Chapter Text
Touya’s hands were shaking.
“It’ll be okay,” Fuyumi placated softly, taking his hand. They were currently walking towards the hospital, it was a beautiful day.
“I know,” he lied, his throat thick. “Just, cold.”
“You’re never cold,” Natsuo pointed out.
“Well, I am now,” Touya snapped, his leg bouncing up and down.
“Stop teasing, he’s nervous,” Fuyumi scolded.
“It’ll be fine,” Natsuo said. “Shouto was nervous and now he comes every week.”
“You’re not helping,” Shouto remarked.
Natsuo stuck out his tongue.
“Better put that back in your mouth before I burn it off,” Touya warned, biting his lip.
When they reached the hospital front desk, the secretary checked all their credentials before allowing them to go to the elevator.
“Is it too late to turn back?” Touya asked as the elevator doors closed.
“Yes,” Shouto said.
Fuyumi squeezed his hand and smiled at him. “She’ll be happy to see you.”
“I hope,” he swallowed down his throat. He could only afford so many good things in life. Something had to eventually give and he knew he wouldn’t survive the image of his mother screaming at him.
The elevator doors opened, welcoming them to the second floor of the hospital. It was a clean floor at a very jumpable height.
Not that he would do that…
“Maybe we should go first?” Shouto suggested.
Fuyumi bit her lip, a mirror of Touya's face. “Maybe… just stay here, Touya.”
Touya nodded, leaning against the wall as they knocked on mom’s door and slid it open.
“Hey, mom,” Natsuo said, smiling broadly at the woman presumably inside.
“Natsuo,” Touya heard a voice say. “Fuyumi, Shouto.”
“Hello, mother,” Shouto said.
“Hello, mom,” Touya could imagine the smile on their faces, on her face as she seemed to welcome them so easily. “There’s someone here who wants to see you.”
“Who?” Rei asked, her voice overflowing with hesitation but hope.
“Touya, why don’t you come in?” Fuyumi called. Touya took a step forward but froze, his entire body shaking.
He couldn’t—
“Touya?” Fuyumi called out, her head popping out from the door. “Come in.”
“I can’t,” he choked out. “She has to hate me—after what I did.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Fuyumi whispered.
Touya shook his head. “Please, I can’t do this, I’m sorry—“
“Touya?” Rei called out. “Touya? Please, come in.”
Touya’s lip trembled.
“Can I see my baby?” Rei asked. “Can I see my little boy’s face? Please, Touya.”
I hurt your little boy.
“It’ll be okay,” Fuyumi said, taking his wrist. “Please.”
Touya softened underneath her grip, taking a deep breath before walking into the door frame. Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shouto moved to the side, allowing for Touya and Rei to finally see each other face to face.
“Mom,” Touya choked out.
“Touya…” she sobbed with a tone that words could not describe the happiness and relief in them, almost as if she was thanking Touya for his existence.
Touya smiled, tears in his eyes. “Hey.”
“Hi,” she replied with an equally beautiful smile. “Spirits, you look like your grandfather with that hair.”
Touya chuckled, hand going up to his hair. “Yeah, decided I needed a change.”
“You always did talk about dying your hair,” Rei commented.
“And you listened,” Touya remembered.
“Of course,” she said. “I love you.”
More tears streamed down his face as he let out a mix between a sob and a laugh. It took only two steps to get to the other side and the room and wrap his mother in a secure hug.
She returned it eagerly, burying her head in his neck as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
“My baby,” she cried into his shirt.
“Mom—“ Touya choked out, a sob ripped from his throat.
It was a fragile moment, one that was immediately ruined by the sound of a camera going off.
“Shouto,” Fuyumi hissed.
“It’s a good moment,” he defended lightly.
“Please send me that,” Natsuo said.
Touya laughed, sniffling as he pulled away from the hug but kept his hands in Rei’s.
“It’s been so long,” she said. “How have you all been fairing? Oh, I hope you’re getting to know each other.”
“When we can drag them out of school we do,” Natsuo assured her. “They’re doing work, Touya is a TA at UA.”
“It’s not exactly a voluntary position,” Touya pointed out.
“He is a natural, he even got Bakugou to quiet down,” Shouto said.
“You’ve always been great with kids,” Rei said. “I remember when you’d help me dress Natsuo up and feed Fuyumi—“
“Mom,” Touya whined, blushing. He had almost forgotten those memories.
“I don’t remember that!” Natsuo exclaimed. “Tell us more.”
“Don’t!”
“Touya always loved playing with you guys when he wasn’t…” Rei swallowed thickly then shook her head. “You were such a protective child, you loved doting on your siblings.”
“And now he’s a grumpy emo,” Natsuo joked, poking Touya.
Touya stuck his tongue out. “You’re an adult.”
“Being an adult is boring,” Natsuo whined. “Fuyumi, Touya is being mean to me.”
“Well, you deserve it for being a brat,” Fuyumi giggled.
“Betrayal!” Natsuo exclaimed, draping him over Shouto who glowered at him.
“Baby,” Touya teased.
“Emo,” Natsuo shot back.
“Brat!”
“Punk!”
“Boys,” Fuyumi chided. “Why don’t we leave Touya and mother to catch up and grab them some food.”
“I hate cafeteria food,” Shouto said in a low grumble.
“Come on,” Fuyumi said, poking Shouto to move. “You too, Natsuo.”
“Fine,” Natsuo relented. “As long as you don’t burn the building down, Touya.”
“Yeah, yeah, not with mom in it,” he waved off.
The three Todoroki siblings gathered up and left, leaving Rei and Touya alone in a warm silence.
Touya bit his lip. “Mom, about what happened—“
“I don’t blame you,” Rei interrupted. “I can’t. I can only blame the man who pushed you that far.”
“It was still my choice,” he said.
“It was the choice you thought you had to make,” Rei said. “Touya, I’ve spent a lot of hours in therapy talking about you. I’ve come to terms with it and I still love you.”
“Mom, I’m not a good person,” Touya told her.
“I know,” she said.
“No, mom, I’m a bad person,” Touya insisted. “I’ve hurt a lot of people.”
“I know,” she enforced, her eyes flashing and at that moment, Touya understood.
Touya blinked. “You… know…?”
“You think I wouldn’t recognize my son?” Rei asked. “Scars or no scars, I know my son and you’re not a bad person. Not like those villains in that League.”
“I’m a murderer,” he choked out.
“You were under stress,” Rei retorted.
“We all were,” Dabi argued. “I’m no different than any of them. Hell, they were the only family I had for a long time.”
“But now you have us,” Rei said.
“You don’t get it,” Dabi said. “You—you would love them. They understand what it’s like to be stepped on by hero society and swept away like us. Toga, her parents hate her for her quirk. Shigaraki was abandoned as a child—“
“Touya,” Rei interrupted earnestly. “Please, I understand, but you have a second chance here. Don’t destroy it, don’t involve yourself with them.”
Dabi was silent for a moment. “…but how am I going to get strong enough to kill Endeavor?”
Rei teared up. “Oh, Touya, baby, no.”
“He needs to be destroyed, he has to pay for what he did to you, to us,” Dabi insisted.
Rei shook her head, letting out a sob. “Touya, please, listen to me. Your job isn’t to kill your father. You can’t let that man ruin your future.”
“He already ruined it,” Dabi pointed out.
“No!” She exclaimed. “No, he hasn’t. I refuse to let my poor baby kill his father. Touya, please, tell me you won’t hurt your father. Please.”
“Mom—“
“Promise me,” she demanded. “I won’t let that man’s death take away one of my children. I’m tired of that man ruining my life. My children are the only good thing that came out of my marriage with your father. Promise me!”
“…I promise,” Touya said.
Her tears turned into ones of relief. “Thank you.”
There was a knock on the door.
“I have soba!” Natsuo declared happily.
“Did we miss anything important?” Fuyumi asked, sensing the intense atmosphere.
Touya stared down Rei, taking in her feature.
“Just catching up,” Touya said, raising a hand and wiping Rei’s tears away.
“I’m just happy to have my babies back,” Rei said, leaning into his touch as if that hand had never harmed a person ever in Touya’s life.
They decided to take a walk towards UA, stopping by a nearby street market.
There were so many bright lights, lanterns lit between each stand. The Todoroki family walked through the market, camouflaging in the sea of other people and it felt almost natural to spend time together.
“Can we find a soba stand?” Shouto asked, like a child asking his parents for candy.
Touya snorted. “Don’t you eat anything else?”
“No,” he deadpanned and Fuyumi giggled.
“Be nice, Shouto,” she chided as if he were one of her students or, like an older sister.
“Ooh, Watame,” Natsuo said, pointing at a cartoon popcorn stand. “Come on, Shouto, I’ll show you some real street fair food.”
Shouto rolled his eyes but complied, following Natsuo towards the popcorn stand.
“Doesn’t Shouto hate popcorn?” Touya asked before realizing what he had said.
Fuyumi tilted her head. “Does he?”
“I think so,” Touya said. “Uraraka told me about the time he popped a bag of popcorn for their movie night and it set the fire alarms off.”
Fuyumi smiled. “It’s nice to know he has friends to turn to and you.”
Touya shrugged it off. “We’re not that close.”
“He talks about you a lot on the phone,” Fuyumi stated as if it held some sort of significance to Touya. Which, it didn’t, at all.
Ugh, he hated lying to himself.
“Hope so, he won’t stop bugging me,” Touya joked, recalling how Shouto stayed more on top of Touya’s nutritional regimen than Touya did.
“I’m happy that he’s happy,” she said. “He should enjoy his childhood.”
“He’s hardly a child,” Touya pointed out.
Fuyumi shook her head. “Deep down all teenagers are still children.”
“That what your fancy degree taught you?” Touya asked.
“It’s what you’ll learn,” she said with certainty in her voice.
Touya hummed, considering it for a moment. He never thought of Class 1-A as children, not after the level of maturity he had been forced to undergo at that age. After all, they had the decision to be heroes, they can certainly handle it like adults.
Or… maybe not?
“It’s Natsuo’s birthday soon,” Fuyumi said. “You should get him a gift.”
“Like what?” Touya asked.
Fuyumi shrugged, smiling. “I already have my gift for him. You can figure yours out.”
“Mean,” Touya grumbled.
“Look around,” she prompted. “I’ll keep them distracted if you promise not to get into trouble.”
“Hey, trouble finds me,” he whined.
She laughed. “Whatever you say, big brother.”
Touya smiled as Fuyumi made her way to Natsuo and Shouto. He looked around, spotting a stand selling sports equipment. There were a few things he remembers from his childhood, but he does remember how Natsuo always wanted to be a soccer player. Sure, he was studying something else right now but he surely still appreciated soccer, right?
Touya had no idea.
Touya roamed from stand to stand, inspecting each object that caught his eye before setting it down.
Touya walked between stands, his siblings still bickering in the corner of his eye, when a hot hand grabbed his arm and yanked him into an alleyway.
Touya yelped, his arm immediately alighting as pain radiated to his core.
Yet, his attacker didn’t let up and blue filled Touya’s vision as he was pinned to a wall.
“Get—“ Touya’s sentence was immediately muffled by a hand to his mouth. The blue faded away as his vision was replaced by an electric blue glare.
“Touya Todoroki,” Dabi leered as he used his torso to lock Touya’s arm to his side. Touya let out a muffled screech as his arms began to burn with green fire, but Dabi didn’t even flinch.
“Learned a new trick?” Dabi asked, flickering down to the fire eating away at the sleeves of his arms.
“Just listen,” Dabi spat out and Touya deactivated his quirk as he realized it was hurting him more than it was hurting Dabi.
“I don’t know what happened,” Dabi continued. “But you’re going to do the right thing and jump off a fucking bridge.”
Touya grunted, biting hard on Dabi’s finger but the clone didn’t move.
“You’re a mistake and you know it,” Dabi hissed. “So you’re going to kill yourself, crawl back to Ujiko and turn back into Dabi—“
“And why the fuck would I do that?” Touya growled through his fingers.
“Because the league can’t lose you,” Dabi said. “They’re assholes but they care and the last thing I need is a Touya Todoroki running around when we’re so close to getting rid of the monster of Hero Society.”
“I can’t,” Touya said.
Dabi pressed a hand against Touya’s throat. “Why not?”
“I promised mom,” Touya choked out.
Dabi’s face went slack for a moment before a fiery hatred filled his eyes. “Then I’ll do it myself.”
Touya let out a scream as the hand on his throat went alight with blue flames. Dabi pressed the hand harder to his throat, burning away at Touya’s skin as he screamed.
“Stop!” Touya begged, trying to fight back with his fire but Dabi couldn’t feel any of the pain. His skin screamed at him as he tried to struggle against the intense flames.
“I’ll make it quick,” Dabi grunted as his hand moved to his jaw.
Before the clone could burn Touya’s jaw, he stilled, his expression going cloudy. The clone coughed, chunks of clay and sludge leaving its mouth and sticking to Touya’s face. Its face began to fall apart as it melted into a clump of mud.
Touya stood there, frozen, as he watched the sludge slide down an icicle that had struck the clone in the heart.
Shouto stood in front of Touya, breathing heavily, staring down at the puddle.
“Touya!” Fuyumi cried as she ran to Touya’s side. Her hand went to his neck, cool ice creeping on her hand and soothing his burns.
“What the fuck was that?!” Natsuo exclaimed, joining Fuyumi.
“A clone. The same we dealt with at the Training Camp,” Shouto answered and Touya could tell he had a question on the tip of his tongue.
“He needs to see a doctor,” Fuyumi said after inspecting his face. “He got burned badly, I think they’re second-degree burns—“
“Recovery Girl,” Shouto said. “We have to hurry before another clone comes.”
“Why would—“ Natsuo cut himself off. “Is this more hero stuff I don’t understand?”
Shouto bit his lip. “It’s complicated.”
“Of course,” Natsuo sighed, helping Touya up from the wall.
As Touya leaned into his siblings’ touch, Touya and Shouto’s eyes locked.
He had a lot to explain.
Despite Recovery Girl’s best efforts, Touya’s face would scar.
Shouto volunteered to talk to Mr. Aizawa as Fuyumi and Natsuo brought Touya to his room. Touya tried to argue with him, stating it could be put off but Shouto was firm in his response.
On his walk to the teacher’s lounge, Shouto was shaking.
He couldn’t get the conversation out of his head, the way the Dabi clone had tried to kill his brother. He didn’t even know it was a clone, he had just worked on instinct. Something was hurting his brother and he needed to kill it before it took his family away again.
“Mr. Aizawa?” Shouto called out as he knocked on the door of the teacher’s lounge.
The door opened, revealing a fairly empty room and Mr. Aizawa, face as disgruntled as ever.
“Todoroki,” Mr. Aizawa responded. “Is everything okay?”
Shouto wasn’t sure if it was the question itself or the pressure of the day finally getting to him, but the right side of his face started to sizzle as tears welled up in his eyes.
“No,” he answered, swallowing thickly. “I think my brother is Dabi.”
Mr. Aizawa gaped at him for a moment, opening the door wider. “Come in, we have a lot to discuss.”