Blood Is Thicker Than Water (And Shared Trauma Always Connects Us)

"Even if I lose myself, I promise you I'll always come back."

("When I was a young boy I was scared of growing up.")

Touya had always been the protector of his siblings, it had been natural since he was the oldest.
It started when they were young, Touya hadn't even gotten his quirk yet. It was the good old days.
When Fuyumi were young she struggled with learning how to walk, which wasn't liked by their father. After a fateful afternoon, on which Endeavour was in a bad mood and pushed his daughter off a table so she'd learn to land on her feet, Touya took her learning into his own hands.
He wasn't old at the time, maybe around 4, but he knew what father had done was wrong because his sister was crying on the floor, desperately trying to take her first steps but failing and tripping over and over again.
"Yumi!" He cried out and got down beside her, holding her and turning his back against father, for the first time.

("'Cause you know I love you, I hold you so dearly.")

Fuyumi learned to walk, after some months she could run around like it was nothing, but Touya would never forget how much tears she had cried when father complained about her being weak and weird.

Natsuo was louder as a baby. Mother nearly didn't get any sleep when he was young.
He would wake up in the middle of night and scream after someone to comfort him, feed him or simply just pay attention to him.
Fuyumi was too young to really help their mother, so Touya took the job.
He was the one who fed Natsu on early mornings and the one who played with him and made him laugh when mother needed to rest.

("'Cause somebody loves you, somebody cares.")

He enjoyed every minute of it, making both his brother's and mother's life better, and when his mother told him he'd be a great dad one day he shone like the sun.

Father mostly ignored them, until Touya, later than most kids, got his quirk.
That's when the nightmare begun.

("You brought the flames and you put me through hell.")

His father locked Touya and himself inside the training room, forcing Touya to use his quirk as a weapon. Father brought in punching bags, told the boy to burn them to ash. One after one.
Father pointed, burn that, Touya followed, ash was all that was left of them.
It made Touya hate his quirk. It was so violent, burnt everything in his way and only left dark piles after it.
Father loved it, the quirk was powerful, hungry and under his control.

("And I've been taking it all, and you know it.")

Natsuo wanted to follow Touya into the training room.
Touya pushed him away, none of his siblings were allowed to be in that room, Touya forbid it.
When his brother started crying it took Touya's whole strength not to join him.
He did not want this, this was not how it was supposed to be.

("Every sunny day was grey.")

Shouto was born somewhere during the time Touya was locked in the training room day in and day out.
He'd known mother was waiting another kid, but it came as a surprise when one night he heard cries from the kitchen, and when Touya ran over there to comfort his sibling he noticed it was a new one.
Shouto was his name, and mother feared for the worst.
His hair was half red half white, and if you based hair colors on quirks in the family, red gave fire while white gave ice.
Could this be the kid father had waited for all those years?
Touya didn't want to accept it.
He was the one who was supposed to train, to feel the smoke burn in his eyes. Not any of his siblings.
They shouldn't be in the training room.

("But after everything you've done, I can thank you for how strong I have become.")

Touya's quirk didn't fit his body, it was something all of them had expected but no one seemed to accept.
Father still pushed him through all sorts of pain. Touya didn't complain, he was made for this, this was his purpose.
Mother cried everytime she picked him up from the floor after the training sessions and with help of Fuyumi, who neither couldn't stop her tears, bandaged him.
Natsuo had started to understand what happened to Touya, and he was angry. He would try to bite father when he interacted with his middle son.
The first time it happened mother had started shaking and hushed Natsu, trying to lecture him through all her tears.
Father had flinched, but not said a word. But his intense glare made Touya uncomfortable.