𝙸'𝚖 𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍.

~16~

When Shoto was younger, not only did he take in the fighting he was forced to do, but the life he saw in his house.

Not long after he would have to endure the pain of being hit straight in the stomach, or the dizziness he had to wave off after fighting for hours on end without any food, water or breaks, he would have to deal with the screams in the house.

His mother and father shouted at each other, the slaps and punches and sobs the only thing to be heard from the wealthy household as all he could do was stand in between his mother and father, trying to stop whatever was going on between them because after all, he was maybe a tad bit too young to understand.

As he got older, the screams and yells and punches became normal. Yet, it wasn't a 'normal' he liked. He hated it. Despised it, in fact. Every time he had to see his father punch his mother as he hid behind a wall, his tears falling onto the floor beside his small feet as he saw his mother unconscious on the floor, all he could think was is this how mom and dad talk?

Through hitting each other until someone fell?

Other times when he was able to escape his father's grasp, he would try to go outside where nobody was there. Or so he thought.

As he would pitter-patter his way through the hallways, his aching small hand slowly grasping the door, someone else opened the door from the other side, the force too much which made Shoto step back to try not to lose his balance.

From the outside stood someone much taller, his hair with sparks of red and white while his body was covered with small chunks of dead skin as if they were merely tattoos.

"Move," the older boy seethed, kicking Shoto on the leg, not too hard but enough to prove his point.

Shoto whimpered as he had enough bruises on his leg to add on another one. But as he saw Touya walk away, he couldn't help but think why his older brother hated him so much. And why when he would even get as much as to meet ways, Touya would look at him in such a disgusted look it made Shoto both sad and confused.

Touya on the other hand, hated his brother so much to the point he would show his hatred in any way possible. Harming him with words, punches, kicks and everything else. He wanted Shoto to feel the pain he had to endure to become the best hero.

Touya wanted to see Shoto ache just as much as he did.

Even after so many years later, it stuck to Shoto. Stuck the fact that maybe, just maybe, the only way to get a point across was with fighting. Maybe the only way was through fists and fire and ice and never through words.

Maybe that's why he was always down for a fight. To let his ice and fire run wild like feral animals getting released from the cage. Because every time he did that, he felt a little bit of his anger slip away from his soul. And he liked that.

Never was he one to express himself; to actually talk about his feelings. He couldn't communicate even his most deepest, most complex feelings. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to express something like happiness. Sadness. Anger.

That was all until Izuku came.

Izuku wasn't like his family, he wouldn't bruise him left and right.. He wasn't someone who would be monotonous, who would have a straight face and wouldn't be able to imagine what it was to smile. Because unlike Shoto, Izuku could laugh and smile and express himself.

Shoto found himself slowly falling. The gravity parting ways because Izuku was everything he wasn't. He was the sunshine and smile and patience Shoto would've given every single hit to get when he was younger.