Chapter Text
“Are you really All Might’s secret love child or something?” Todoroki asks bluntly, his attention on his left hand more than it is on the green-haired boy standing across from him. “Well, are you?”
“No- no way! That’s not it at all! But I guess even if I was, I’d totally say I wasn’t, but you probably won’t believe me I bet. But anyway, I promise, you’ve got the wrong idea. And… why would you even think that about me?” Midoriya flailed his body, but Todoroki wasn’t paying attention to his actions, just what he said.
“That’s not it at all is interesting wording. It suggests there is something between you two that you’re not supposed to talk about. My father is the hero Endeavor…” He explained to the boy across from him, intent on making sure he knew they were rivals, and always would be. He didn’t accept his father’s plans, but he was going to make a point- he’d succeed, with only his mother’s power.
~*~
The exact memories after that were fuzzy; he remembered telling the boy how his mother poured boiling water on his face, calling him unsightly, and he remembered declaring that he would beat him, using only his right side (a hazier memory of All Might giving him a second-place medal implied that he did just that). And that’s where everything ended.
And now, here he was, sitting in an uncomfortable hospital room, blankets wrapped unnecessarily around his body, staring down the boy he was talking to. Said boy looked more mature; he was taller, angles in his body sharper, and with significantly more muscle and scars to him. But the bright green eyes, mess of green hair, and littering of freckles across his face (possibly more than he remembered, Todoroki never paid much attention to his rival’s skin), this was unmistakably the boy he was talking to before he woke up.
His green eyes soften, and he reaches a hand out toward Todoroki. “How are you feeling? The doctors said your injuries were minor and should heal on their own. And-”
Todoroki, for his part, chooses to slap the hand away and steel his cold gaze against the approach. “Why are you here, Midoriya?”
His kind expression fell as though Todoroki had just kicked his puppy or his mom- possibly both. “Shouto… you’re not still mad about this morning, are you?”
“Don’t call me that. We aren’t friends,” he warned, his own face never faltering.
He supposed the other boy was about to cry, but was interrupted when the door slid open, Fuyumi rushing in. “Shouto! I’m glad you’re okay. When Izuku called me, I was worried.”
Izuku? He couldn’t remember his sister having met, much less being on a first name basis with, his classmate, though the added-on years to Midoriya’s appearance indicated they may not be classmates anymore.
“I’m fine, Fuyumi,” he told her, ignoring the boy- man- he didn’t want to think about. He spoke with his voice completely void of emotion, as though he were simply reading a news headline. “I would like to go home now.”
She furrowed her eyebrows like she wasn’t expecting him to ask her to leave. “I can get a doctor and see if they’re ready to release you, then Izuku could take you home.”
“I don’t see the point in him doing that.”
He didn’t realize he could confuse his sister further. “I mean, well… Shouto…”
“I-I’ll go get the doctor!” Midoriya announced, bounding up in his chair and rushing out the door before anyone could say anything else.
“Shouto, is something upsetting you? Izuku didn’t do anything, did he? Because if he upset you, mom and I-”
“Nothing’s wrong, Fuyumi,” Todoroki answered shortly, turning away from her to end the conversation. The two remained in silence until Midoriya came back with a doctor.
“Good to see you conscious, Shouto,” the doctor greeted him. He wondered why suddenly everyone decided to be on such familiar terms with him. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” he informed the doctor. “Can I go home?”
“Not quite yet,” the doctor informed him. “I want to look over your injuries. Deku says you’ve seemed a little confused since you woke up, so I want to ask you a few questions.”
Who the hell was Deku? He vaguely remembered the angry blond from class calling Midoriya that, but he couldn’t imagine this doctor felt like they should, as well, especially since it was so belittling.
“First,” the doctor asked as they assessed a few minor wounds on his arms and torso, “can you tell me your name?”
“Todoroki Shouto.”
“Good. And the date?”
“25th of April.”
The doctor stopped in their assessment, holding Todoroki’s arm out, before gently releasing it, and pulling out a small pen light. They shined the light into his eyes, asking him to follow it. “No sign of a concussion,” the doctor spoke mainly to themself. “Shouto, can you tell me how old you are?”
“Fifteen.”
“Uh-huh,” the doctor seemed unconvinced. “And who is the current number one hero?”
“All Might.” The doctor checked the chart they were holding and tapped their fingers out to do some mental math, before addressing Midoriya.
“His injuries are fine, and there’s no sign of any permanent brain damage, as we told you earlier. He’s alert and should have no problems with ambulation; however, it does sound like he has some retrograde amnesia. You were with him in his high school days, yes? He still knows you?”
Todoroki fought back a scowl, wishing the doctor wouldn’t talk about this with a near-stranger.
“Y-yes,” Midoriya answered nervously, as though he was trying to figure out how to explain it. “Shouto and I were good friends in high school.”
“We aren’t friends,” Todoroki informed him.
“Shouto,” Fuyumi admonished.
“I recommend you still take him home,” the doctor continued to explain to everyone but the one in the hospital bed. “It may be unfamiliar for now, but usually we find that familiarity helps in cases of amnesia.”
“Is this because of the head injury?” Midoriya asked.
“Possibly, though there’s no sign of anything more than bruising. It’s also possible that the villain he was fighting had a quirk that caused the amnesia. Unfortunately, not knowing any more details I can’t say how long it will be before he regains his memories- if he does at all. You should inform his agency that he should be on medical leave until we have more information; if it is related to his head injury, then being in the field could cause permanent brain damage.” The doctor pulled out some papers from behind the chart and handed them to Midoriya. “I’ll have a nurse come in to officially discharge you and provide paperwork for the agency, but here are some important contacts in case anything gets worse, or you have any questions.”
“Thank you,” Midoriya bowed to her as she left, before turning to Fuyumi. “Do you think he’ll be okay with me? I don’t want to overwhelm him if he still thinks he’s at UA and-”
“The doctor said it would be best for him to be in his own home,” Fuyumi responded, placing a gentle hand on Midoriya’s shoulder. “If anyone can help him, it would be you.”
“I’m not a child,” Todoroki grumbled from the bed, and the two turned to him, almost in shock. “It sounds like I’m an adult, yes?”
Fuyumi and Midoriya shared nervous glances before nodding at him. Todoroki crossed his arms in frustration. “Then let me make my own decisions.”
Midoriya spoke slowly, clearly finding the words he wanted to say along the way. “It’s not that we don’t trust you to make your own decisions, Shouto, it’s just that… well… A lot has happened since we were… you said fifteen so… first years. And April!” He seemed shocked like he was hit with a realization. “We weren’t even in the dorms yet, and the whole training camp didn’t happen. Did you even have your first internship? Wait, do you remember the sports festival?”
“How old am I?” Todoroki kept his attention on his sister, pointedly ignoring the rambling of the man who he still didn’t understand why he was present.
“You’re twenty-one, Shouto. You’re a pro hero now, actually. Mom’s even come home and Natsuo is doing his rotations for medical school. And you’re-” she cut herself off to share a look with Midoriya, and neither of them looked like they wanted to admit something. “It’s October, by the way. The third.”
“I see,” Todoroki hummed. “Mom’s home?”
Fuyumi nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, she’s been released for a while, since the middle of your second year, actually.”
His eyes linger down to his left hand, as he mulls over those words. He wonders if he’s seen her; he can’t remember seeing her for so long, and if she came home in his second year, that meant it was around eleven years since he would have seen her. He supposes she must be doing well if she was released, but maybe his father kept the two away. Most likely, he decided; she wouldn’t have wanted to see him anyway. Which meant it was now sixteen years if he was already twenty-one. More than his life that he could remember.
“She and I lived together for a couple of years, until right after you graduated,” Fuyumi continued. “Then she moved back in with father. It’s just them in the house now, but they seem to enjoy it.”
Todoroki hoped that his father treated her better once he graduated, when it was decided that it wouldn’t be ‘unbearable’ for her to live there. “Do I live alone?”
“Shouto… you, um…”
“We’re roommates,” Midoriya interrupted. “We live together since we work for the same agency, and it made the most sense, you know.”
Todoroki lowered his eyes but gave no indication to what he was thinking. “I see.”
Before he had a chance to ask any other questions, a nurse came into the room with a stack of papers they handed to Midoriya, before giving him discharge instructions. “I know I don’t have to tell Deku this but remember to keep an eye on his wounds; we want them clean and dry. The doctor gave you some contacts for if you have any concerns, but if things progress worse and he has any trouble with paralysis or slurring speech, or if he doesn’t wake up with reasonable effort, bring him back here immediately. If you don’t have any other questions, you’re free to leave whenever you’re ready.”
Midoriya and Fuyumi thanked the nurse, while Todoroki remained silently frustrated at the fact that nobody wanted to talk to him about his own amnesia. When the nurse left, Midoriya was the one to address him. “Do you… want to go home, Shou- um…?” He shuffled through the papers he was given, realizing he had no idea what to expect between the two of them.
“I don’t have space for another person, but I’m sure mom and dad wouldn’t mind you staying with them, if you’d prefer,” Fuyumi offered.
“Let’s go, Midoriya,” Todoroki responded, standing from the bed. He gripped the edge for a moment, as he regained his balance. “I’m fine,” he insisted, seeing the look the two in the room gave him.
“R-right, let’s go home,” Midoriya smiled brightly, as if to reassure himself that things would be fine.
“I’ll see you soon, Shouto,” his sister patted his shoulder. “I’ll let everyone know you’re okay. Well, mostly, I guess.”
“Thank you,” was all he said, before following his rival out the door.