’s lost count of the number of times when she’ll come join them for dinner after he’s already halfway through because of it.

She asks him how school has been, how Midoriya, Bakugou and the rest of his friends are doing and the replies come as easily as they do every week during their phone calls. It’s nothing like those times when they first used to have these sorts of chats, back during his later years of elementary school and Endeavor was gone for the night and she would invite him to come sit with her to watch a show as she did the last of her homework and later on her marking. Back when he didn’t know what to tell her when she would ask these questions and he would have to sit there as she gave him that pitying look he hated while she scrambled to find easier questions for him to answer.

Now he has a running list of his classmates’ antics to share (and even some of his own) that always seem to please her with a smile crinkling her eyes. There are still the handful of ones that make her worried (unfortunately she does watch the news) but he’s learned how to tuck them into a series of other harmless stories to try to distract her (being a teacher also unfortunately means the fudging details plan doesn’t work as well).

She disappears briefly to move the food to the table and the conversation lapses with this. He starts working on trying to figure out how to broach the conversation he needs to have at dinner when she suddenly appears beside him, grabbing a towel and starting to dry his neatly washed dishes. He jumps a little at this and almost drops the dish he’s washing as it starts to slip from his hands but he’s quick to catch it, trying to act as if it was an issue of too much soap more than anything else.

“Is something bothering you?” This time the wooden spoon he picked up does clatter into the sink as she continues to carefully work around the edges of a glass dish with a towel, never looking up at him, barely a question in her voice.

He really shouldn’t have expected that he’d get away with it.

She lets the silence sit. They’ve grown from those early days of fumbled questions and with each second he feels everything that has been building since that day in his mother’s hospital room bubbling up to the surface.

“Mother was talking about you getting married the other day…” Suddenly the little flecks of vegetables trapped in the well-worn grooves of the spoon are the most interesting thing in the room.

He sees her turn to look at him through the corner of his eye as he continues his inspection, nodding in encouragement.

“And…and Yaoyorozu said that it’s something that all girls think about…the whole getting married and having a family thing…” he drifts off, not entirely sure how to voice what his actual question is.

He is not one for praying but he finds himself coming close, hoping that she’ll understand what he really wants to ask, the real reason for why his stomach is churning like a whirlpool is in there no matter how hard he presses it against the counter to make it stop.

Do you want to get married and have a family of your own?

And when you do…what happens to me?

Because that was the new fear he had discovered that day as his mother was becoming overjoyed at the thought of Fuyumi’s husband and children.

Mother leaves. Touya leaves. Natsuo leaves. But Fuyumi? Fuyumi is always there. Even with him now at the UA dorms, here she is, right at home, waiting for him with open arms. Yes, she wants a normal family, but it’s their family that she wants to be normal. Endeavor, Mother, Natsuo, him- there was never a moment when it occurred to him that if they failed to fix themselves that she could give up on them and make herself a new family, a better family. He hadn’t really considered that society had already had an alternative in place for her, and in fact, even expected her to go ahead with it.  

And if she gave up on them…if she found herself the nice average husband and the two darling children…why would she want him around? She knows perfectly well what having a hero in the family can do to it. And they’re all dysfunctional, hell, he had to go ask a classmate to figure out if girls wanting to get married were normal. Why would she want him tainting her perfect new family?

If there is anyone who deserves happiness, it’s Fuyumi. The one who made sure that he was eating, that his homework was getting done, that his bruises were iced after their mother was taken away. The one who would record his favorite shows and sit and watch them with him even though she was too old for them the second their father was away. The one who cared if he got to experience the normal aspects of teenage life, who patiently tried again and again to understand him, to connect with him. How could he ever want to stand in the way of her dreams if in the end, they didn’t include him?

He’s not sure how much time passes as he spirals. It breaks as he hears her put down the dish, the rustle of her sweater as she turns towards him and his mind goes blank because what else was he supposed to expect it to do when one of the very few certainties of his life has been turned on its head?

“Shouto…” She tries to catch his eyes but he continues to stare at the handful of remaining dishes and utensils at the bottom of the sink. She sighs but she doesn’t stop looking at him as she continues.

“I have thought about it a bit…like your friend said, a lot of girls think about getting married, especially as they get older.”

He starts biting on the inside of his cheek. He’s certain at this point that he doesn’t want to hear what she’s going to say next and that he’s going to feel a whole lot worse.

“I was thinking…it would be nice to have a husband…a nice one I promise! He won’t be like our father, especially the way he was when we were younger!”

His stomach starts going into overdrive because, in all of his worrying, Fuyumi ending up like Mother, trapped in an abusive marriage, hadn’t really occurred to him and now he has one more thing to worry about in addition to his existential crisis.

She reaches towards him and gently holds onto his right shoulder. She seems about to start to turn him towards her but stops, letting him look away.

“Shouto, I promise, I won’t end up like our mother. The way we grew up…that’s not normal and it doesn’t mean that we’re going to go the same way. We know better.

“When I get married it will be to a good man, who will be a good husband and a good father to our children. They’ll have a better childhood than ours was, we’ll make sure of it.”

He nods along, his stomach loosening up a bit at the promise.

“They’ll get to be kids. To be friends with each other and have friends of their own.” She smiles at the thought of this and he starts to think that she is going to be lost to her own daydreams soon enough.

“And of course, they’re going to love their favorite hero uncle who comes every week for dinner. Though of course then they’re liable to also decide that soba is their favorite food and I’ll have no chance of ever winning that fight ever again!” The smile becomes a grin as she strokes her thumb over his shoulder, giving him a moment to think about this new future, this one that he had never thought of existing.

It’s a struggle. He still has trouble placing himself in that house, at that dinner table.

“Are you…are you sure…” He finds the words hard to get out still, lodging in his throat no matter how hard he tries to force them out.

She does turn him towards her at this and he goes without resistance. There’s a gentleness over her face that is pure Fuyumi and that alone starts to set him at ease as he finally meets her eyes.

“Of course. You are going to be the fun hero uncle who plays all the best games with them. Natsuo is going to the favorite doctor uncle who lets them mess with his tools and fixes up all their cuts and bruises. And T…and they are going to love you both to pieces. Just watch, I’m going to have you on speed-dial for babysitting requests!” The edges of her mouth draw higher while her eyes crinkle with a different emotion that he can’t quite place.

Still, he tries to imagine it. Imagines those two children (they’ve become almost terrifyingly life-like in his mind, dark haired with flecks of white and red, at least one with glasses and both sporting Fuyumi’s grin and a scary good impression of her puppy dog eyes) running up to him, grabbing each of his hands to drag him inside, babbling on about all the games they were waiting on his arrival to play.

And he pauses, finding himself looking at his left hand. He remembers the special exercise from his supplemental classes, using his ice quirk mostly to create the play structure. The fire had been more for special effects and he had made a point to be careful that it stayed far away from the children. But a child holding onto that left hand…

“You know, when you were born, you loved it when…when Touya held you.”

He looks back up to her, uncertain about where this is going. He’s not sure if Fuyumi and Natsuo have an agreement but he can probably count on both hands the number of times either of them have talked about Touya with him outside of mentioning his death day anniversary. They were both much closer to him than he was and he can’t imagine what losing him must have been like, especially for Fuyumi who had lost the only older sibling she had. Whatever pain she felt, she kept locked up with all of her memories of him, sharing only the crumbs when she could seem to bear it.

“Sometimes you would be crying so hard we thought the roof would come down on our heads and it seemed to be for no reason. And then Touya just had to come near and you would get quieter and then we’d get him to hold you and you were suddenly the happiest baby in the world. We figured it was because of the heat he gave off since all the rest of us run cold. You would just be so happy snuggling up against him…

“So…that fire side of you…you don’t need to be afraid of it with the kids. If anything, I’m going to be calling you even more than Natsuo to help me with them because of it!”

And then…it becomes a little easier to think of them, these two children beaming up at him, trying to swing on his arms as he heads for the dining room, Fuyumi and her husband setting the table, her husband helping to extricate the kids from him while insisting that he sit down and drink something at least before Fuyumi has both their heads, Fuyumi sighing and laughing at all their antics.

It leaves him feeling a little warm inside and he finds himself smiling at the thought of it as well.

“And Shouto,” she locks eyes with him and there is something fierce lurking in them as she says in a voice of absolute certainty, “someday, we are going to have this. But not yet. We all have things we need to take care of first. And I promise, I will let you know when that time comes.” Her voice softens, “I think you’ve enough surprises with this, don’t you agree?”

They’re not a particularly tactile family but he doesn’t know what else to do with himself than pitch forward towards his sister and let her sweep him up in a tight embrace. He feels too many emotions welling up inside of him but Fuyumi is there and somehow she figures it out the way she figured everything else out and things finally settle down as she strokes his hair, murmuring that it’s alright, that everything will be okay.

He’s still not sure what his hero name should be in the end but he know that he’s working his way towards becoming the sort of hero that would do proper justice to all that was All Might. He definitely hasn’t thought about what his life outside of hero work will look like though he’s sure that Midoriya, Iida, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu and even Bakugou will be a part of it.

And now he has a new puzzle piece to fit into the picture and he finds himself looking forward just a little more to seeing what the finished product will look like someday.

And of course, no matter what, no matter where either of them is, he knows his sister will be there and ready to help him realize it, even the parts he hasn’t figured out yet.

Notes:

A few assumptions made: -Rei is getting to know her children again and doesn't necessarily know what all they're talking about with each other. So she wouldn't have thought that Shouto would be surprised by the idea of Fuyumi dating/getting married, especially since Natsuo dating is common news, or that he might react differently between the two -Regarding Fuyumi and the 8 pm curfew - this is more my head canon that Fuyumi self-imposes it on herself more to be there in case something goes really wrong when Endeavor is training Shouto. She's well aware there is very little she can do but at least if she's there then maybe she can come up with something and at the very least use dinner as an excuse to keep training from going long - being an elder sister can sometimes involve having very unrealistic expectations for your ability to keep your younger siblings safe. -Fuyumi also has a knack for fudging details that Shouto hasn't figured out yet - he's seen a lot of the worst of his family but she isn't going to let him discover all of it, so this could be considered canon compliant in regards to what all has come out about Touya/Dabi in the more recent chapters (or we can go with a different version of Touya not wanting to hold his super squirmy brother that he's pretty sure he's going to drop and everyone making him so they can have some peace and quiet)

[bunnyywritings]

bubbly s/o opens up about trauma pt. 1

bakugou katsuki & shouto todoroki x gn!reader

word count: 1.8k

requested by anon: Katsu, Sho, Izu, and Eiji headcanons to their bubbly, and sweet crush, and close friend, opening up to them about being abused by their parents growing up? They've gotten therapy and are living with their Grandparents but sometimes they get upset when someone brings up parents or asks about the scars from abuse. They tell them they shared this with them because they refused to lie to them. They hug him close, thanking him for being a good friend. -Morp

[a/n: i hope you don’t mind that I’m doing it in parts anon! i ended up doing scenarios for each one, i'm a bit rusty so i apologize if this isn't very well done. you can read part 2 [ here ] ,thank you for requesting sweet heart! here you go! - yours truly, bunny -`ღ´- ]

TW: mentions of parental abuse & scars, nothing explicit but implied

To an extent, he always knew. Maybe not the specifics, but whenever you were alone and thought no one was paying any attention, you’d let your guard down. The metaphorical sparkle in your eyes would dim, your shoulders would slump as if you were taking a break. Then someone would approach and in the blink of an eye, the sparkle was back and the familiar grin on your lips was present once again. Despite what others may think, Bakugou was a good friend.

He worried about you. A lot.

That may be due to the fact that he has a huge crush on you, but it was unlikely. He values your friendship so much. He’d rather have you as a friend than anything else, really. That was mainly his insecurity talking though. He just thought he wasn’t good enough for you. No one was, really. But that’s besides the point.

He had never explicitly said anything about his feelings for you but he didn’t need to. It was quite clear through his actions. Well...clear to everyone but you, that is. Even Aizawa had caught on. And he couldn’t care less about his students’ love lives. He’s had his fill of teenage angst and drama.

During training, he’d always make sure your water bottle was full or during lunch he’d keep an eye out and make sure you were eating. Sometimes he’d even give you extra pieces of meat from his plate, or if he had veggies he knows you like, he’d wordlessly place them into your rice bowl.

Now this wasn’t one sided at all. You also had your ways of looking out for him.

If you were doing a convenience store run with Sero and you saw the particular snack that Bakugou likes, you’d instantly grab a few. For his birthday, you had gotten him custom earplugs for quirk training. It had been after you and him were paired to spar against each other, he always insisted on not holding back against you out of respect, and you had experienced one of his full blown attacks head-on. Your ears were ringing for about half an hour before you could somewhat hear again, and even then, everything was a bit muffled.

Needless to say, you were worried about his hearing

He scoffed and rolled his eyes when he unwrapped the box. Scolding you for wasting money on something he had no use for.

He always uses them though. Especially when he’s doing stamina training, and it’s explosion after explosion.

Anyways. He notices your strange behavior, one day. You stopped trying to keep up the façade and you were sort of gloomy all day. He was absolutely pissed that no one had noticed the change, and he’d yell at them later for it, but he kept his cool and waited until he could be alone with you.

It had been around 8pm, just an hour before his bedtime, when he made some tea for the both of you and carried it up to your dorm room. He paused in front of your door, looking down at both his hands, a mug in each one, then looking at the door handle. Realizing he won't be able to physically open the door by himself, he awkwardly bumped the door with his elbow.

“Hey idiot, it’s me. Open the door.” He grumbled quietly, frowning when you hadn’t responded. Before he could repeat himself a little more aggressively, the muffled sound of your sniffling made his stomach drop. Panic rising throughout his body as he made up worst case scenarios in his head.

“(Y/n), seriously. Is everything okay?” All attempts to sound calm failed as his voice betrayed him, trembling the slightest bit.

On the other side of the door, you started to panic. Furiously wiping any evidence of tears or snot from your face before you slumped over to the door, turning the lock and tugging it open to reveal a frowning Bakugou. He wasn’t upset, he was worried. It was evident in his red irises.

“Here. Drink it before it gets cold.” He handed you a mug before walking past you and into your room. He admired the decor everytime he was in there, no matter how many times he had seen it already, it never failed to make his heart warm. You had a wall full of pictures of yourself with your friends. There were a few solo photos of your friends as well. Most were candid shots, there were a fair few of him.

It always reminded him that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. You cherished those candid photos because in your eyes, when your friends were carefree and themselves, no poses, no facade, that’s when they were their most beautiful.

He took a seat on your bed and patted the space beside him. Nudging the door shut, you made your way over and got comfortable.

“What’s up with you today? You seemed...not yourself.”

You didn’t respond, opting to take a sip of your tea. He knew there was something up and he wasn’t gonna push you. So he leaned back and got comfortable, waiting until you were ready. It was a solid three minutes of silence before you took a deep breath.

“I-I don’t want to lie to you, Katsuki. It just wouldn’t be fair so uhh, yeah. Here goes.” He could tell that this was overwhelming for you so, wordlessly, he put down his mug and held his hand out to you and you grasped it, like it was a lifeline.

And you told him.

You told him about the abuse from your own parents. He felt his blood boil as you showed him a few scars inflicted by your parents’ quirks. You explained that it was the anniversary of the day you ran away and went to live with your grandparents, and how you had been seeing a therapist on the regular since then.

It pained him to see you struggle through the tears, hiccuping a few times as you attempted to catch your breath. You didn’t even have to say it but he could see it, it was an all too familiar feeling to him. He tugged you to him, letting go of your hand and pulling you into his chest, his arms wrapping you up in a warmth that made the stinging tears return.

“You know, this doesn’t make me think less of you. You’re not weak. Those bastards don’t realize how bad they screwed up. You’re strong, and they’re gonna regret every goddamn choice they’ve made when they see how far you’ll go.”

“Thank you.” You whimpered as you gave in to the new wave of tears, hooking your arms around his shoulders. “Thank you…”

If anyone asks, no...he wasn’t crying. (He was though.)

If anyone was familiar with the signs of abuse, it was him. 

It hurt him so much knowing that you had gone through what he did, maybe not to the same extreme but you had experienced it nonetheless. 

He admired you though. Despite whatever happened to you, you were always bright. Always in a good mood and always choosing to see the good in people. He knows that he didn’t have the strength to do that. Maybe eventually, but not so soon. He had never wanted to pry. You guys were friends, practically best friends and he trusted that you’d tell him when you were ready. 

To his knowledge, no one knew. No one mentioned the way you’d flinch around sudden movements or when someone raised their voice. Honestly, it was a wonder that you had even befriended Iida. He was the epitome of loud and sudden. Always waving his arms around at the randomest times and always shouting to chastise someone for breaking a rule. 

He noticed that you tended to cover up your torso often. Never really wearing anything more revealing than a normal t-shirt. Even on the class trip to the beach, you insisted on staying covered up. No one questioned it, chalking it up to insecurity. Even during training when everyone had to wear their gym uniform, while others undid the top part and wrapped it around their waist, being clad in a tank top or sports bra, you had always kept it on. Even when it was extremely hot. More often than not, he found himself resting his palm against your forehead to cool you off. 

It hadn’t been very hot, but Aizawa decided to run everyone ragged with combat training, so everyone was partnered up. Todoroki had been partnered with Denki and you had been paired up with Eijirou.

As he sat with his classmates, watching the two of you spar, he was quite impressed. Not that he doubted your skill but both fighting styles were drastically different. Eijirou and his quirk relied on close combat while your quirk worked best with long-range. He could see the frustration on your face when Eijirou kept charging towards you and engaging in hand to hand.

As the fight went on, Kirishima had hardened his forearm and hand, kinda like a makeshift blade and as he took you down, he had accidentally cut the top of your gym uniform. As the dust settled and the both of you got up, the tear in your clothes allowed the whole class to see your back and shoulders, skin littered with scars. All were different in size, color, severity, etc. 

Everyone was stunned silent, not having expected anything like this. 

“(Y/n)...what happened?” You could feel the breeze on your back and the pity in Kirishima’s eyes made you angry.

Everyone suddenly snapped into realization. Various questions of; ‘who did that to you?’, ‘where did those come from?’ and whatnot were shot at you from different directions. He could see you slowly being overwhelmed by everything. His heart dropped as he made eye contact with you, your eyes tired and filled with tears. 

“That’s ENOUGH!” Everyone froze and looked at Todoroki with wide eyes, his voice booming.

Sensing the tension starting to rise, Aizawa sighed. 

“Alright everyone settle down. Training is over, get back to class. (Y/n). A word.” 

Reluctantly, Todoroki followed the boys into the locker room and changed into his school uniform.  When everyone was out and he returned outside to the training grounds, you and Aizawa weren’t there so he had gone back to the locker rooms. He knocked and called out to you. 

“Can I come in?” He heard a meek ‘yeah.’ So he carefully made his way inside. 

There you were, dressed in your school uniform and sat on a bench with your face buried in your hands, shoulders shaking. 

“(Y/n)...” He gently placed a hand on your shoulder, he winced when you looked up at him. IIt ached him to see your beautiful eyes tainted by tears. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner Sho…” Your bottom lip quivered. 

“Please, don’t apologize.” He opened his arms. You stood up and basically collapsed into them, clutching onto the back of his blazer. “Just always remember that I may understand more than anyone else will. I’ll never judge you, you know that right?” 

“I know…It’s just, ugh-” You pulled away and wiped the tears from your face. “I don’t want anyone to change how they look at me because of what my parents did to me and when everyone saw, and they were asking all of their questions, their eyes...they were just full of pity.” 

“Then look into mine.”

And when you did, you didn’t see pity. 

You saw admiration. You saw belonging. Love. Understanding. 

“Nothing will ever change with me, (Y/n).” He pressed his forehead against yours, “I will always be here for you.” 

[ttodorokiii]

yandere shoto with a reader who actually likes being babied? they're the type of friend that literally everyone loves babying. they dont care that shoto kidnapped them because he's super nice 🥺 like their only complaint is that shoto wont let them go play in his super pretty garden and not being allowed to see their friends :3

Distracted;

note: OKAY IM NOT DEAD. HAPPY (late) VALENTINES DAY. So just a heads up, this is VV DIFFERENT FROM THE REQUEST ;” omg I’m so sorry...my minds blank. I’m so sleepy...lmk what you think!!! ENJOY! I’m so nervous lmaoo...also the reader is SO NOT SHY...just saying. oh you’re ukaraka’s sister!

warnings: YANDERE, MATURE, KIDNAPPING, STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, obsessive behaviour, obsessive thoughts, shouto’s a depressive soul... and kissing.

pairing(s): yan! shouto todoroki x fem!reader

It was unfair that how cute you were. it really was. but that was also what attracted him like a magnet towards you.

You were literally a baby in an adult womans body. hmm, his baby. You were his pretty baby.

Being three years younger than shouto, you were just...so captivating. Shouto has had always wanted someone he could protect.

He was the youngest one in his family so there was always this weird craving in his heart, he always wanted someone he could cherish and love so much.

and that’s when he met you. Or rather, saw you. and damn, he was in love with you at the first glance. you were ukaraka’s little sister.

and just came to visit when the fellow heroes were busy hanging out together. Shouto observed you. but it was unusual for the no. 1 pro hero to be so...distracted.

it had been eight months. the mono coloured eyes man was becoming more and more infatuated with you, you who were his fellow’s sister.

But did Shouto feel guilty? no. The love he felt for you had transformed into such a powerful desire that it had become an unhealthy sick obsession.

Which resulted in him kidnapping you.

all was fair in love and war. and shouto could only do so. what if someone else stole you away? You were naive and so pure.

you were probably the most purest thing on this disgusting planet. and todoroki was so familiar with the cruel nature of the world. and he just wanted to protect you from it.

why...why were you so captivating. you soft sweet smile that was worth billions made his almost dead heart flutter like a high school teenager boy.

shouto was undeniably madly in love with you. and he acknowledged that. Okay...it was true that shouto wasn’t the most proud on his actions. but it was necessary. There was this primal fear in his head that you’d hate him, before falling for him you’d learn to hate him.

And you should. He wouldn’t blame you. he’s so impure and unworthy of you, but you’d hate him because he kidnapped you...any sane person would. he stole you away from the world, from your sister and your family and friends.

You’d hate him, right?

no.

you didn’t hate your captor. If anything, you cried in his lap...feeling scared. seeking protection from him.

“t-todoroki-san!! where am I? I’m so s-scared!” the way your panicked scared voice still rings in his head.

“please answer m-me!!!?” your pretty sobs...oh how he could hear you cry forever...

“Please call me shouto, Y/N-Chan!” shouto could feel his cheeks tighten with heat when he felt your innocent gaze on his face.

“Y-You’re safe with me!” shouto could everywhere but you. he couldn’t lie to you.

“todoroki san!~ please i want to go home? Will you help me!?” Oh no... You couldn’t leave him..now there was only one way. And that was telling you the truth.

“I-I love you Y/N Chan! I’m in love with you. I have b-been in love with you!” he blurted out, his tone lacing in panic.

silence.

“y-you’re in love with me?” shouto took a deep breathe, holding you thightly. Your face so near to his that he was having trouble breathing. “y-yes. So much!” he replied.

and he was ready for your next step.

he quickly closed his eyes and loosened his grip. scary thoughts runnig through his tired mind. You must think of him as a lonely creep!~ right?

but again, shouto was proven wrong by your hug. “YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH ME?!” Your tone was different now, todorokis eyes snapped opened.

“Oh how long was I waiting to hear this!~” you giggled as your hands grabbed his face. “I’ve been in love with you since four years! my sister knows! Ukaraka knows!” shouto looked at you with pure shock.

His heart was beating rapidly, threatening to come out his chest. agd as if it hadn’t already, it would’ve now.

this was unexpected. totally different from what he was expecting.

“TODOROKI KUN! I love you so much! I always have! I’m so glad you kidnapped me!” you shifted in his lap and he felt electrified when he felt your cherry lips on his chapped ones. too shocked to return your kiss, he was still.

y-you were kissing him...his dream girl was kissing him.

he had to be dreaming.... shouto knew he needed a therapist... his fantasies were becoming to feel too real now... he was going crazy and delusional.

he was becoming delusional...?

but your next action was enough to prove that this was reality.

shouto’s lower lip whimpered when he felt your tongue swipe across it, no way. his eyes rolled back in pleasure as he felt your hand mingling in his locks. you tugged on them and he let a whimper out.

oh no... this was real.

[north-peach]

So, like, we all agree that canon Endeavor is a flaming dumpster fire. Yes? Yes, established fact. But the one (1) thing he did, ok at? When Rei dumped boiling water on their kid, he didn’t let the situation escalate between them. Was he the cause of Rei’s breakdown? Yes. Was literally everything else ultimately at his feet? Also yes. But given he was already covering up everything else in that house, he could have covered that up too. He didn’t. The best thing he could have done was get her out

So the thing that’s in my head, is that Enji was abused as a child. If you’ve noticed, Heroes are kinda isolated, right? They have their own communities, their own schools, their own branch of government, ect, ect.

What Enji’s doing to his kids and his family, is literally the only way he knows how to be a family man. He doesn’t think anything of it, he sees nothing wrong with it. Honestly, tell me that the reason he got Rei out of there was more disappointment then anything else. 

To be a Hero, to actually get into a fight with a dangerous opponent and fight to hurt them, to incapacitate them and possibly even kill then, while keeping an eye on your surroundings, while making sure the villain’s attacks, your attacks, plus defenses aren’t going to injure those around you- or even minimize damage- takes a lot of mental fortitude. 

You cannot panic. You don’t have the time.

You’ve got to be better then that.

Rei was not better. Rei crumbled and wasn’t able to maintain her mental stability.

So Enji’s thought isn’t, I’m going to remove her from the situation so this doesn’t happen again, it’s more like, I’m going to remove this unstable person from around Shouto so he cannot be influenced by this mentally unsound person.

But, lo and behold! He gets a clue. 

His kids rebel against him. Everything he’s working for crumples into dust. He’s got what he wanted, but not how he wanted it and boom.

He suddenly realizes that the whole purpose of actions (of what he decided Shouto’s existence was to him) is meaningless. 

Then he clues into the.....my kids don’t care about me, as a father, as a person or even as a Hero.

They don’t take pride in anything I do.

I’m doing something wrong.

Of course, it’s kinda late to be realizing that but, eh. 

ANYWAY

the point is, it’s Enji’s fault for not taking a step back and realizing, oh hey, I don’t think this is right?

But Enji is so friggin’ stubborn, and so absolutely sure of himself. Until something bludgeons him over the head like, yeah, no, that’s not how this goes.

Which is actually how Favor Fire was brought about. THE POINT IS. It wasn’t a right this he did. It was a minimize damage to my investment so he won’t be infected by mental instability. 

Plus, he basically checked Rei into a mental hospital and left her there. For like, ten years. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a hospital, but they literally monitor like....everything you do. When you’re supposed to eat, if you go outside, what’s allowed in the room, ect, ect. Rei basically went from a prisoner in her home with her children and a monster, to a prisoner in a hospital, not allowed to do anything without permission, without both the monster and her children.

Also, another reason why he went easy on Shouto when he was refusing to use his Flames. Because he’s already cataloged him as being susceptible to mental instability so he’s like, better not push too hard, just let him naturally get over this teenage rebellion. 

Anyway, for Rei, Endeavor putting her in the hospital was probably the best thing at the time for her mental state of mind. But not for ten years. Of course, Rei might be thinking that she deserves it and is treating it like punishment but there’s not enough content on her to say definitively on that.

[meganshinsou-tm]

Shared Walls. (m)

↳ chapter five: knock, knock

❧ genre: pro-hero shouto, coworkers to lovers, happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: drugging, minor panic attack, blood

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

"So I guess it makes sense why we never ran into each other." 

Todoroki looked at you as you looked out the window of the train, humming at your question when you turned back to stare at him and smile, making his heart warm. 

"You know since you have to be at work much earlier and later than me, then with you taking Enji's place lately didn't give you much free time huh?"

Shouto nodded agreeing with you.

"Man, well I gotta say, I'm really relived that it's you living on the other side of me. I feel a lot safer."

Shouto quirked a red brow at you, this wasn't the first time you mentioned safety and it made him wonder what had you so ... scared.

"You know, you never told me why you moved here in the first place."

In the reflection of the window the man could see you biting your lip and looking down in the corner at nothing in particular.

"Well, to be honest Shouto it's a long and - complicated story, one that I don't really want to lie to you about but also one that I'm not exactly ready to tell you yet."

Todoroki sat there silently examining your body language. You had yet to look at him again and your fingers nervously fidgeted with the hem of your sweater while the other rubbed the back of your bare neck. Whatever your reasoning for possibly fleeing from the States, it had to be something serious and it made him worry. He didn't want to force you into telling him anything you weren't comfortable with yet though, he'd wait if he had to and show you that you could trust him. 

Taking a chance, Shouto reached for your hand, it was the first time he had touched it since that dreadful handshake when you first met. Focusing hard on not letting his quirk get the best of him and possibly burn your skin, he enclosed your soft hand in his and squeezed lightly.

You looked from the window finally and to his hand holding yours, a tint of pink brushing your cheeks. You looked at him with those (e/c) hues that followed him home from work every day this past week, making him feel a little better at his choice of action.

"Tell me when you're ready then. I can wait, in the mean time if you ever need anything no matter what time it is or what it is, just knock on the wall twice and I'll be right over okay?"

"Thank you Shouto."

The rest of the train ride you and Shouto talked about everything under the moon that didn't involve delving too deep into your past. You found out he loves cold soba and that he prefers the cooler seasons over the warmer ones. He told you all about his years at UA, it sounded so amazing yet terrifying to you. He was only a teenager and went through so much shit and yet he was still here, not once running away from his problems.

"You really are amazing Shouto, all your experiences make my own seem so insignificant."

Your hand was squeezed again and a not so amused look crossed your friends handsome features.

"That's not true (Y/N), don't say that."

"I'm sorry Shouto. It's just, you see I don't exactly think so highly of myself, like I've said before I'm nothing special."

Todoroki looked like he was having an internal struggle going on, not sure what kind of face to make or what to say until he finally let out a deep breath. 

"You know I really wish you wouldn't talk down about yourself so often. You may not think you're special but that's not how others see you (Y/N), especially me."

You grunted, the two-toned man was extremely serious and straight forward with his confession, making you get flustered as your hand and entire body broke into a sudden heat.

Air. Space - you needed just a little bit of space!

You chuckled and gave a sheepish smile towards Todoroki before shooting to your feet, looking for an escape to the bathroom to make sure you weren't sweating through your clothes.

"Excuse me Shouto, I need to go to the bathroom real fast before we stop."

He nodded and let go of your hand, letting you pass but at the same time the train come to a sudden harsh stop making you tumble and fall backwards into Shouto's lap. He grunted under the force of your body not so gracefully colliding into his, making him hunch over. His mouth nearly brushing your bare neck and shoulder and his hands gripping your hips. The sound that escaped from his mouth made you dizzy,

"Shouto~" you let out breathlessly.

He seemed to pull your hips closer to his as his name left your lips the way it did and you felt a sudden cold and heat flare up on your hips making your eyes widen and say his name again but with more urgency.

"Shit," he hissed out and let go of your hips. You both looked to see the left side of your sweater black and seared and the right side covered in frost.

You burst out laughing, wrapping your arm around yourself and covering your loud obnoxious noises. Shouto looked at you confused. One, you didn't bother moving from his lap, not that he was complaining and two because you were laughing at what could've been a major accident.

"You’re very strange!"

"RokiRoki, you didn't need to buy me another top, really!"

You complained as Todoroki handed the store clerk his card. The second the two of you got off the train he dragged you into the closest store to replace the sweater he almost burned to ash, you settled for whatever was cheaper considering he happened to pull you into a high end store. You picked out another slouchy sweater but it unfortunately hid your shoulders, ruining your plan to look somewhat attractive to your crush. As the two of you walked out of the store you quickly grabbed his hand and held it tightly making his eyes widen and stop and look at you.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, its just I don't know this place and it looks really busy ... I don't want to lose you."

Shouto smirked and nodded, continuing to lead you into the busy and noisy city.

"The place isn't much further."

Nodding, you walked along and marveled at the city, looking in every direction. As you looked over to the other side of the street past Shouto you could see someone walking along while staring at you. It looked like a male but they had a black surgical mask on not giving away their identity. Squeezing Shouto's hand you walked closer to him and clung to his arm. The hero didn't mind and even lifted his arm, letting you hide under the shelter of him as you both walked. You don't know when but somewhere along the way you lost sight of the stranger.

"Here we are, you like ramen right?"

Sitting inside of the ramen shop put you at ease, it was nestled in a alley far away from the city and noise, you both ordered your food and waited at your table with your warm teas in hand.

"It's your turn," Shouto stated out of the blue, causing you to look at him from searching the establishment.

"My turn?"

"To hold up your end of the deal, we're here on a lunch date, now you tell me what happened with my father."

Remembering the text exchange from the night before you chuckled and leaned forward on the table, crossing your arms, making the little bit of cleavage that showed push further out and made Todoroki chuckle as he drank his tea.

"So, get ready, I'm about to tell you all about how I met my future father-in-law!"

The man before you choked on his drink and coughed as he covered his mouth and wiped it clean. You laughed back and handed him a napkin, "Just jokes folks, just jokes!"

After his episode you told him about the scene that unfolded the day before with his Hulk of a father, how he walked in at the worst possible time but helped you out and even chuckled at your dumb word vomit and how he told you to call him by his first name. In perfect timing your food came out when you wrapped up the story.

Todoroki smiled, "And you think you aren't special? No one else in our office is allowed to call my father by his first name, not even heroes that have been there for years."

"Oh yeah? Well maybe you had already put in a good word for me, he mentioned hearing a lot about me. I wonder from who," you tilted your head, slowly sucking up a noodle and staring Shouto straight in the eyes.

Shouto only shrugged and smiled as he started to eat his own food. Relaxing at his good mood, you sighed and ate as well. You seemed to put on a good front so far, Todoroki not realizing how on edge you were currently, you've gotten good at it from being with your ex.

Your eyes scoped out the place here and there, watching to see if anyone was staring at you in particular. People seemed to be minding their own business chatting among themselves, some looking around the same as you did. You saw a group of girls looking your way as well, gushing over Shouto obviously. It made you chuckle, you forget most of the time that he's a very popular hero, to you he's just Shouto.

Once you finished your food you decided to go to the bathroom, "Excuse me Shouto, I need to go wash up real quick. If the check comes here's my part of it!"

You went to shove money his way and he swatted it away with a stern look, anyone else you'd protest but the man had a way with putting you in your place with just a look or phrase. Giving up you ruffled his hair and walked off.

Once Todoroki had paid for your meal he waited, and waited.

It had been nearly five minutes and still you weren't back, causing the hero to get worried. He noticed how you looked around the room constantly as you ate, as if someone was watching you, seeming on edge and trying to hide it from him which you weren't very good at no matter what you thought.

"Hey what are you doing to her? Help!"

A yell caught his attention and immediately Todoroki jumped from his seat and ran outside where the bathrooms were located to see an elderly man walking towards a woman sitting on the ground caving in on herself and bleeding from her arm. Shouto felt his heart stop as he realized who it was, it was you.

Crimson liquid cascaded from your forearm and around the fingers of your hand that tried to grip it, your chest heaved as you panicked and whined out. The elderly man crouched down and gently grabbed you by the shoulder and cupped your face, trying to calm you down. Todoroki grit his teeth, he should've been doing that, it was his job, he does it all the time but he was frozen in place, he couldn't move, couldn't get to you.

"Stay with me sweetheart, breathe! I'm gonna call for – hey you! Help!"

The man called out as he saw Shouto standing at the end of the alley, he continued to call out but his voice was muted as Shouto only focused on your cries. Your head fell back against the brick wall and your face lulled to the side and looked at him. Your (e/c) orbs dull and lazy, pleading and full of fear.

Todoroki's feet finally moved as he sprinted towards you, pushing the old man out of the way. His arms scooped you from the wall and into his chest, your head falling back as you were going in and out of consciousness, falling limp in his hold.

"I think he tried to drug her, to make her go with him but she fought. He cut her while I was running for him but I couldn’t hold him."

Shouto's heart was pounding and he pressed his ear to your chest, trying to listen to your heartbeat and breathing. It was slowing but it wasn't stopping. You struggled to keep yourself up and your eyes open.

"(Y/N), I'm here, just hold on and don't lose my voice, okay? Please say something to let me know you understand!"

He stood from his crouched position, cradling you in his arms bridal style and shaking you lightly, repeating his words back to you. 

"Dammit (Y/N), you gotta answer me, please!"

Your tired head rested on his chest and your fingers loosely gripped his shirt as you looked up into his eyes and tried to smile and put on that dumb front that you were fine.

"Sh-Shouto ..." you breathed out as you made a fist and lightly knocked on his chest twice.

[aislinceivun]

Not super relevant just yet, but I thought I’d put out a feeler.

I don’t have high hopes, given the volume and the… hmm, shall we say, niche pairing, but. Does anyone feel like selling their soul beta reading an absolute beast of a DekuMight fic? If so, please DM me.

Currently sitting at 10/23 chapters, 145k. (You thought I was kidding about the volume? I wasn’t. I’ve been tackling this monster for over a year and the end is still far away.) I’m devoting December to do a first round of edits, and then the first half will theoretically be ready for proofing.

Summary, content warnings – do read them, this has some heavy stuff! – and excerpts under the cut.

I’m an ESL writer so I always feel more confident when a native speaker checks my SPaG. (That said, I’m going to start publishing this eventually whether someone volunteers or not :D)

Thanks!

Relationship: Midoriya Izuku/Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Midoriya Izuku & Todoroki Shouto

Tags: Underage, Drama, Angst, Romance, Slow Burn, Age Difference, Cross-Generation Relationship, Student-Teacher Relationship, Awkward Crush, Pining, Dubious Morality, Bad and Questionable Decisions, Touch-Starved, Guilt, Self-Esteem Issues, Mental Health Issues, Body Dysmorphia, Medical Conditions, Chronic Illness, Inko is a Badass Mom, Endeavor’s A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Friendship, Queerplatonic Relationship, Missing Scenes, Canon Compliant until the end of the Remedial Course Arc, (just y’know - with romance and smutty bits), Adolescent Sexuality, Sexual Tension, Awkward Sexual Situations, First Time, Dom/Sub Undertones, Dubious Consent as in: Izuku is 16 when he starts having a sex life, he may or may not be below the age of consent in your eyes depending on where you’re from, and Toshinori is pushed far beyond his comfort zone, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat

Summary:

If Izuku hadn’t fallen in love, they would still orbit around each other. They would have gone on growing closer as mentor and protégé, confidants, friends; the easy bond between them brimming with trust, care and devotion. With time, Izuku might have come to view him as a parental figure.

But Izuku fell in love.

And so he tugs on that bond – not to pull him in by force, but to show him that he is wanted.

The bond twists out of shape, and the earth keeps turning anyway.

--------------------

Experts from various chapters that I think show their dynamic and the general feel of the story pretty well:

“See, this kind of thinking is exactly why I fiercely believe that you’ll be a much better Hero than I ever was.” All Might smiles, and finally it’s something genuine and soft. “Fifteen years from now on, people won’t even remember All Might anymore, his deeds forgotten after the stunning brilliance that is his successor.”

Izuku shakes his head. “That’s not happening. You are a legend! People look up to you, respect you, love you! You’ve inspired entire generatio–”

“Ah, but it’s not really me they love. It’s the Hero I created. The Symbol of Peace, the Pillar of Hope… They have no idea ‘All Might’ is just a front for a pitiful man who has no idea what he’s doing most of the time and commits mistakes left and right.” He pointedly raises a brow. “Like not realizing his precious student is ready to self-destruct to make him proud, for example.”

“People would feel the same way about you even if they knew the truth,” Izuku insists, ignoring the quip. “Maybe they’d be shocked at first, but it would pass. I’m sure of it. And even if you’ve made mistakes, that doesn’t negate all the good you’ve done as a Hero. Saying ‘it’s not me, it’s the Hero I created’… that’s so stupid! There’s only one you! It’s not like– it’s not like you’ve tricked people!”

“I did trick them. I’ve never been completely honest, always presented a front. What they love is the idea of All Might – the idea of someone good and righteous and infallible. Not the sad, sick old man hiding behind it. And I can understand why. I mean…”  He gestures at himself with a smile that’s more like an embarrassed grimace. Izuku would claw it off his face if he could. “The real me is hardly the hope-inspiring beacon of light they expect the No. 1 Hero to be. One day soon, the truth will come out, and believe me, kid, no one will claim to love All Might after.”

Izuku is speechless. His throat is tight, his chest is hot… His core feels bruised.

He hates this. He hates, hates, hates it when All Might gets like this. A part of him wants to cry. Another wants to grab the man and shake him until he sees sense.

--------------------

It’s his fault, isn’t it. Surely, there had been signs. Red flags. Looking back, he can spot them now… But Toshinori was so delighted to have made such an intimate connection, so relieved to have someone accept him fully that he didn’t stop to think about the potential consequences. Someone his age shouldn’t have been so eager to become friends with a teenager, let alone one who thought of him as an idol. He should have realized earlier that what they had going on wasn’t proper.

Was he so desperate for companionship that he forced it on the boy? Was it his neediness that led Midoriya to warp their connection into something it’s not, something it cannot be?

--------------------

I love you so much, Izuku thinks with despair. Whenever I see you walk by in U.A., my throat constricts. At this point, I’ll need a heart transplant by the time I’m twenty because it’s constantly on the verge of bursting and that can’t be healthy.

The other day, I dreamt about a villain who had the ability to age people up or down. She used it for evil things – turning her enemies into fragile old people or helpless babies. I knew it was bad, but I approached her and begged her to age me up anyway, even at the cost of losing decades of my life. The scariest part of this is that even after I woke up, I wasn’t convinced I wouldn’t do the same in real life.

They say first loves rarely last. That they are sweet and innocent. But that can’t be right, because what I feel is harsh and painful, and I don’t see how it would be possible to feel more. If this monstrous thing in my chest is just a “fleeting, gentle first love”, then surely the all-encompassing true love people speak of would actually kill me?

I love you, and I wish I could show that without hurting you.

I wish. I wish. I wish. Getting to know you, receiving your trust and friendship, being allowed to study at U.A… I should be the happiest I’ve ever been. But I just keep wishing for what-ifs.

The one thing I don’t wish for is for these feelings to go away. Despite everything, I don’t regret being in love with you.

How nice it would be, if I could tell you these things out loud. If you’d be embarrassed and flattered and maybe just a little bit happy instead of fearful and worried.

Izuku swallows around the lump in his throat and doesn’t say a word.

--------------------

The beeping has him stressed out and sweating within seconds. Then the line clicks, and Toshinori stops breathing.

“Hey.”

He’s never heard Midoriya sound so small and shy. He’s always been larger than life, brighter than a supernova.

Toshinori swallows before confessing, “I don’t know what to do. How to handle this.”

A sigh on the other end of the line. “That makes two of us.”

--------------------

Alternate summary: troubled “crippling self-esteem issues, my old friend” area man and besotted “horny on main” teen try to figure their shit out across 300k or more, panic only for about 80% of that

[ohmytheon]

Karma in Retrograde (12)

title: Karma in Retrograde

summary: When Dabi is hit by a de-aging quirk, he’s turned back to a 16 year-old U.A. Gen Studies student with self-esteem and parent issues, a destructive quirk, and no memory of the last five years. To help the Dabi of the past, present, and future, he is placed with Class 1-A. There, they must all face the question of whether he can change or if his destiny is already set in stone.

– Chapter 12: Not all days at U.A. are crazy or jampacked. Some of them are surprisingly normal, filled with teasing and schoolwork.

Lanni notes: This will mark the first time that Misty has written the bulk of the chapter. I did the first scene and a few paragraphs in the next, but that's it. This is a real ass collaboration and it's been exciting. This also has some more, ah, slice of life scenes, if you will. This isn't going to be entirely angst! After all, this is Class A, after all. They have some silly and quiet moments in between dealing with villains - even de-aged ones. The discord has been a lot of fun these past two days while Misty and I cackled with our knowledge of what's to come. The song for this chapter is "Seasons Die One After Another" from Tokyo Ghoul: Re. I get a lot of Ryouta feels from Haise.

With apathy these eyes; they glow in the city lights I know I haven't done a thing but I still feel guilty...   It's as though, I'm alone, just living life as a bare shadow, And by now, I can't be sure, if I'm 'me' anymore

The sun rose too soon as far as Ryouta was concerned, but once Recovery Girl came in to use her quirk one last time to heal him completely, he had no reason to stay. It was a new day. He had a feeling that she’d only kept him overnight to give him a moment of respite. While it had irritated him at first, when he’d woken up some time in the middle of the night to the quiet sound of a fan buzzing in the corner, he had only felt relief. Had she healed him completely, he would’ve gone back to the dorms and had an assortment of questions lobbed at him.

Judging from the way Midoriya had reacted, the other students were likely to be at least curious and ready to hound him for how he felt at the most. No doubt Iida would want to talk to him some time today. He was taking his instructions to help Ryouta acclimate to the class very seriously. Getting blown up by someone in the class could put a damper on things.

No, Recovery Girl had thought one step ahead of him. She had given him the privacy that he so desperately needed and could not afford to have. There had probably been a teacher posted outside of the office while he was unconscious, but inside, he didn’t have to worry about people badgering him or trying to pry out how he felt. He was still trying to figure that one out. He didn’t need a bunch of teenagers hounding him out of both curiosity and concern.

He couldn’t avoid them any longer though. After thanking Recovery Girl, he took a hasty shower and then put on the U.A. uniform that Shouto had apparently brought over some time yesterday and went to class. He didn’t even have time for breakfast and his stomach ached for something hardy, but Recovery Girl had given him some fruit at least. He’d have to double down on lunch. It made him cringe, considering the limited amount of funds he’d been given for now, but there was no way he could make it the rest of the day without doing so. By the time he reached homeroom, he’d scarfed down everything and still felt hungry.

Taking a deep breath, Ryouta opened the door to the classroom, expecting the worst -- except only three people were in the room. Yaoyorozu, who Iida had explained was the vice class rep and number one in the class, the boy who somehow managed to come off as edgy in the uniform and with a bird head, and then the short purple blob boy. The three of them turned to see who had opened the door, all of them having various reactions. The guy with the bird head went back to his book; the purple kid visibly shrank in his seat.

Yaoyorozu, on the other hand, jumped to her feet, actually looking relieved, which caught him off guard. “We weren’t sure if you were going to make it back to class today!” She walked around her desk and towards him as he stepped inside and shut the door completely. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” Ryouta responded as amicably as he could muster. “Recovery Girl is as skilled as I remember her.”

“She’s done so much for U.A.,” Yaoyorozu said agreeably. “You must be tired though. Her quirk can take a lot out of a person.”

“Nothing about five meals and twenty hours of sleep won’t fix,” Ryouta quipped, going for witty. She eyed him, a hint of sympathy in her eyes. He’d missed the mark and probably looked worse off now. Ah, it was a good try. He was still getting the hang of this whole joking around thing. Making jokes with his classmates had never been his forte before. If anything, his sense of humor came off as either scathing or self-deprecating, which he had a feeling would either cause problems or pity, at least right now. He cleared his throat. “Where is everyone?”

“You’re early,” Yaoyorozu pointed out.

“Oh.” Ryouta hadn’t paid attention to the time. He’d just come straight here. He didn’t even have his books. Wow, he really was still out of it. He must’ve looked it too, hence why his attempted joke hadn’t landed.

Strangely, Yaoyorozu smiled. “That’s just like a hero course student. You bounced back really quick.”

He didn’t really have much of a choice. It wasn’t like Aizawa would let him hide in his dorm for another day and he was supposed to go over coursework with Iida later tonight. Besides, Ryouta didn’t want to do that. He had to face everyone. To be honest, he was afraid what seeing his quirk might have done to their opinions of him. It was one thing to be told that he was Dabi. It would be quite another to see actual, irrefutable proof. He was afraid that they would start thinking he was dangerous and would keep away from him. As loathe as he was to admit it, he kind of...liked having people at his side instead of always pushing them away.

“It’s nothing,” Ryouta settled on saying. “Pretty sure you all have suffered worse before.”

“Ask Midoriya to tell you some of his stories,” Yaoyorozu said. That made him think of the scars that he had seen on Midoriya’s right arm and Recovery Girl’s comment about his self-destructive behavior. Could it be that they faced similar issues with their quirks? Or was it just Midoriya’s nature? He seemed like the type of person who would throw himself headfirst into something without regards to himself. “I’ll call Todoroki and let him know to bring your stuff.”

With that settled, Ryouta went to his desk and sat down. The short purple boy had been watching him talk with Yaoyorozu, but hastily looked away again when Ryouta glanced his way. Whatever. He was too tired to be bothered about it. Instead, he folded his arms on top of the desk, rested his head on them, and closed his eyes. It would be good to rest a little before class.

He didn’t even realize that he’d fallen asleep until someone poked him in the arm and he startled awake, hands clenched into fists and ready to fight. He’d been dreaming about training with Endeavor. He would sometimes bring Ryouta out of unconsciousness by lighting a fire near his feet and making him fight without any time to recover. It was supposed to stop him from reacting blindly with his quirk and teach him to assess the situation first. Maybe it had worked a little, seeing as how, although he felt the urge to activate his quirk leap inside of him, he kept it down.

When Ryouta looked over, he found Uraraka standing at his side, holding a pink-padded finger up and cringing sheepishly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, but it looked like you were barely breathing and I didn’t want Todoroki to freak out when he got here.”

That...was probably a good idea. Ryouta had only seen Shouto panic a few times, back when he’d been much younger, and it had always made him feel uncomfortable. He nodded his head and rubbed his eyes as she moved to her desk. Looking around, he saw that the classroom was mostly filled. He hadn’t heard any of them come in or their talking. A few eyes darted away from him, telling him that he’d probably been a topic of conversation, especially since he’d been sleeping at his desk, but nothing hostile.

Even Bakugou, who was lounging back in his seat, didn’t look as murderous as normal. If anything, he looked thoughtful when the two of them connected eyes. No, that wasn’t the right word. Considering? Analytical? He didn’t look happy, but he looked like he was thinking about what he should do before trying to blow Ryouta up again. That had to be an improvement. Either that or things were about to get worse. It was hard to tell with someone who was as volatile as his quirk.

Shouto came in soon after that with Iida and Midoriya. The second his brother’s eyes landed on him, there was a rush of emotions that Ryouta barely had time to process before he’d shut them all away again. A side effect of training with Endeavor was learning how to hide how you felt. Although he had done the same thing for years, it was frustrating to be on the receiving end of it from Shouto now.

“Thanks for bringing my stuff,” Ryouta said as he took his backpack from Shouto. There was a truck load of other things that he should’ve said to his brother, but wouldn’t dare when they were in front of everyone. Even if they had been alone, there was a high chance he would’ve said the same thing.

“Are you okay?” Shouto asked. It was a simple question, but luckily, Ryouta was well-versed in loaded questions and equally talented at giving simple answers that had layers of different meanings. That was how communication in the Todoroki household was done, especially when their father had been around.

Ryouta allowed a very faint smile to cross his face and maintained eye contact. “Yeah, I’m good.”

It was enough to appease Shouto, who nodded once and then sat down. Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka gave each other questioning looks, like they weren’t quite sure what had happened, but they didn’t ask either. This was clearly something that was between the brothers.

There wouldn’t have been time to press for answers anyways since Aizawa appeared and started class without any hesitation. Maybe his eyes rested on Ryouta longer than everyone else, but that didn’t phase him. They probably had matching bags under their eyes today. He went over the results of the fights yesterday. All Might had graded them, but now it would be time to work on where they’d suffered.

To be honest, Ryouta drowned most of it out since a lot of it didn’t concern him. He’d ask Iida later. It would be a good idea to know the other students’ weaknesses in case he was pitted against them again, which, considering the nature of the hero course, he would. Still, he would have to approach that delicately. He didn’t want anyone to think he was trying to figure out holes in their defenses in order to do actual damage. Like a villain would.

One surprising thing of note that caused Ryouta to perk up was that All Might had given him and Kaminari more points than Bakugou and Sato’s team, which meant that they had technically won.

Whereas Bakugou wore a sore look on his face, Kaminari cheered in his seat. “Way to go, partner!” It really took Ryouta back. He had no idea how to respond to that. No one had ever called him that before. “Air five!” Kaminari held his palm up in the air and Ryouta awkwardly mirrored him, not knowing what else to do. He slowly dropped his hand as Kaminari swung around in his seat and grinned bright enough to blind everyone in the room. “In your face, Bakugou!”

“Can I continue?” Aizawa asked in a deadpan tone.

Kaminari turned back around to face the front of the class. “Oh, uh, yeah. My bad.”

Discomfort boiled in Ryouta’s gut. On one hand, he did not want to get roped in to what looked like Kaminari taunting Bakugou, seeing as how the guy hated him enough as it was. That discomfort was overridden by a strangely pleased feeling in his mind. He’d won. He had beat one of the top hero course students. It hadn’t been a total victory or anywhere near a conventional win, but he’d still done it.

Not worthy of the hero course, my ass, Ryouta thought viciously.

Maybe he could do this. Maybe he did belong here, as long as he was under the influence of the de-aging quirk. For the first time since coming to U.A., Ryouta felt a bubble of hope. It felt equally dangerous to hold, fragile as it was, but he would take it this time instead of popping it immediately. He wanted it.

*

The rest of the day went by in a blur. It was kind of boring, especially after the thrill and ridiculousness that had been yesterday. Besides struggling not to sleep through Present Mic’s English class, nothing big happened. It was just a regular school day. Even during their hero class, they simply reviewed their fights while All Might gave pointers and had them discuss certain events.

Shouto hadn’t done well in his fight. He’d gone overboard and he knew it. Was it because he’d witnessed Ryouta get injured and was distracted, or was it just something he needed to work on with his quirk? Shouto was strong. He could freeze a whole building and burn down the one next to it if he wanted to. Endeavor had rained them both but taught them differently. For Ryouta, it had been about control; for Shouto, it was about strength.

With the day over, all Ryouta wanted to do was go back to the dorms and rest. Besides being asked a few awkward questions during lunch, no one had really bothered him. He was entirely grateful. Every time someone came close to it, Iida would clear his throat. He must’ve talked with them about giving Ryouta time to adjust. There were plenty of awkward hiccups throughout the day, but nothing he couldn’t ignore. He was gifted in that.

Ryouta felt a glare boring into the side of his head the moment he stepped into the common room. Rather than immediately search for the source, he cast a glance at his brother. Shouto’s tenseness and expression, possibly a shade more guarded than it had been before, told him what he needed to know.

He was unsurprised to see Bakugou upon looking around the room. The pink girl, Ashido, and Kirishima were also present, the former sprawled across an armchair with her feet dangling over one side and her head the other while the latter sat on a couch with his volatile friend, a textbook propped open in front of them. All three were looking at him, but only Bakugou’s gaze held an angry, accusational intensity. The first two looked more like they were waiting to see if they had to jump in and diffuse a bomb.

It was probably too much to hope that their presence would be enough to keep Bakugou from going off. Having classmates around hadn’t stopped him before and, regardless of any lectures he may or may not have received, he didn’t doubt that he only had more bones to pick with him after the hero lesson. He had already proven that he wouldn’t leave Ryouta be if he was quiet. That meant that speaking up first would probably be the best way to take control of the situation. If it also scratched the agitating itch that came from sitting back and trying to let the words roll off him, that was just a bonus.

“Do you need something?” Ryouta began to cross his arms, but aborted the defensive movement as soon as he caught it.

“Just thinkin’,” Bakugou said in a rough grumble. It was a far from friendly, but to Ryouta, it sounded like he was making an attempt to be less aggressive.

Ryouta couldn’t help but blink in surprise. As aggravating as the situation with Bakugou was, he didn’t expect to make progress so fast, if at all. By the sound of it, his excuses for treating him the way he was were valid. Ryouta could admit that much. He had to admit that much. The unexpected turn of events dampened his impulse to make a snide remark and made it easy to settle for raising an eyebrow.

“Your hair’s lighter than Icy Hot’s,” Bakugou elaborated.

At that, Ryouta slowly raised a hand to his head, only to drop it as soon as his fingers brushed against his hair. What did his hair have to do anything? He looked over at Shouto and saw that he had a thoughtful look on his face. “I remember it being darker,” his brother said. A feeling of dread formed in Ryouta’s stomach, although he couldn’t tell why.

“So it’s because of his quirk?” Bakugou probed.

“No,” Shouto said. “It’s gotten lighter over time.”

Oh. The realization hit him a second too late.

A wide, vindictive grin crawled across Bakugou’s face. “So what you’re saying is” - he pointed a condemning finger at Ryouta - “Dabi’s hair is turning pink.”

“No, it’s not,” Ryouta immediately said.

“How would you know?” Smugness was all but radiating off of Bakugou. In that moment, Ryouta felt like a complete and utter idiot. Bakugou wasn’t giving up on his aggressing at all. He was just changing his tactics a little. “If you really can’t remember, you have no way of knowing.”

“I know that my hair’s not going to turn pink,” Ryouta ground out. He knew that it was in his best interest not to respond. However, that could be seen as agreeing with or acknowledging the possibility of his prediction, which he absolutely refused to do.

Bakugou laughed. “I bet it is.” His lips curled into a sneer. “I should’ve known you were hiding something embarrassing under that bad dye job, Dabi.”

Warmth flooded his cheeks. Fuck. He began to open his mouth, only to feel someone touch his elbow before he could say anything. Beside him, Shouto, having realized that he’d sprung a trap, was wearing an expression of utter guilt. “Don’t,” he murmured. “It’s not worth it.”

Ryouta did pause at that. Although it was Shouto who revealed that damning detail, he didn’t want him to feel bad about it. There was something else that had to be considered though.

“Easy for you to say,” he mumbled. “He’s not accusing you of having pink hair.”

He was not ready to sacrifice the remains of his dignity.

Another voice cut through the hubbub. “Hey! What’s wrong with pink?” At some point, Ashido had sat up and was now leveling Bakugou with an accusatory glower.

“It’s fine on you, but it’ll just be lame on Dabi,” Bakugou said. He looked back at Ryouta with a smug grin. “Let me guess: the big bad pastel villain didn’t make enough people cower in fear?”

Ryouta grit his teeth. He knew that Bakugou was trying to rile him up. All it did was make the agitation rolling in his gut that much worse. A hundred responses raced through his mind, aching to cut to the heart of the taunt. Instead, he limited himself to repeating, “It’s not turning pink!”

At the same time, Ashido asked, “Why would it be lame? It’s a great color!”

Bakugou scoffed at Ryouta. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, but I think we both know the truth.”

Kirishima had been glancing between the two boys like someone watching a vicious match of ping-pong. Before someone else could insert their two cents, he declared, “I think pink can be plenty manly! It’s all how you rock it.” He offered a hopeful grin, as if it would add strength to his desperate attempt at peacemaking.

Right on his heels, Shouto added, “There’s no reason to think that will happen.”

“You just said his hair was getting lighter!” Bakugou exclaimed.

Shouto pursed his lips. “Our mother’s hair is white.”

That got a snort from Bakugou. “So instead of looking like a clown, he’ll look like an old man. Yeah, I can see how that’s better.”

“Nothing weird’s going to happen to my hair!” Ryouta shouted. It felt like he was yelling into a void. The worst part was that he didn’t even know if he was telling the truth. His hair had been a lot darker when he was younger, now that he thought about it. Was it possible that he grew up to be a villain and a cotton-candy-haired loser?

“If it does, I don’t think it would look bad on you,” Ashido said. She laid her hands over her heart and sighed wistfully. “We’d make the cutest pinkest couple ever.”

Ryouta choked on his own spit. His only respite was that Bakugou had a similar reaction. Bakugou was, however, faster to recover than he was. “Don’t even joke about that!” he cried out. The sound of a muffled chuckle made him turn his glare to Kirishima, who wasn’t phased. Likewise, Ashido appeared to be without regrets.

“Then don’t mock an entire hair color,” she shot back.

Meanwhile, Shouto had moved to pat Ryouta on the back. He shot his brother a desperate look, hoping for some enlightenment as to what had just happened. All he received was an equally befuddled shrug.

“You know I didn’t mean you,” Bakugou complained.

Ashido crossed her arms. “You mock one of us; you mock us all.”

Kirishima put his hand on Bakugou’s shoulder before he could say anything else and whispered something to him, to which he responded in a low, urgent tone. Ryouta’s glaze flickered over to them for a moment before glancing at Ashida, feeling warmth creep up his neck and immediately looking away from her, and finally resting upon his brother once more. He had dropped his hand and was now looking at him as if he thought hemight have answers.

Boy, was Shouto ever in for a big fucking disappointment.

The sound of footsteps promptly drew his gaze back toward Bakugou’s group. Ashido was approaching. Upon locking eyes with him, she gave a tiny smile and wave. “Hey, Todoroki-”

“Ah.” Ryouta fought not to let anyone see how his skin threatened to crawl at being called that name. “Just Ryouta is fine.” He tilted his head toward Shouto by way of explanation. The desire to avoid confusion was something that anyone could understand.

Ashido perked up. “Alright! In that case, you can call me Mina.” The tickle in the back of his throat was back. It took an absurd amount of self-control not to glance at Shouto again. “I just wanted to tell you not to let Bakugou bother you too much,” she continued. “I know he can be…a lot.” She frowned pensively. “But once you get to know him, he’s kinda like a porcupine!”

That made Ryouta raise an eyebrow. “Aren’t porcupines those American animals that stab people?”

“Yep!” she chirped. “But they can also be really sweet. I’ll have to show you videos sometime.”

“Oh.” Ryouta fell silent for couple seconds, but those seconds were enough for the weight of an awkward silence, or rather, the fear of an awkward silence, to begin pushing down on his chest. “It’s still impressive how you keep standing up to him,” he blurted out. “I know you’re friends, but it can’t be easy.” Maybe their friendship made it even less easy. Maybe that was a part of their friendship. Frankly, he wouldn’t know.

The corners of her eyes crinkled a little. “Thanks!” Something about the way she said it made it feel like it wasn’t something she was used to having people point out. Did that mean that this was normal ? Somehow, the concept was even more dramatic.

“Seriously though, Ryouta, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Even if your hair turns pink…” Mina paused long enough to reach up and tug on one of her pink locks. “It’s a great color, so there’s no reason to be ashamed. I think it’d look good on you!”

It didn’t have quite the effect she probably wanted. The self-consciousness was still there, prompting him to reach up and run a hand through his hair again. Still, he appreciated the sentiment. “Thanks.” He forced a brief smile before glancing at the other occupants of the room. Bakugou was scowling like a thunderstorm while Kirishima whispered something to him.

A porcupine, huh?

Ryouta didn’t feel the rigors of the day come crashing down on him so much as feel himself begin to sink beneath their steadily rising tide. “I have to go,” he announced to the room in general. He caught Shouto’s eye as he turned to leave, a shadow of concern flashing across his face. It made Ryouta hesitate, his mind flashing back to what Midoriya had said in Recovery Girl’s office. It felt like he should say something more, but he didn’t know what. In the end, he offered a tiny nod before continuing on.

He didn’t let himself relax until he reached his room. Once he did, he deflated like a balloon. A lack of personal belongings meant that there wasn’t much to do other than sleep or lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, but he was perfectly fine with that. He felt like it could occupy him for hours at the moment.

Wearily, Ryouta walked over to his bed backwards onto it, where he stared at the ceiling and allowed himself to slowly drift into a weak, dreamless sleep.

He didn’t know how long it lasted, but while it certainly wasn’t long, it felt even shorter.

Ryouta jerked upright at the sudden sound of a knock on his door. He experienced a moment of semi-alarmed confusion before his memory caught up with him and he found himself holding in a curse. Of course. Ilda was supposed to come over to talk to him about his coursework or…something like that. He had known to expect him. Just how badly had he lost track of time?

He tried not to look too flustered as he hurried over to open the door. As expected, Iida stood on the other side, although Ryouta’s attempts to keep a calm expression must not have worked, because his lips immediately fell into a small frown. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Ryouta said. His gaze wandered down to the bag clasped on one of Iida’s fists. Through the open top of it he could make out the forms of a few binders and textbooks. “Well, I guess that depends on how much I need to fill out,” he added. Although it was mostly a dry attempt to insert humor into the situation, there was a bit of genuine dismay behind it. That was a lot more than he was expecting and he was tired despite the slow day today. He would put up with it, but he always did like to complain a little.

No matter how much he disliked homework, he was willing to face whatever U.A. wanted to throw at him if it got him a step closer to his goal.

Except nothing would come of it in the end. At some point in a past he didn’t remember, he had done the one thing worse than fail: he had thrown his chance away. This was only a desperate attempt to give him a taste of what he could’ve had.

Iida’s brow twitched in a way that almost made it possible to see the thoughts overflowing in his head. “It may look like a lot, but I assure you, it is all necessary.” He started out confident in that genuine but stern way of his. However, he faltered almost immediately after, only to start back up in a burst of apologeticness so rapid that his words seemed to almost melt into each other. “We don’t want to rush or overburden you though. You’ve already been through a lot in a short time and I know you must still be tired from Recovery Girl’s quirk and the fight. If it’s too much, we can just do a little bit today and-”

“-It’s fine,” Ryouta interrupted. “I was just messing with you.”

He forced a smile as he stepped aside in a silent invitation for him to enter the room. The idea had been to keep things from starting to feel too awkward, not to break the guy.

Iida’s free hand rose into the beginnings of a swooping motion that he aborted midway in favor of covering his mouth with a fist. He cleared his throat before saying, “Alright then, if you’re sure.” This was accompanied by a look that implored him to tell him if he was anything less than absolutely sure.

It became a little harder to maintain his smile as his stomach seemed to twist uncomfortably. He should have been more careful about what he said. Now Iida probably thought that he was incapable of getting through the pile of coursework. A spark of indignity threatened to flare at the notion, only to be immediately smothered by the knowledge that he couldn’t blame him for making the assumption. What else was he supposed to think about someone who dropped out of high school and became a villain? He only had himself to blame for the discomfort (and so much more).

“I’m sure,” Ryouta repeated.

What followed was a moment of pure awkwardness as they stood silently in the doorway, both knowing what should happen next but unsure of how to proceed, as if speech or movement might set off some kind of horrible trap. The unwanted standoff was broken by Iida taking a hesitant step forward. Ryouta allowed his smile to fall after he turned around and to lead them further into the room, much to the relief of his facial muscles. That was about the only simple and straightforward thing he felt at the moment. The sound of the hero student’s footsteps behind him was both somewhat comforting and a source of further stomach-churning anxiety.

A tiny frown pulled at his lips as his eyes roamed his room. It was clean, given that there was hardly anything in it, but it was also lacking any furniture aside from a bed so far. Something about inviting Iida to sit on the bed with him felt too intimate, like he was attempting to lay claim to a friendship that he hadn’t ( couldn’t ) earned, but at the same time, asking him to sit on the floor felt rude. Granted, being polite wasn’t exactly his forte, but it was pretty damn important that he stay on his best behavior, all things considered.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he once again took note of the irrefutable fact that, in an awkward situation, a second could drag on for a long time.

Before he could start to seriously consider if standing around awkwardly might be the best option, Iida took charge of the situation by setting his bag on the ground and settling down beside it. Ryouta held back a sigh of relief as he moved to sit across from him. “Sorry there isn’t anywhere to sit,” he said. “I haven’t figured that stuff out yet.” Even with U.A. providing some funding, there just hadn’t been time. He left that out out of the concern that it might come off as a complaint. There was no room for him to complain about anything .

Thankfully, Iida responded with a brisk nod and an abortive hand gesture. “There is no need to apologize. I assumed as much.”

Ryouta returned the nod and began to smile, only to find himself struggling to keep the expression from turning into a grimace as Iida began to unload his bag. Fuck. He really had been kidding, but that was a lot of books. And binders. Sheets. Pencils.

I can handle it, he forcefully reminded himself. It’s gotta be easier than dodging explosions to the face .

A small boredom-induced headache wasn’t worth making Iida worry and ask if he could handle it again. He abandoned the attempt at smiling in favor of a neutral look before the class representative could look back up and see his apprehension.

Even without catching his slip-up, Iida apparently felt the need to launch into another round of reassurance. “It isn’t as much as it looks like,” he said. “Most of this is for reference and review. What I’ll need you to do is show me what you remember being the most recent and answer a few questions.” He straightened out a few worksheets in a doubtlessly pre-organized pile and pulled a notebook and pencil into his lap. “I will be taking notes so I don’t forget anything you say.”

Even put that way, it sounded like a tedious chore, although he wasn’t about to say that. Ryouta just offered a small nod and pulled the nearest hard-covered book toward him to use as a writing surface.

He was quickly proven correct in his assumption that it would be tedious. Not only that, but for the most part, it was also very easy. His mind began to drift away from the conversation on chapters and tests and the sound of pencils scratching against paper and toward the individual he was speaking with. Iida didn’t seem bored at all. That may have been because he was the sort of person to genuinely enjoy paperwork, but Ryouta thought there was more to it than that. He was engaged and clearly applying more thought than the work itself could possibly demand.

There was the jerky stiffness of someone trying too hard, perhaps a little bit of apprehension as well, but he was making an effort in his interactions with him. He was trying to accomplish some sort of goal, yet try as he might, Ryouta couldn’t think of anything Iida stood to gain by interacting with him. Worse yet, nothing about him suggested that he had some sort of ulterior motive.

Ryouta was intimately familiar with ulterior motives. He knew how people like that felt - how they thought. Somehow, it felt like Tenya Iida was being entirely genuine.

He was doubtlessly making himself uncomfortable by spending time with someone who was fated to turn into something awful and Ryouta couldn’t think of a reason why other than the most impossible one of all: that Iida was doing it out of the goodness of his heart.

The notion felt absolutely alien to Ryouta. There hadn’t been anyone like that around five years ago - or yesterday, depending on the perspective. If there had been, he wouldn’t have turned into a villain. At least, he didn’t think he would have. His confidence faltered only seconds after the thought crossed his mind. (He’d never thought he would turn into a villain at all.) He didn’t think there had been people like Iida around, but if he had only heard about him or spoken with him for a few minutes, would he have actually believed that Iida was genuine? Even as the focus of his intensity, there was still a part of him that had doubts.

He brushed the train of thought away like drops of water off a duck’s feathers. Not only was it unlikely, but it didn’t matter. Even if people like Iida had been around, an almost laughable notion in and of itself, what was done was done. He had become a villain and was going to become one again no matter how much he hated it. Iida could be the most earnest person in the world and it wouldn’t matter because he was just too late. He was making himself suffer for no reason at all.

“...Ryouta?” The sound of his name snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see a concerned look on Iida’s face. Fuck. Between that and his tone of voice, this probably wasn’t the first time he’d asked.

“Sorry, got lost in thought,” Ryouta said.

Iida’s frown deepened. “Are you sure everything’s alright?”

“Yeah.” Despite Ryouta’s attempts to keep his gaze and voice level, it wouldn’t have surprised him if Iida could see the lie for what it was. He could hear the strain in his own voice. Would the other boy continue to press the issue? He seemed like the type to try to avoid making anyone uncomfortable, but at the same time, it had already been made clear that he was one of those helpful types. Continuing to shrug it off would probably only make him that much more persistent.

Ryouta lifted a hand to rub at the back of his neck. “It’s just… You don’t have to do this: be all nice to me.” He looked down at the floor at he found himself unable to meet Iida’s gaze. Speaking wasn’t just uncomfortable; he found himself feeling more and more ashamed with each word that left his mouth. Ashamed for expressing something that came dangerously close to insecurity. To weakness . Ashamed of the villain that he would become. Of the dark cloud he had caused to linger heavily over the heads of class 1-A. “I know Aizawa asked you to help, but you don’t have to be…”   Kind. Friendly. “You don’t have to pretend.”

The concern on Iida’s face was replaced by something much closer to dismay. “We’ve been over this,” he said.

“I know, but-” Ryouta dropped his hand into his lap and clenched his jaw. “That’s not… I don’t want you to force yourselves to pretend for my sake. You don’t owe me anything.”

Iida pursed his lips. “That doesn’t matter. It is the duty of-”

“-But what about what you deserve?” Ryouta immediately felt a burst of shame for the interruption, but he was unable to keep himself from carrying on. “You shouldn’t have to put up with this. I don’t know many details about what Dabi did, but the attack alone gives you the right to hate me, quirk or not! Even if I’m not him now, I’m…” He was going to turn back. These kids could be as optimistic as they wanted, but it didn’t change the reality of the situation. He was going to turn back into a villain who had tried to hurt them and they were being nice to him. “I don’t want you to make yourself uncomfortable for my sake. It’s not right.”

A heavy silence filled the room. He knew that he should look up at Iida - that he was a coward for not looking - but he didn’t dare. Ryouta focused on staring at the ground instead, feeling the nervous tightness in his chest, the phantom chill washing over his skin, anything that wasn’t Iida or how he’d just fucked up.

The stand-still was brought to a stop with a simple, “I see.” Iida’s voice was clearly meant to be calm, but it was too stiff and a little too emotional to pull it off. It was what made Ryouta finally force himself to look up. Despite being interrupted by a small outburst, he didn’t look angry at all. He was clearly displeased and somewhat uncomfortable, but more than anything, he looked saddened. Pitying? Indignity began to flare up within him, only for him to force it back down before it could get very far. It may have been a little harder if Iida didn’t choose that moment to continue.

“You aren’t wrong,” Iida said, a little more slowly than his normal breakneck pace. The confirmation stung more than Ryouta thought it had any right to. “Everyone in class 1-A is within their rights to be upset even with the circumstances surrounding you - some of them are - but even if it’s not entirely wrong, I- we want to be better than that.” Iida squared his shoulders and his expression melted into one of raw determination. He pointed at Ryouta. “I’m not doing this just because Aizawa asked me or for your sake, but my own as well! Not only is this is a unique opportunity, but you are not Dabi yet. You…never should have become him. This goes beyond U.A. trying to rectify a mistake or the duty of a hero. If I treated you poorly or didn’t try to do something - to help you as well as Aizawa and my classmates - I…don’t think I would ever forgive myself, even if it is hard at first. I know that I don’t have to do this, but I want to.”

The gears in Ryouta’s head stopped turning and dropped down to his throat where they morphed into an immovable lump. He couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth, let alone say anything. What could he possibly say to something like that? Quite frankly, he wasn’t even sure an acceptable response existed.

Ryouta forced himself to swallow. Although the action didn’t cause any brilliant prose to manifest in his head, he forced himself to speak. Allowing the silence to drag on for too long sounded like something that would distress Iida, who absolutely did not deserve it. He was already forcing himself through his discomfort because he would feel guilty if he wasn’t kind to him. ( Why? ) “Oh,” he murmured. “I…don’t know what to say.” It was the awkward, unpolished, likely ungrateful truth, but at least it was something .

“You don’t have to say anything,” Iida said. “I merely thought it might be good for you to know since you’re feeling that way.”

“Heh.” Ryouta placed his hands in his lap and looked down at them. “Thanks.” That wasn’t enough. “Y’know, a selfish person wouldn’t feel guilty about something like that.”

That felt like it may have been too much. His insides twitched uncomfortably with the knowledge that there was now someone who knew a little more about what he thought and felt, like a book to be cracked open, read, and discarded.

Attempting to lock the discomfort away for the time being, he glanced back up in time to see Iida manage a thin-lipped, bittersweet smile. “Thank you,” he said, “but I will still strive to do better.” It looked like he wanted to say more, but a shadow of something briefly flickered across his face before he apparently thought better of it. Ryouta couldn’t help but think that it looked an awful lot like apprehension. Concern. Doubt .

Once again, Ryouta didn’t know what to say. An apology? There was no point when he didn’t know what he was apologizing for and Iida had already made his stance clear. He could ask what was wrong, but he was certain that he wouldn’t get an answer. The combination of Iida’s kindness and his own flawed social skills had landed them in a seemingly inescapable cycle of discomfort.

Before he could try (and fail) to force some degree of ease into the situation again , Iida piped up, “I know you said you can do it all tonight, but I think we should stop for now.” A spark of defensiveness immediately flared in Ryouta. A frown began to pull at his lips, which Iida must have noticed, for he immediately added, “You didn’t do anything! I would have suggested it anyway. It is not intended as a slight to yourself or your abilities either. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should . You’ve been through a lot over the past few days and I think it’s important that you get some extra rest.” He paused for a moment to assess him, making a small, concerned frown before he started up again. “You’re clearly tired. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t be after what you’ve gone through in the past few days.”

The way his words all but ran into each other as he scrambled to make his point while trying not to offend him might have been funny if he weren’t right. There was no denying it at this point. People didn’t zone off in the middle of conversations if they weren’t at least somewhat tired, emotionally if not physically. His first impulse was to force himself through it, as he had many times before, but it was clear that Iida wasn’t going to let that happen. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. If he were in a better condition, the conversation may not have gone the way it had.

It felt like admitting defeat nonetheless. Then again, wasn’t that what this whole thing was? No matter what happened while he was under the effects of the de-aging quirk, his destiny was predetermined. Thanks to Dabi, his entire future was worse than lost. It only made sense that the trend would continue.

“I mean, if you really want to, we can continue.” Iida’s voice was rife with barely-contained nervousness. His concern for Ryouta’s wellbeing and desire not to upset him had to have been clashing rather unpleasantly.

“No, you’re right,” he reluctantly admitted. “We can finish…whatever time works for you.”

Iida’s gaze felt like it was boring into his soul. “Maybe after class tomorrow,” he eventually said. “For now, I think we should take it each day at a time.” He offered an encouraging smile. Ryouta attempted to return it as he helped him gather up the supplies.

When Iida closed the door behind him, the weight on Ryouta’s shoulders shifted, but did not leave completely. He had a feeling he’d be carrying it for a while.

@mistystarshine notes: Have a lengthy, somewhat directionless, admittedly a little cracky, chapter! There's nothing in canon to suggest that pink haired Dabi is actually going to be a thing, but it's a possibility and the temptation was too dang strong to ignore. Despite having written a lot of this chapter, I don't have much to say note-wise. That might be because I'm writing this at 6:45 A.M. while running on two hours of sleep. As such, I encourage you to ask any questions you may have! Let me know what you think! I'll do my beat to get back to you and am honestly dying to hear what you think.

[professionally-unprofessional]

may i have some angst for shouto todoroki where his so/crush went missing and was auctioned off as a slave years back and he finally found her only to see the the bad condition physical & mentally she is in. endeavor disapproves him wasting time on her to get her better. maybe a semi happy or happy ending

You absolutely may anon. Thank you very much for requesting! I really appreciate it! I hope this is okay. I never feel secure with any of my oneshots but I feel especially shaky with this one. I just hope it’s enjoyable and that it was what you wanted. I sure tried though. I hope you like it.

Todoroki woke with a start and, for a moment, stared at the Japanese-style room of his parent’s home blankly. He’d sat up rather abruptly and his breathing was uneven as his chest heaved while the panic began to ebb and fade away. His shuddering breaths crystallised in front of him, bringing his attention to the fact that his right side was covered in little shards of frost. He’d even broken out in a cold sweat. Taking another breath to calm himself down, he rose his hands to his face and proceeded to try and steady his breathing. It was a dream. Well, a nightmare to be more specific. It was fine now though. He knew that everything was alright; that it was all okay. Yet he still couldn’t shake the unease in the pit of his stomach that it wasn’t.

That somehow, you’d slipped away.

Again.

As he lay back down and tried to push down the unease, he felt the embers of the past rising to the surface. It was the same as when he’d fought Midoriya back in the first-year sports festival - somehow it was all coming up to the surface with a small push.

No matter how stoic or strong he was on the outside, Todoroki was still only human which meant that late night thoughts were something that happened every so often.

They’d been happening more frequently recently as well.

It was probably thanks to you.

Wow the sports-festival. That had been before he’d even lost you. You’d been an aspiring hero along with everyone else at UA. At some point over the first couple of months, the bi-coloured student had grown to be rather fond of you. You’d offered him a wonderful friendship and had been a loyal and trustworthy companion. Not to mention that slowly, he’d grown to love you as more than as just a friend.

However, with Endeavour the way he was, Todoroki felt torn about if he should express how he felt. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to have to handle the reaction that was sure to come when the pro realised his ‘creation’ had a partner. No, it was because he didn’t want you to have to see or deal with it.

Despite his reservations, you eventually came to understand his family situation and everything that came with it. You helped him through stressful times like the sports festival when Endeavour had shown and when he’d used his left side in the fight against Midoriya. When he hadn’t used it against Bakugou as well.

Then there’d been the strain of the Hosu incident. How Iida had been hurt in the fight against the Hero Killer. In the whirlwind of the chaos of it all… He’d momentarily stopped wondering about you. It was only when everyone got back that he realised you were absent.

At first, there was no news. There was just… nothing. It was as though you’d vanished and no one had even noticed. Well, your classmates noticed and queried your absence, but there were never any answers.

After a long period of looking into it, he finally found what the hero world was trying to cover up. The hero agency you’d been doing your internship at had been tipped off about a group which were heavily involved in the drug trade. What they’d found was far worse. The underground group weren’t just dealing drugs.

They were dealing people too.

The members who were acting as bodyguards for the deals were strong. According to what he’d found, none of the three pros and two interns had been gifted with the types of quirks to fight the villains effectively. A villain of smoke and gasses had supposedly knocked the party out. When the final pro had come to, the site was empty and the villains were gone.

So were the rest of the hero party too.

Efforts to track where any of the individuals went were nearly impossible. It was also becoming known that even people with quirks could be turned into slaves with various illegal substances sold on the black markets - things that could suppress free will or cause a quirk to vanish entirely for periods of time.

Not to mention the possibility of mind-control quirks.

Todoroki sighed and stood. He didn’t want to disturb you, but he couldn’t handle this. Standing, he padded over to the sliding door but hesitated once he was there. It was strange. It was so, so strange. He usually felt so calm and collected, but whenever it was you… this happened. This panic rose up.

As he slid the door opened, it revealed your form. Instead of sleeping on the futon as he’d expected, you were sat on it. He froze up at how you were. You were curled up in a tight ball and seemed to be trembling slightly. You hadn’t heard him yet, or if you had then it hadn’t registered.

“(Name)-san?” He called softly, hoping that he wouldn’t spook you.

As you turned, your eyes were wide with fear and panic and for a moment he almost felt as though the world had opened up and swallowed him. That frantic expression… He recognised it.

You were shaking and your eyes were wide and filled with so many different emotions. You were in a bad state. He knew that.

That didn’t matter. You meant the world to him. Nothing would change that.

So he knelt down beside you. Despite his past, he wasn’t afraid of you. He wouldn’t be. Even though he knew first hand what people who were unstable could do, he knew that you wouldn’t hurt him. No matter what state you were in.

His gaze was steady as he looked to you, but inside he was so unsure. He just needed to know if he was doing the right thing. Was this what you needed?

Slowly, the panic settled down as you came to realise who he was and that he was not going to hurt you. He wasn’t going to give you orders or punish you.

He was your friend. It was perfectly fine to trust him.

As you’d slept you’d forgotten something crucial. As those memories haunted your dreams, torturing your state, you had forgotten that it was over. You were finished with that life. You were here now and you were safe. You were not the same teenager who was thrown into servitude unwillingly. No, you were a young adult now with Todoroki and slowly, you’d reach towards and brighter future.

“Todo-kun…”

“It’s alright. You’re not going back to that place.” He murmured, slowly opening his arms slightly. He might not have been the greatest with people. He knew this - he missed jokes, couldn’t really flirt and was certainly not a social butterfly… but things were different with you.

When it came to you, he noticed things. At that moment, he could sense that you needed something to hold onto, so he offered up a small, inviting smile and allowed you to move forward and engulf him into a hug. Somehow, you did tell him what you needed. It was never in so many words. Maybe it had been in the past, but not now.

It didn’t matter how he knew. All he knew was that you needed a rock - something solid in your life right now to attach yourself to just to hold on for a while as you readjusted back to a regular, free life.

“Thank you…”

Once you had quietened down and gotten back to sleep, Todoroki sat beside the futon for a while. You were okay. Sometimes you got a bit shaky. It was to be expected. The things you had likely been through would likely take time to unravel.

Slowly, he hoped the scars would fade. The mental, emotional scars and the physical ones. He’d stand beside you for as long as you needed him. Some part of him hoped that you’d let him stay even afterwards too. He’d never take advantage of your vulnerability either. Yet if you let him stay once you had overcome the worst of it, he’d be overjoyed.

After a while, he managed to find the strength to get back up and back to bed. He woke before you did and checked on you quietly again. It was so strange. When did he get to be so worried over you? He always cared for his friends and he’d been glad he’d made it to Midoriya and Iida back in Hosu. Yet it was different for you. It wasn’t just caring about your wellbeing. It was something more which he didn’t fully understand.

After you’d vanished, he hadn’t had a crush in those three years. Not once. Somehow he always found his thoughts going back to you. Perhaps it was because you’d given him so much.

Todoroki looked up from the paperwork as his phone began buzzing. It very late. He frowned slightly. Who on earth could be calling at such a time? The entire world was almost asleep and he was off duty.

He decided not to chance leaving just in case it was important for some reason. The young hero cursed himself for thinking of you. Every time he got a call out of the blue he silently hoped it would be someone saying they’d found you.

“Hello?”

“Todo-kun?”

He froze up. No way… There was only one person who called him that. Only one person who had ever called him that. It couldn’t be. You’d been gone for nearly three years.

“(Name)-san?”

He heard a choked sob and he felt his strong exterior begin to crack.

“Where are you?”

“A pay phone. I think it’s south Yokohama.”

South Yokohama? He was almost tempted to wonder how on earth you’d wound up there. Then again, you’d been missing for almost three years now. A lot could happen in that time. He quickly jotted down what you’d said.

Everything was critically important.

He had to get you back. He could not mess up this chance.

“Are you alright, (Name)-san? Are you hurt?”

“N-no…” You took a shuddering breath. “Well, not really. I… Yeah. I’ve got minor injuries and I’m a tad scruffy, but there’s nothing serious. I’m just exhausted.”

He knew he couldn’t reach you right then and there so he’d have to do whatever he could to ensure your safety from where he was. “Are you being pursued?”

Your breath hitched and he hated how it sounded. “I-I don’t think so.” The tremble in your voice was nearly unbearable. He didn’t want to ask it. He didn’t want to cause you more pain but he had to make sure of these things.

“Todo-kun…” You sounded so vulnerable; so scared. “Please help me get home. I didn’t know who else to call.”

You’d trusted him. Above everyone else. Above the hero offices, you could have tried to reach. He knew you wouldn’t have much if anything on you which would make reaching anyone rather difficult. Revealing what your situation was could prove to be dangerous if it was to the wrong person.

“Listen (name)-san. I’m going to have to hang up to get some help for you. Is that okay?”

You paused for a moment, thinking it over before he could sense a small nod. “Alright.”

He thought over what advice to give you. He didn’t know how quickly he’d be able to track down a hero agency there and get you support. “I know you need to be careful, but you need to find a hero on patrol. It’s late so be carefu. Is that alright with you?”

“That’s fine.”

“I promise I’ll be there as soon as I can be. If you find a hero, get them to call me so I know what’s going on.”

Once you’d confirmed, he told you he needed to go to get some help for you and with a small goodbye, you terminated the line. Immediately, he was at the computer, searching for a way to get down to Yokohama as soon as possible. He wasn’t too far from Tokyo so it should only take around an hour on the train. Thank goodness. As he had a look to check for the closest train times, he picked up the phone and called Midoriya. He could only do so many things at once. While he was on his way to Yokohama, he’d need someone to look for the hero offices. On top of that, he needed to find a way to trace the call back to whichever payphone you had called from.

So around three hours later he was racing through the streets with the location of that payphone in his hand and the backing of the heroes of the city keeping an eye out for you. It didn’t take him long at all to get to the southern side of the city. His phone rang again and he pulled it out. He expected it to be Midoriya who had jumped at the chance to potentially help you and was taking care of getting updates to his close friend. It was an unknown number this time though.

“Todo-kun…” That faint whisper caused his heart to freeze. “Thank you.”

The relief almost knocked him over. He could hear some figures talking behind you and recognised one of the voices. It was Tsuyu! She must have been doing some work out here.

“Can you hand me over to the hero that’s with you? They should be able to send me your location.”

“Sure” A few moments later he had an updated location. There weren’t too far form the payphone he was heading towards.

It took another ten minutes for him to get to you, but as he turned around to find you stood in a warm blanket surrounded by the police, he was so glad you were safe. You were right when you’d said you were a tad scruffy… You were filthy. Underneath the blanket, rags poked out. You looked as though you’d gone through hell. Once you saw him, your eyes lit up and as he moved to meet you, he found your arms around him, squeezing slightly.

He paused before gently resting a hand over your head and lowering his own to rest against the crown of your head. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

“I missed you. I missed you so much.”

It surprised the rising hero. You’d missed him? Had he really meant that much to you? Then again, in your days at UA, he’d always been there for you. Through the attack at the USJ to your own disappointment in the sports festival. You were his pillar. He was yours.

The police exchanged small smiles at the scene. It was rather touching after all. However, they still needed to get whatever information they could from you.

The next few weeks of questioning and getting you back to being strong and healthy were trying and tiring. However, he stood by your side through it all. He was beside you when you gave your recount of your story and he let you gently squeeze his hand whenever you found it rather difficult to speak or face what had happened.

When you’d woken up with wide and broken eyes, haunted by the things you’d seen, he’d sat and let you cry. Heck, he’d even taken some time away from hero work to help you recover. Saving people was important, but he still needed to save you. You were both aware that it would take quite a while yet he always stayed beside you. The physical wounds had healed and most of them hadn’t scared, but the ones which had scared when you didn’t have access to a healer weren’t going to fade away so easily.

His own residence was really too small to have two people, especially when one of them needed some space to recover and heal. Not to mention some space of their own to retreat back into should the need arise. So Todoroki found that he was at a loss for what to do. It was definitely not a good idea to keep you cooped up there. So he thought about the only place which would be comfortable for you and would deal with the consequences himself. His parents home. Fuyumi had suggested it when he’d briefly returned to get a few things.

She was right. It was a much better space. He would handle Endeavour. For you.

He had expected it when his father had sternly told him to stop wasting his time on you and to get back to hero work so that he wouldn’t fall behind the other aspiring pros who were now beginning to rise in popularity and crimes resolved. Soon, they’d get themselves on their hero ranks.

It was an important time.

It still wasn’t as important as saving you. Not to him.

So the argument had gone on and Shoto had indeed protected you from Enji. He didn’t care what his old man said. You were worth far more to him than his father’s opinion was.

Todoroki had hoped that it would stay that way - that it would happen when you weren’t around.

He should’ve known he wasn’t always going to be that lucky. Especially not when it became a heated topic whenever the two met.

You’d been having some breakfast with Fuyumi and Shoto when Endeavour had walked in. Seeing his son messing around at home rather than doing what he should’ve been like rising through the ranks set him off. Again.

It led to another argument. This time you were there.

The things he said were so hurtful. He called you a waste of time and a burden. He hit home on the insecurities his son knew you were holding. It had taken everything you’d had to sit there and take it with a brave face and everything Shoto had not to start a fully-fledged fight with his own senior.

Eventually, he softly pulled you up and with a glare that could’ve frozen the room solid, he led you out. The damage had been dealt though and it caused your mental recovery to slide back. He was furious. Enough was enough.

The next encounter he’d had with Endeavour had been just as intense, but unlike before he refused to get lost in the heat of the moment. He wasn’t going to strongly defend you a with a fire in him which only ever flared up whenever someone threatened you. This time, he was icily calm. In some ways, he knew that it had stumped his father.

He was so heated when it came to you, but today was different. Today he had thought it out and was ready to do battle. If his father was going to play mind-games with you like that then there as no way he could sit by and do nothing.

So when Enji finally froze and gave his son the room to speak, Todoroki’s voice was flat and cold. “Stay away from (Name). We’re here because without you, it’s ideal for her recovery. If we leave to get away from you, then the last remaining shreds of your influence on me vanish.” And with that, he stalked past his father to return to you with the rice-balls he’d gotten from his sister.

It was the only thing he had left to hold over his father. He still needed to use the old man’s home which meant he couldn’t blatantly fight him. It didn’t matter. He’d use whatever card necessary to keep you safe. Even though his father had no influence as far as he was concerned.

So when he passed his father that morning to grab you something to drink when you woke up, the two exchanged glares but no words were spoken. It was a grudging silence and soon the bi-coloured hero was sure he’d be able to move on with his life again. This time you’d be there. Until then, he could endure anything. 

He could endure watching his friends slip ahead of him in the world of heroes and he could endure having to face his father whenever he was home. For now. Just until you were better.

Because you mattered the most and from how you’d held onto him the night he’d finally found you again… He knew that he mattered just as much to you.

[meganshinsou-tm]

Shared Walls. (m)

↳ chapter twenty-two: finale

❧ genre: pro-hero shouto, coworkers to lovers, happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: none

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

Intense turquoise eyes looked at the patch of snow that your body had occupied only seconds ago, it was painted red - no, it was drenched in red. Enji could only imagine how deep the blood had soaked through the cold matter, possibly all the way down to the hard earth that lay beneath it. The hero wasn’t ever truly ever bothered by blood, not the sight nor the smell, but to see the liquid soaking your clothes, staining your skin; to see it staining his son’s clothes and his own hands as he held you - it bothered him.

He had failed not only his son, but he failed you as well. If only he had drove faster, searched faster, if only he had been faster period then just maybe you wouldn’t have been harmed. Enji was already the indirect cause of his own son’s wounds, now you were added to that list.

“Hey human-furnace, you gonna help me out here? I’m still a little too weak or else I’d do it my damn self.”

Enji cringed at the smug voice calling out to him, his massive fist clenching and teeth gritting as his flames ignited even more.

“Oh - did I strike a match,” Dabi chuckled.

Enji revved around to face the cremation villain, his massive leg blazing hot as it struck against the ice cocoon and shattered it into pieces. Dabi’s body weakly rolled out from it and was quickly picked up by the throat, eyes that matched his own staring back at him.

“I should throttle you right now boy,” Enji growled.

Dabi coughed on his short supply of air, a smug grin still gracing his features as his hands wrapped around the massive one holding him up. “..b-but you won’t, isn’t that right?”

“En-Enji, don’t hurt D-Dabi please – he s-saved me.”

Your one request echoed back in the hero’s head. His teeth bared as he shucked Dabi down into the snow and replaced his hand with a booted foot on his chest, pressing and keeping the male from evading him.

“Why did you tell her to run, wasn’t this all your doing in the first place?”

Dabi sighed, letting is head fall back with a soft thud into the snow, “Technically. I was going to bring her back once this shitty weather slacked off but that piece of shit came and fucked everything up. I was never going to hurt her just have fun and then - well I just - ugh fuck chief!”

Enji crushed Dabi’s chest harder under his boot, “You fucked everything up by taking her in the first place. Spare me your epiphany, I don’t care. Be thankful for her kindness, it’s your only saving grace.”

With that Enji finally let up and stalked away from Dabi. The villain sat up, coughing and groaning as he brushed off his shirt. Slowly he stumbled to his feet, stretching and cracking his bones as he walked towards Lucas still in his own ice prison.

“I was blessed by an angel, I know. Now excuse me while I burn this fucker to ash,” Dabi sneered as he looked upon a grinning Lucas and the flames from his palm slowly flickered to life.

Enji shoved the male to the side, throwing him off balance as he was still slightly woozy from the blood drain. Dabi groaned and glared at the towering hero.

“You won’t be doing anything, I’ll be taking him in and he’ll rot in Tartarus.”

“Look I understand you’re a hero big guy and that ‘ justice’ is your thing, but I can still kill him. There’s no sense in keeping him alive. Did you see what he did to her back there, the mother of your future bouncing baby grand-kid!”

Enji’s head whipped in Dabi’s direction, disbelief washing over his face and his flames suddenly going off as if someone hosed him down with a fire extinguisher.

“I-I’m sorry, what?”

Dabi flashed a shit eating grin and nodded, “Oh yeah, congratulations, your son isn’t firing any blanks.”

A laugh escaped from Lucas as he listened on, “That’s why she tasted different, had I known I would’ve taken care of the little spawn myself.”

Enji eyed Lucas, the blood in his veins bubbling over and boiling as his flames reignited. His fist came down in a blaze of glory, straight to Lucas’s mouth. The hero could feel every single tooth plucking flee from his gums and shooting down his throat. Lucas violently coughed up the teeth, blood spewing from his lips and down his shirt, dribbling down the ice.

Dabi shrugged, “Well, I guess he can’t bite if he doesn’t have teeth.”

“Do you ever shut up?” Enji groaned, cracking his knuckles and stepping away from the now toothless man.

With a sigh Dabi finally waved off the hero, turning on his feet to walk away before stopping and gritting his teeth.

“You know, if he stays alive, his idiotic followers are bound to come after him. They’re fucking nuts, I know, and they won’t hesitate to try and free him or do his bidding from the outside.”

Enji scoffed, melting the ice that encased Lucas who was now almost unconscious from pain, “They can try.”

That was all Enji had left to say before turning on his own heels and making his way back to the family cabin. Dabi shook his head, rubbing the side of his neck as he continued to walk as well.

“Stupid old man.”

The sound of steady beeping is the first thing you heard when you woke. It smelled sterile instead of damp musk like the cabin and your eyes snapped open as the panic took over you. Lucas carving into your flesh and Dabi’s fiery rescue played back through your mind and you inhaled deeply before your (e/c) eyes darted around the room and looked down at yourself. The beeping of the heart monitor next to you sped up gradually.

You were in a hospital gown, IV in your arm.

Safe.

No Lucas to be found.

The monitor returned to normal as the new information sunk in.

You looked at your arms, fingers tugging softly on the collar of your gown to look at your chest before you pulled your blanket to the side to look at your thighs. Several new small scars, half a letter here and there … but the word ‘mine’ had been erased from your skin. That fact alone made you tear up, but you wiped your eyes to look at the sleeping form next to you. Clothes wrinkled, dark circles under his eyes. Red and white hair a mess.

Shouto. Your Shouto.

A small smile pulled on your lips as you looked over him, his head rested on his arms next to you on the bed. He looked exhausted and you itched to run your fingers through his dual-colored locks, but instead decided to let him sleep. The familiar sound of Enji speaking quietly met your ears as you heard him slip into the room.

His turquoise eyes widened as he saw you and you lifted your hand in a small wave as he walked up the the opposite side of the bed. He glanced at Shouto before giving a rare smile, gently taking your hand in his much larger one.

“When did you wake up? How are you feeling?” He murmured.

“Just a few minutes ago. And I feel fine, you don’t have to worry, Enji. Truly.” You squeezed his hand softly and he nodded before leaning down and kissing the top of your head.

“Good. I’m glad. You sit tight, I’m gonna go get the doctor, alright?” You nodded, and he gave your hand a last squeeze before turning and walking back out the door.

You looked back at Shouto, thinking back at how you met him during your interview. The smile crawled onto your face as you thought about how he almost froze your hand with his nerves and how his quirk still glitches around you sometimes. There was something about him that truly made you feel like it was fate that brought you two together, not just your scars on matching sides or how you two came together like magnets. No matter what happened, Shouto was there to help you through it all.

You finally laced your fingers gently into his hair, stroking the strands affectionately back into place. It’s several seconds before you hear him grumble softly at being woken up, his eye cracking open and looking around before landing on you. You smiled as he snapped up, immediately sitting up and looking over you.

“You’re awake!” His voice was more like a croak and you laughed softly before gently motioning him up for a hug.

“Hi Roki,” You whispered, loving the way his arms felt around you and the comfort they brought. He kissed your forehead and gave you a tender smile.

“I was so worried,” he said softly, gently cupping your cheek as you looked at your hands. His face fell as your eyes locked onto your wrist, a guilty expression painting your features. “What’s the matter?”

“The bracelet you gave me,” you said sadly, lifting your hand to show him. “He took it off.”

Shouto gently lifted your face to look at him again, “Shh, it’s just a piece of string, we can replace it. I’m just glad you’re okay.” He replied and pressed his forehead to yours.

Your hands hung from his wrists, thumbs brushing his cool and warm skin with a smile as you whispered. “I knew you’d find me Shouto.”

“I’ll always find you.”

Nodding, your head tilted into him as you went to kiss each other after what felt like ages. You were breathing okay but if you could get just one kiss from him then all the oxygen in you would be replenished. Just as his soft lips brushed your own though, a light knock came at the door before the knob was being turned. Like two teenagers being caught, your heads hung low with defeated sighs. Shouto kissed your cheek and sat back up straight, turning to see his father and the doctor walking in, both of your hands firmly gripped in his own in your lap.

“The doctor just needs to do a quick check-up,” Enji stated with an apologetic smile.

You nodded and Shouto hesitantly moved from the bed, allowing the doctor full access to you. He listened to your heartbeat and breathing then checked your temperature.

“How are you feeling,” he asked.

“I feel okay, just a little tired and I’m hungry, really hungry.”

Shouto chuckled, “Of course you are, when he gets done we’ll order you some food. Whatever you want.”

The doctor went on to explain that they healed all your cuts the best they could, the only major scar left behind was on your lower back from when Lucas had practically impaled his claws into your flesh. By now, scars were nothing to you though, if anything they made you feel alive, simply because you were alive. Among the multiple cuts Lucas inflicted, he did drain a decent amount of blood from your body that needed to be replaced and the doctor explained further on that.

“Of course we needed to run a few tests just to make sure you were okay from all the bites, Mr. Todoroki here also mentioned something about you saying there was a baby, so we took this information as something to test as well while we were at it for safety precautions of course.”

Your heart stopped suddenly and your hand squeezed Shouto’s. He grunted and looked at you, a hand coming up and combing through your hair. “Are you okay?”

Looking up to him you nodded and sheepishly smiled. “I’m fine Shouto, I just sort of forgot all about that. I don’t remember too much after you showed up. What exactly did I say?”

The half and half hero smirked and kissed the top of your head.

“It’s kind of funny, all you said was ‘ baby ’ and at first I thought you were calling out to me. Then you mumbled about needing to check on the baby and make sure it’s alright.”

Your head fell in embarrassment. “Oh god Shouto - I’m so sorry.”

“What, why are you sorry?”

“Well that’s not exactly how I wanted to tell you, I can only imagine what you thought. I mean I don’t even know if you want kids, or even like them, we’ve never had this talk before. This is crazy though right - if I’m really pregnant? I mean Dabi is the one who brought it up in the first place. I didn’t believe him and thought it was nuts then he’s all smug like “Look angel when you do it raw and never pull ou - mph!”

Shouto quickly placed his hand over your mouth before you could continue spewing word vomit in front of the doctor and his father, who was side-eyeing him.

“Uh, sweetheart, how about we let the doctor finish and we can talk about this later?”

Your face went red as you realized how much you were rambling on, about to spill the beans of your sex life with Shouto with his own father in the room. (E/c) eyes looked to the massive man who was now quietly chuckling as he shook his head and crossed his arms.

“Please doctor, go on,” Enji instructed.

The doctor nodded while clearing his throat and put his clipboard under his arm.

“Well Ms. (L/N), you are in fact pregnant, I’d say you’re about a month and half. You’re very fortunate there was no major trauma caused to your abdomen besides the cuts. Since you seem to be doing fine I’m going to discharge you and request you take it easy. Get a lot of rest and try to avoid any unnecessary stress until you can see a obstetrician and they can let you know more about the condition of the fetus. We’ve done all we could do, now let your body do the rest.”

Shouto and Enji both nodded.

“I’ll make sure she takes it easy doctor, thank you,” Shouto replied as his hand continued to pet your hair, his other hand on your shoulder.

The doctor smiled warmly and gave both of you a brief ‘congrats’ before nodding to everyone and taking his leave. You let out a sigh and looked up to Shouto. He looked down to you, a warm smile as his face as he cupped your cheek. You went to speak but the sound of your stomach alarming the entire room that you were starving halted your words.

Enji chuckled and strode around to the other side of the bed where he squatted and was level with you. He took your small hand in his and let his thumb rub over the skin of your wrist.

“It may be a little while before you’re discharged so how about I order some pizza? Two larges just for you since you’re eating for two now?”

Shouto lightly chuckled above you and you nodded, “Thank you Enji, for everything.”

Enji stood to bend over and give you a hug, his massive arms enclosing around you like protective steel gates. You hugged him back tightly and kissed his cheek before he broke away. He ruffled your hair then walked towards the door, Shouto trailing behind him. They both stopped and Enji turned to his son with a smirk.

“So we got her back plus one huh?”

Shouto chortled and quickly hugged his father, “Thank you dad, thank you for helping to bring her back to me.”

The hell-flame hero hugged his son back, one hand resting on his head and petting his hair as though he was a young boy. “Of course Shouto. I love you son, I love you both and will always be here to help out,” Enji replied as he pulled away, “And right now I need to get the mother of your child some food so she can start growing a big and healthy baby boy yeah?”

“Enji,” you giggled from the bed.

“I’m kidding! I’ll be back soon with food.”

After Enji left Shouto made his way back to the bed and asked if he could lay next to you. Happily you moved over enough to let him in and immediately molded to his side, arms wrapping around his waist as you looked up to him. Before you could even ask, Shouto was answering your silent request for a kiss, his warm and all too familiar lips capturing your own and breathing that air back into your lungs that you needed to feel complete again. Your hand came up to cup his cheek, finger sweeping across his tarnished and beautiful skin as his arms wrapped around you tight. You couldn’t get enough of being back in each others arms, capturing the others smiles with your lips.

“I love you so much Shouto, always,” you breathed on his lips when pulling away hesitantly.

Shouto cupped your hand on his cheek and kissed the palm of it before melting into it, “I love you so much more (Y/N), forever.”

With a smile your head rested on Shouto’s warm chest as he held you close and you listened to his heart beating softly, perfectly in tune with your own that could still be overhead on the monitor.

A black SUV pulled into the driveway of a cozy modern home early in the afternoon, the drivers side door opened and closed, Shouto sighing as he slung his work bag over his shoulder and locked the vehicle. He went to walk around it and up the short pathway to the front door of the house, halting and smiling when he heard a soft and sweet sound floating down from a window on the second story. It was a sound he’d come to expect every day that he arrived home from work, a sound he always looked forward to. Shouto recalled when he only ever heard your singing through the vent of his bathroom at the apartments you both lived in before finally settling together in a proper home, how he always wondered who the voice on the other side of his shared wall belonged to and not once ever thinking that voice belong to his future girlfriend, future fiance, future mother of his unborn child - his future overall.

Of course he could always just request to hear your singing whenever he pleased, but there was something bittersweet about hearing it from afar. He stood in the cold snow a few more minutes, letting your melodic tune welcome him home before entering it. After shrugging off his bag, coat and boots the man made his way upstairs. Once he reached the bedroom he stopped for a minute, leaning against the wall and listening to your singing a little while longer.

“And it's not a cry that you hear at night. It's not somebody who's seen the light. It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah. Hallelujah...hallelujah…”

Shouto smiled and lightly knocked on the bedroom door, peeking his head in to find you laying back against the headboard of the bed. One hand rubbing your pregnant belly and the other holding up a baby book as you read through it. He chuckled upon walking in and seeing the countless cartons of milk crowding the bedside table along with two boxes of Pocky. His knees hit the mattress and gently Shouto crawled up the bed towards you.

Putting the book down you smiled and wrapped your hands around his neck pulling Shouto in closer, his arms trapping your hips as he leaned in and gifted you a warm kiss. You hummed and kissed back, melting into his hand when it cupped your cheek.

“Welcome home hero,” you chimed softly before kissing him again.

He smiled and kissed your cheek before you released him. Shouto then lowered and laid down between your legs on his stomach, resting his head on your belly and letting his hand rub at the warm and taut skin of it. Your own hands started to run through his hair, fingers gently massaging his scalp and instantly working away the stress of work.

“I missed you two,” Shouto spoke.

You smiled wide. “We missed you Roki. I think he can tell when you’re not home, he’s always so anxious and never still.”

The hero smirked and pressed a kiss to your stomach, listening closely as the baby inside would gently shift every so often, instantly calming down like it could tell Shouto was there. Each time Shouto felt a light kick he smiled more. He was always fascinated when the baby moved or kicked, always so proud. He went with you to every single ultrasound, even if it was just a check up and not really something you needed him for. The man loved to hear his baby’s heartbeat, how strong and healthy it was even considering what you had gone through. The day both of you found out the gender he tried not to be too overjoyed that it was a boy, of course you both could care less what it was but something about having his very own son elated Shouto. Not to mention Enji and Natsuo were pretty hyped as well.

Your hand reached down to cup Shouto’s face, making him look up. With a smile he grabbed the hand and pressed a kiss to your palm then to the ring on your finger.

“How was your day Shouto?”

“It was good. Everyone missed you today as usual, constantly asking how you’ve been and Haru showed up with more baby clothes.”

Rolling your eyes you sighed. “Well they wouldn’t have to miss me if you and your damn father would let me go to work! This whole advance maternity leave is a little unnecessary.”

Shouto looked back down and kissed your stomach. “Your mother doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

A light smack was placed to the side of Shouto’s head making him laugh as his cheek rested back onto your stomach. Your hands resuming their duty of petting and massaging his head. 

Shouto soon pulled out his phone and scrolled through it as he spoke.

“I have to show you what Natsuo sent me today.”

You hummed and look when Shouto gave you the phone. There was a text pulled up that made you cackle. Attached was a picture of Natsuo holding up two baby onesies, one that resembled Enji’s hero costume and the other resembled Shouto’s own hero costume. ‘ Had to get my nephew some official merch! :D,’ the attached text read. Shouto smiled as your laughter seemed to stir his son inside of you. His hand flattened over the skin and felt as he lightly kicked and you let out a small grunt.

“I love her laugh too,” Shouto spoke.

You smiled and let your head lay back against the headboard, eyes fluttering shut as Shouto’s soft hair threaded through your fingers and he continued to lightly rub your belly while continuing to talk to his unborn son.

“I love a lot of things about your mother, like how beautiful, kind and strong she is. How she can brighten any room she walks into or how she can bring people together. I can’t wait to tell you all about her, how I met her and fell so in love with her. I can’t wait to see what traits you take from her; I hope you have her eyes more than anything but either way I know you’ll be beautiful, just as she is.” Shouto sighed and nuzzled his cheek, his lips pressing another kiss to your skin, “Only a few more months and then we’ll be able to finally meet you, our little boy.”

As the two of you rested together for a few more minutes, you were both completely unaware of the cremation villain who dropped by so casually before your home. A hint of a smile on his face as he placed a small envelope inside of the mailbox before walking off and disappearing into the darkness.