Pins and Needles | Todoroki Shoto | S/H

Just Remember What You Saw Here Today

・・・　・・・　・・・

     "I've been waiting for you, Shoto."  Endeavor announces.  The large room was dim.  Even though one entire wall was windows, there were no others, and it was later in the day.  "It seems you are finally ready to take the path of the mighty, huh?" 
     "I have no intention of going down a path you made.  I will take my own path."  Shoto responds.  
     "Oh, well, you should get ready, too.  We're going out."  
     "Where?"  
     "I'll show you what a hero is." 
     Both breathe in with surprise at the sound of knocking on the door.  Shoto spins on his heel to face the door that was creaking open.  They both watch with curiosity as (Y/N)'s head pokes in.  
     "Um, hello."  She says.  "The man outside said to just open the door.  May I come in?"  She asks.  
     "Yes."  Endeavor tells her.  Slowly, she wobbles inside, most of her weight on some sort of staff.  
     "I'm not interrupting, am I?"  She asks softly.  She looked like she was trying to smile, but she couldn't manage.  "Sorry, sorry.  I wasn't sure when I should stop by.  Did U.A. say they were sending me over?"  She inquires.  She was slowly inching her way across the room.  As soon as she got to the couches in the center, she leaned into them.  
     "They did."  Endeavor states.  His eyes were narrowed at her.  The last time they spoke, she had been telling him off, even though she was a mere child.  "Might we have a small conversation first?  I don't know you hardly at all."  
      Endeavor had found it strange.  She'd purposefully contacted his assistant to ask if she could go to their agency, even though he never requested her.  According to what he overhead, she'd had over a thousand companies give her an offer.  
      She fell —genuinely fell— onto one of the couch cushions as Endeavor settled on the one across from her.  Shoto went ahead and left with a side-long glance to change into his hero costume.  
     "To begin, you need to learn to respect your elders."  Endeavor says lowly.  Despite her crippled state, she leaned forward and glared back.
     "I'll respect you when you've earned it."  She hisses in response.  
     "Why did you even choose this agency?"  He questions.
     "First, because I'm out of commission, almost all of my offers retracted until next year.  Second, I want you to be reminded of what abuse looks like because I don't plan on letting anything happen to my friend."  He glances down as she raises her knee.  While her legs had been bandaged, she'd unwrapped one of them about halfway.  The sight was disgusting: it was all red and fleshy and pink.  Whenever she shifted, he could see the individual movement of her barely covered muscle fibers.  
      "This is what my mother did to me.  Because I lost.  Because I didn't want to be a hero, so I let your son go ahead and continue at the Sports Festival.  These types of injuries usually require a skin graft to fix, but that would cost too much money, so I'm not going to get one.  I'm just going to have to let my body try to figure out how to hell to heal this."  She nods her head to herself, lips pursed as she quickly rewrapped it.  "She hasn't let me sleep in the last few days, so I can't go to Recovery Girl and start to get it healed over until I have nights of good rest.
     "And to be honest, Endeavor, the only reason I'm even telling you that is because I don't think you're going to do anything about it.  I don't really care if you do, but just know that I'm here because I'm not going to let a promising person like your son get stopped in his tracks because of you. 
     "Any time you think you want to hit or abuse or manipulate him into something, any time you think you've said something that could negatively impact him even further, just remember what you saw here today.  Remember how disgusting it is to watch a perfectly capable person limp into this room with missing skin all because of the same shit you're about to do."