𝙸'𝚖 𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍.

~2~

"Now stand up. If you get hurt that easily you can forget about beating All Might. Or even a small-time villain." The cries the boy let out were ignored as the man stood up, looking down in shame as the toddler threw up all over the clean floors where he would practice in countless of hours.

"Please stop pushing him! His only five years old!" The lady could not do anything else but hope, maybe just this one time, he would listen and let the poor boy go. To be a kid for at least ten minutes. But her hopes were broken yet again.

With a slap and a scream, all the commotion seemed to stop for a second. Maybe just for the boy though.

Why was this happening? Why did his dad hit his mom? Why did he have to constantly fight for countless hours just to beat All Might? Why couldn't he even play with his siblings? Why? Why? Why?

It felt overwhelming. All of this...his mom going through all of this...because of him.

No. Because of his father.

This was all his father's fault.
When he would throw up all the time. It was his father's fault.
When he felt like he was about to die. It was his father's fault.
When his mother threw boiling water on his face, it was his father's fault.
When his mother couldn't even bare to look at him, it was his father's fault.
And when she was put into a mental hospital, it was his fault.

And when that happened, Shoto swore to never use his fire side again. Because using the fire side meant siding with Endeavor. Meant being ok with all of this. Not using it meant that he would never agree with Endeavor's plan.

But,

He also didn't want to look like Endeavor. His quirk was very much similar like his father's and he didn't want her to be in even more pain.

Her as in, Rei. His mother.

No matter how powerful the fire quirk was he refused to use it in any way. No matter what.

But that was all until high school.

His way of looking at it that way changed with just a few words from a boy who just wanted to help his classmate who seemed to not accept the power he had because of a man who changed the meaning of it.

And Izuku wanted to change that meaning back to how it was. He wanted to open Shoto's eyes and let him know that the power he had didn't necessarily have to have a bad meaning.

Yes, maybe having a fire quirk was inherited from his father's side.

But that didn't mean anything.

And Izuku wasn't going to allow Shoto fight with the anger he felt towards his father. All the anger from the trauma he had to experience from such a young age. He wasn't going to allow Shoto to use half of his potential just because some damn dream from someone else. He wasn't going to win like this.

He wasn't going to let Shoto compete like this.

As they fought, Izuku noticed how Shoto begin to tremble. Not of fear, but of the cold. And then he remembered that without his fire quirk, he could freeze.

"Your trembling Todoroki."

Not yet...

"Everyone's fighting with everything they've got..."

Not yet...

"and you want to win with just half of your strength?!"

Not yet...