A New Path For A Newly Shattered Mind

by Bee_has_writers_block

Summary:

After a particularly bad incident with his father, Shoto has had enough. He's done. He can't do this anymore. He takes off in a poorly planned escape attempt and in his desperation to find somewhere to go that isn't home, he makes a decision that will alter his life forever. For better or for worse, who knows? He'll have to find out as he goes.

Shoto really regretted waking up today. If he focused, he could vaguely hear the voices of his siblings, sounding muffled and far away as they shouted, presumably attempting to give each other orders, one of them ensuring that their little brother didn't suffer a brutal, premature death on the training room floor while the other called emergency services. Focusing took energy, and energy was something he was severely lacking as his vision blurred and his consciousness faded. He'd much rather sleep. Everything hurt, and he was vaguely aware of blood soaking through his shirt, and his clothing sticking uncomfortably to various places where his skin had been broken or burned. He felt a cold hand cup his cheek, too big to be Fuyumi's, and far too gentle to be his father's, so it must have been Natsuo's. This was confirmed when he heard his big brother's voice, softer than usual, but with more than a slight tinge of panic as he desperately urged the teen on the floor in front of him to stay awake.

His heart hurt at that. Shoto knew there was a chance if he went to sleep that he wouldn't wake up, the headache he currently had was a clear indication of head trauma of some sort, and he knew that as a medical student, Natsuo was well aware of that. From Natsuo's perspective, he could very well lose his baby brother if he didn't do something while they waited for emergency services to arrive, and he knew this wasn't the first time the Todoroki family had been faced with the death of one of their own. The tragic, unexpected death of the eldest Todoroki sibling, Touya, sprung to mind.

He mentally apologized to his big brother and big sister, who could just barely be heard sobbing as she attempted to convey the situation to the operator over the phone, but he couldn't stay awake. He didn't want to. It hurt too much. Shoto wanted it to go away. He was grateful to know that they both cared about him. While he couldn't quite make out Natsuo's words, judging by his tone, he was attempting to comfort and reassure him in what may very well be his final moments, attempting to give the teen hope that he'd be alright even though neither really believed it.

His consciousness finally faded into nothing, losing all of his senses to the void as he drifted off, unsure of whether he wanted to wake up after this.

How exactly did this happen? His father. That's how.

He hadn't meant to upset his father, he didn't even know what he'd done to upset him. He just had somehow and this was the result. He was paying the price for a mistake he'd unknowingly, accidentally made, potentially with his life.

What felt like seconds later, but was probably hours, days, maybe even weeks later, he groaned and opened his eyes slowly, finding himself on a much more comfortable surface than the tatami mats that made up the floor of the training room at the manor, much softer than his own futon. He could no longer hear screaming or sobbing, and his older siblings' voices were no longer present at all. All he could hear was the steady, rhythmic beeping of a machine, muffled voices coming from outside... wherever he currently was, and the hum of a radiator or something. He still had a headache, though it was slightly less intense than it had been before he lost consciousness.

When his vision came into focus, he realized just where he was, and he didn't like it.

He was in a hospital room.

He didn't like hospitals and didn't trust doctors. Usually, Endeavour neglected to take him to any sort of doctor or hospital for any purpose, even when he found himself sick or seriously injured. He'd never even been for a routine checkup. He had personal doctors come to the manor to patch him up. They never questioned the blatant signs of abuse. They weren't paid to question, and even if they were, they didn't care. Endeavour paid them generous amounts of money for them to care for Shoto, not about Shoto.

The only person in the medical field he ever did and ever would trust was his big brother Natsuo.

Natsu-nii cared about him.

Natsu-nii loved him.

Natsu-nii got rid of the pain and the sickness and comforted him.

Natsu-nii was brave enough to yell at their father for hurting him.

Natsu-nii wasn't there because he was paid to be. He wasn't paid to care. He had no obligation to care.

But he did.

Natsu-nii was there because he wanted to be.

Because he loved him and wanted to care for him.

He could trust Natsu-nii.

He could not trust doctors or hospitals.

They were strangers to him.

They could hurt him without a second thought.

They were scary.

He jolted into a sitting position, now on high alert, though being rewarded with the immediate feeling of searing pain tearing through various spots across his torso, flinching and wrapping his arms around himself, tears pricking at his eyes as he struggled to get a hold of himself.

At that moment, a nurse entered his room holding a clipboard, possibly having come to check the readings on the machines.

Shoto immediately threw himself into self-preservation mode, flying to the headboard and curling in on himself as best as he could, trying his best to look intimidating, though not doing a very good job as he curled up like a scared child, glaring with teary, frightened, confused eyes.

The nurse perked up at the sudden movement, realizing that the teen was very much awake and very unhappy with his current situation.

"Woah, hey now kid, settle down! I'm not gonna hurt you. I get that you went through something scary, and I get that you're not comfortable waking up in a new place full of strangers, but I promise you we're here to help, okay?" She spoke, placing her clipboard on a nearby table and raising her hands in the air, attempting to convey that she wasn't a threat.

Shoto glared harder, pressing himself as close as he could to the headboard of his hospital bed, still not quite as threatening-looking as he hoped to be.

"Listen, kid. Now that you're awake, I'm gonna have to run some tests to figure out how you're recovering, okay? I know you might not like that, but it's protocol. I have to do it. What I can do though, is call someone to keep you company while I run them. Looking at your contact list here, how would you like me to call your dad?" The nurse offered gently.

"No!" Shoto shouted immediately, catching the woman off-guard with the small, shaky, vulnerable tone that escaped him, though she didn't bother to question it regardless.

"Okay..." She took a moment to regain composure after the unexpected, very emotional reaction from her patient, "Is there anyone you want me to call?"

The teen continued to glare at her, watching the stranger's every move, though relenting enough to mumble out a somewhat pouty "Natsu-nii."

The nurse checked the clipboard, presumably running through the contact list to decipher who he was referring to before her face lit up in recognition, "Ah, your older brother Natsuo?"

Shoto nodded firmly. Natsu-nii knew medical stuff. Maybe he'd be able to tell if the strangers were doing real tests or if they were trying to hurt him.

Natsu-nii could protect him here.

"Alright, that's fine. I'll call him and tell him you've woken up. He's been really worried about you, y'know. He's been here every day since you were brought here, and he always asks if we're taking proper care of you. It's sweet to see him care so much about you," She smiled sweetly before turning to the phone mounted on the wall, glancing between her clipboard and the keypad as she dialled his brother's number.

He wasn't paying attention to the one-sided conversation that ensued, though he didn't take his eyes off of the nurse for a second, still watching for any sign that she may be a threat.

When she hung up, she moved the stool beside his bed a little further away, sensing that her patient wouldn't be comfortable with her being so close when it was just the two of them. He'd undergone serious trauma, his patient report said as much, though she was unclear of the exact circumstances, "Alright, Mr. Todoroki. How about we have a little chat while we wait? I promise there will be no tests until your brother gets here, okay?"

Shoto continued staring for a moment longer before hesitantly nodding. He'd play along for now, but if things got weird, he'd bail.

"Okay, good. We'll start with something simple. Can you please tell me your full name?" She began.

"...Shoto Todoroki," The teen spoke.

"Good. How old are you?" The nurse asked.

"Fifteen."

"Right, now who are you living with currently?" She continued.

"...Father and Yumi-nee. Natsu-nii only lives with us when he comes home from college."

"Your file says as much. What about your mother? Does she live elsewhere?" The woman inquired.

"...Mama doesn't live with us. They took her away a long time ago. They said she was dangerous. I dunno where she is," Shoto answered hesitantly, his voice coming out a childlike whimper as he mentioned his beloved mother.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know why... 'they' said she was dangerous?"

Shoto glared at the stranger before speaking again, "She's not dangerous. They're liars. He lied. He said she was crazy. She's not crazy. He hurt her. He did that to her. He wanted her away from us. That's why he made them take her away."

"I see..." The woman flipped to a blank page on her clipboard and started taking notes. She was concerned by the answers she was receiving, but she didn't want to pressure the teen and give him more reason to distrust her, "Do you remember what happened before you came here? Your father told me you were attacked by a villain."

Shoto was angry now.

Yeah, he was attacked by a villain alright.

But unbeknownst to everyone except him and his family, the villain in question was his father.

"He's lying! I wasn't attacked by a villain! It was him! He hurt me!" The two-toned boy shouted, attempting to stand from the bed.

"Are... Are you sure that's what happened? Maybe you don't remember correctly. Try to calm down and remember as best as you can," She instructed.

"I do remember! He's lying, I'm telling you! I'm telling the truth! I'm not a liar! I'm not!" He insisted, starting to throw a fit as he grew more frustrated. His mismatched eyes were wild and angry as he glared at her.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, Mr. Todoroki. Patients are trying to rest in the other rooms," The nurse responded.

Luckily for both of them, there was a knock on the door. The nurse sighed in relief as she stood and opened the door, letting in a dishevelled Natsuo. The college student clearly dropped everything to get to the hospital as fast as possible once he was called.

His eyes immediately flicked to his brother, attempting to gather the condition the teen was now in, blinking when he saw his unusually angry, hostile little brother standing beside his bed, breathing heavily and eyes trained on the woman, who looked somewhat tired and frustrated.

"Shoto? I'm here, buddy. You asked for me?" He spoke softly, stepping further into the room so that he could clearly be seen, "How are you doing? You feeling okay?"

The tension left the teen upon seeing his big brother, aggressive stance dropping as he instead pouted and reached for him, unable to get too far from the bed due to the wires he now realized he was still attached to.

The med student recognized the gesture, unusual for the boy, but he supposed it wasn't too out of the ordinary, he had just suffered head trauma. He made his way over to his brother and wrapped his arms around the teen, allowing him to snuggle in as close as he could.

"M' not okay, Natsu-nii. She kept asking me questions. She thinks I'm a liar, but I'm not! I'm telling her the truth and she won't believe me!" Shoto whined, now on the verge of tears.

"Okay, okay. Deep breaths, Shoto. I've got you. Natsu-nii's here. It's okay, you're okay," Natsuo comforted, rubbing the teen's back and allowing him a moment to gather himself before he attempted to figure out what was going on.

He took a seat on the bed, gesturing for Shoto to do the same. The nurse sat back in her stool, prepared to continue now that her patient's guardian was here.

"Mr. Todoroki-" The nurse attempted.

"Natsuo. Just Natsuo is fine."

"Right. Natsuo, I've asked your brother here what happened to get him here, and he seems insistent that it was your father who harmed him. When I asked if he was remembering correctly, he got agitated and threw a fit. Could you perhaps give me a clearer picture of what happened? Seeing as he just woke up, I figured he may not be completely aware of what's going on at the moment," The woman explained.

Natsuo sighed, already seeing what had Shoto so angry, and already sharing his baby brother's frustration, "I assure you, while the head trauma may have affected his behaviour, it hasn't affected his memory. He is telling the truth."

"Are you certain? When he was first admitted last week, your father reported that your brother had been attacked by a villain," The nurse pushed.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm certain. I was in the manor when it happened. I was the one who heard Shoto scream, I was the one who heard our father yelling at him, I was the one who walked in to see Shoto bleeding out on the floor, and I was the one to stay with him and make sure he didn't die while we waited for the ambulance to show. This line of questioning is completely unprofessional, and I apologize if I sound rude, but I'd appreciate if you could do your job instead of excessively questioning a clearly traumatized patient. I may still be in med school, but even I already know for a fact that if a patient discloses abuse, you're supposed to investigate it, not tell the patient they're delusional," Natsuo growled out, forgoing any sense of professionalism for the moment.

"Mr. Todoroki-" The woman attempted again.

"Natsuo."

The nurse sighed, "Natsuo. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of the severity of the allegations you're implying, and I'm sure I don't need to remind you of who exactly your father is. The number two hero would never do the things you're accusing him of. I'm going to have to ask you to drop this absurdity and tell me the truth about what happened, or I'll have to inform the authorities about this."

Shoto had heard enough. He stood back up from the bed, tore the I.Vs and wires out, and sprinted out the door, ignoring the various shouts and confusion around him as he made a beeline for the front door, not stopping once he'd made it out. He didn't know where he was running, but he didn't care at the moment.

He kept running until he was sure he had lost anyone who could potentially be searching for him, finally stopping in a random alley to catch his breath.

Unfortunately for him, he hadn't quite registered the fact that he'd just woken up from what the nurse had informed them was a week-long 'coma' due to head trauma, and whether or not he was awake now didn't matter to his still injured body. He still had head trauma.

His body very quickly let him know what a horrible idea bolting across the city was by first reminding him of the pain in his torso and then forcing him to lose consciousness there in the alleyway.

Well, that was an issue. He hadn't died so far, would he die now? Would he finally give in to his injuries? Or would someone find and kill him here where no one would find him?

He honestly couldn't care less. He still wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to wake up.

He didn't want to wake up in this dirty, isolated alleyway by himself (or with any unwanted guests). He didn't want to wake up back at the hospital. He didn't want to wake up back at the manor.

He wanted to wake up in a nice, cozy place with his mama and older siblings. Somewhere none of them would be hurt ever again. Somewhere without his father.

But he couldn't. It was impossible.

...

Natsuo was probably looking for him now.

He felt bad for running away like that. Natsuo had tried defending him, even risking his safety in order to make sure that he could have a chance to get away from their father, and he'd just... run away.

Did Fuyumi know what had happened? He had no idea. The only thing he did know was that she'd be just as worried when she did inevitably find out.

And his mama... He honestly had no idea what his mother would think if she ever learned of his disappearance. Would she be relieved that the monster that lived in her home was gone? Or would she break down further at the realization that she'd lost yet another of her babies? Would she feel responsible? Would she feel guilty?

He hoped not.

He wasn't aware of how long he was out for, but it must've been a few hours. When he slowly came to, he was aware that it was significantly darker outside than it had been previously. So it was nighttime. Were people still looking for him? That would be a problem, if so. He didn't want to go back home. His father would be furious, and he might just wind up back in the hospital.

He remembered the conversation he and Natsuo had had with the nurse and felt angry all over again.

She hadn't believed him. She was supposed to help him. She was supposed to keep him safe.

But she hadn't.

She thought he was a liar.

She said it herself. The number two hero would never do the things they had accused him of.

She had threatened to call the police and tell them what they had said. Not to help them, not to report their father, but to punish them for their 'lies'.

Fine then. If she wasn't going to do anything, if the police wouldn't do anything, then he would deal with his father himself.

If his father was capable of nearly murdering him without a second thought, then he was definitely capable of hurting his siblings. He couldn't let that happen. They didn't deserve that.

He would protect them by any means necessary.

He would be a hero.

Even if he had to become a villain in the process.

Now determined, he picked himself off the ground and took in his surroundings.

He recognized where he was. He could get back to the manor from here.

He didn't want to go home, but he would have to, just for a few moments, in order to go through with this.

He took care not to let anyone see him as he snuck through the streets on his way back. Unfortunately, he was extremely recognizable, and people were definitely looking for him.

When he finally got back to the manor, he took care to avoid the security cameras littered throughout the area, sneaking in and heading to his own room.

He quickly and quietly went through his drawers, pulling out the first thing he found, a simple T-shirt, a pair of black jeans and an old hoodie that barely fit him anymore, and got changed, shoving the hospital gown he'd been wearing in a backpack for now. He'd get rid of it later, but he couldn't leave any traces that he was here.

His father didn't seem to be home, thank goodness, he was probably out searching for him, but he could hear his siblings arguing in the next room.

Fuyumi seemed to have found out that they'd tried exposing their father and was frantically attempting to explain why that was a horrible idea.

Shoto sighed. He loved Fuyumi, and he knew she wanted the best for them, but she was far too stubborn. Especially with her belief that they could be a normal family. It was impossible, but she was willing to ignore all of their father's faults in favour of trying to persuade them that he was imperfect and that he really did love them deep down. (He didn't.)

Meanwhile, Natsuo was shutting down everything she was trying to say, informing him that almost murdering his youngest son does not indicate any form of 'good' inside the man and that he didn't deserve the praise she constantly gave him. That she should wake up and realize that he was an abusive, irredeemable asshole who never loved any of them, had caused the death of their older brother, had now driven half their family insane, and now had been the reason for the disappearance of their little brother.

He felt bad for causing his siblings to argue like this, but no one can know where he is. He needs to grab what he needs to grab and get out.

Internally apologizing to his older siblings, he moved to his father's office, rifling through the drawers, swiping a bunch of files and stuffing them in his bag, taking care to leave everything else as it was so that he didn't suspect anything (at least right away).

He decided he'd take a generous amount of money from the desk as well before he left. It's not like it would even put a significant dent in Endeavour's personal assets. He would need it much more.

He exited the manor the same way he came, sprinting back into cover as he made his way back through the city. He knew roughly where he was trying to go. It would defeat the place's whole purpose to have explicit directions, but he knew where it was speculated to be, so he'd just go from there. Luckily, not many people hung around where he was going, and head trauma or no head trauma, he could handle anyone who attacked him.

He found himself in a shady part of town, walking through the dilapidated streets until he lit up upon seeing the stairs leading down to an old run-down bar.

He prepared himself for potential chaos, bracing for a potential fight as he pulled his hood and adjusted his backpack straps.

Taking a deep breath, he walked down the steps, knocked on the door, and waited.

The door was answered by an innocent-looking schoolgirl who looked to be around his age. They stared at each other for a moment before Shoto realized he should start speaking.

"Uhm... Is this the League of Villains base?" He questioned awkwardly.

"Depends... Are you here to join? Or do you have a death wish?" She asked playfully.

"I want to join," Shoto answered straightforwardly.

"Ooh, new member! Alrighty then! Follow me and we'll see how the boss likes you!" She giggled, stepping aside to let him in, following him closely as he was led deeper into the building, "Shiggy! I think we have a new recruit! The new guy here says he wants in!"

She skipped over to a young man sat at the bar. He didn't look anything like Shoto expected a boss to look like, he had messy, light-blue hair and dry skin, he was wearing all black, and he had a game console in his hands. Well, sort of. He had one finger off of the console on each hand. Shoto wondered if his quirk involved five-point contact.

Everyone in the bar turned to look at him, making the teen vaguely uncomfortable with all the stares. He'd only heard whispers about an underground group, but he'd heard they were dangerous. That's why he figured they'd be good allies to have, but he'd have to earn their trust.

He looked Shoto up and down and turned around to face him properly, resting his arms on his knees as he leaned forward, "Alright, kid. Let's start with your name and quirk."

Shoto took a breath and braced for the potential chaos yet again, keeping his gaze neutral, not showing a hint of fear as he pulled off his hood and introduced himself, "My name is Shoto Todoroki. My quirks are called Half-Cold, Half-Hot. Do you need to know anything else?"

He sensed the surprise coming from all of the members in the room. The boss glared at him as if he were trying to sense his intentions.

"You're Endeavour's kid," He stated matter-of-factly as if Shoto hadn't known that, "Fine, I'll bite. Give us more on your quirks and then tell us what the hell you're doing here."

"Half-Cold lets me make ice with my right side, and Half-Hot lets me make fire with my left. I can use my ice to make things like paths, shields, and spears. I haven't used my fire in years, so I'm not as good with it, but it's still strong. I'm here because I want to get back at Endeavour," The two-toned boy replied, reaching into his backpack and pulling out all of the files he'd collected, throwing them in the leader's direction, watching him skim through them briefly.

"Huh. Official documents, police reports... They're the real thing. Alright, so why do you want to take your old man down so bad?" The blue-haired man inquired.

"He's a monster. He's angry because he's not the number one hero, so he decided to make his kids do it for him. He does nothing but hurt his family, he only got married so that he could have kids with 'the perfect quirk', and he only had kids so that he could train them to beat All Might. I was the only one who had the quirks he wanted, so he ignored my brothers and sister, and he used 'training' as an excuse to hurt me. He's been doing it since I was five, he doesn't care that he's already wrecked my family. My oldest brother died because of him, and he had my mom taken away to a hospital when he finally broke her. He doesn't deserve to be a hero, I want him to hurt the way he hurt us," Shoto responded.

The room was silent for a moment as the League digested that information.

"I have proof if you don't believe me," The teen offered, removing his hoodie and his t-shirt and leaving them on the floor while he undid his bandages, revealing the burn marks, bruises, and broken skin littering his torso, "I can't do this to myself because I have more on my back, and my left side is made for my fire, but Endeavour's fire is hotter than mine, he can burn me. He did this a week ago. I didn't know until today when I woke up in the hospital. He never takes me to the hospital, even when I'm sick or hurt badly. I tried telling the nurse what he did, but she told me I was a liar and that I didn't remember what happened right because I got hit in the head and went into a coma. She didn't even believe my brother when he told her I was telling the truth, and he was there when it happened. She told us she'd call the police and tell them that we were trying to 'ruin the number two hero'."

He heard at least one person audibly wince at the sight of the injuries, and he heard a 'well, fuck' from somewhere else in the room.

"Give us a minute, kid," The leader spoke after a minute or two, gesturing for the room to huddle up.

Shoto nodded and stepped back, busying himself with putting his shirt and hoodie back on to give them as much privacy as he could while in the same room. He was trying not to listen, but a few of the members were a bit louder than intended. He heard a "C'mon, Shiggy! Let's let the pretty boy in!" from the girl who'd let him in, and he caught a "We should give the poor boy a chance. He needs help," from another. The rest were mostly talking about how useful he would be if they let him in.

After a minute or so of deliberation, they separated and the leader turned to address him again, "Alright, kid. Looks like you're in. We'll help you with your little revenge quest, but you're a member of the League now. That means you do what we tell you, and you cooperate on missions, got it?"

The two-toned boy nodded, bowing slightly. He was excited, but maybe they'd prefer it if he were quiet and respectful, "I'm good at that."

"Good. Toga, help the new member settle in," The blue-haired man instructed, turning back to his game.

"Got it, Shiggy!" The schoolgirl piped up, grabbing Shoto by the hand and dragging him off down a hall, "Okay! So these are our rooms, everyone has their own, this one's yours!"

She led him into a somewhat empty room, the only furniture of note being a desk with a chair, a dresser, and a bed. It looked just about as run-down as the rest of the building, but he was expecting that.

Hey, at least he had a proper bed for the first time in his life. He'd take it.

"Okay, thank you... um..." Shoto trailed off, now realizing he didn't know anyone's names. That would be a problem if they were going to be his teammates from now on.

"Oh riiight, you don't know anyone here! Okay then, my name is Himiko Toga! Everyone here calls me Toga, mostly. Except for Dabi. He usually calls me vampire or crazy, but he always calls people by nicknames. He was the guy with the black hair and all the scars and staples all over the place. You met the boss. His name is Tomura Shigaraki, but I call him Shiggy! Kurogiri is the misty-looking guy, he's usually behind the bar unless we're on missions, then he's our escape guy, Spinner is the guy with the lizard quirk, Mr. Compress is the magician-looking guy, Twice is the guy in the mask, and then big sis Magne is the tall lady with the sunglasses!" Toga listed off each member. Luckily, Shoto had been paying attention to the others in the room, because Toga was very talkative and talked very fast, so Shoto would have been lost if he hadn't been paying attention.

"Okay, I'll remember that. Thank you, Toga."

"Oh! Oh! By the way, I've been real curious ever since you showed up at the door, but how old are you? I know your family's famous and everything, but I don't keep up with hero stuff, so I dunno anything about 'em," She asked.

"I turned fifteen in January. I was gonna start my first year of high school this April. My family isn't really famous, though. It's just Endeavour. He doesn't care enough about the rest of us to let the world know we exist. He's mentioned me a few times because I'm supposed to be his weapon or whatever, but I don't think anyone knows I even have siblings," The two-toned boy answered.

Toga gasped dramatically at the answer, startling Shoto for a moment.

"You're almost the same age as me! I'm fifteen right now, but I'm turning sixteen this year! That means I'm not the youngest member anymore! All the rest of the league are adults, so it gets annoying sometimes 'cause some of them treat me like a little kid. You know how that feels, right?" The schoolgirl spoke.

"A little, yeah. My siblings are adults too. My big sister likes talking to me like a five-year-old, but I think that's because she's an elementary school teacher so she has trouble turning it off. My big brother and big sister both treat me like a kid, but I guess it makes sense, they don't know me that well 'cause they weren't allowed near me growing up. They dunno how to treat me so they end up babying me a little sometimes. My big brother knows when to stop most of the time, though. I don't mind it too much, they're just trying to be good older siblings, but it can be a lot sometimes. No one's ever treated me that nicely since my mom, and I haven't seen her since I was five," The younger teen admitted.

"Really? What was your mom like?" Toga asked curiously, shutting his bedroom door and moving to sit on his bed, patting on it to gesture him to sit down with her. Preparing to listen intently. Shoto was never good at reading people, but he could already tell she was curious by nature.

"She was gentle. She always wanted to protect me, and she treated me really well. My father hurt her a lot because of it, but she wanted to keep me safe more than she was afraid of him, so she kept doing it. I... don't remember much of her besides that. My father drove her insane, and she got so scared of him that she couldn't even look at me without thinking of him because of my left side. It looked too much like him, so one day, she snapped and threw boiling water on my face. She didn't mean to, she snapped out of it right after and started crying and telling me she was sorry, she tried using her quirk to fix it, but it still hurt, and the ice she made with her quirk was the reason it left a scar. I still love her, and I miss her a lot, but it made me sad that she hurt me because I looked like him," The two-toned boy responded, subconsciously touching the scar on his face.

"She seems nice. My parents both sucked. I don't like them at all. They kept trying to get me to be 'normal'. I already am normal! Just 'cause most people don't think so doesn't mean it's not true! They always said I was creepy 'cause of my smile and 'cause my quirk makes me crave blood!" The older teen ranted pouting as she crossed her arms.

"Sometimes people are dumb. I wouldn't really know anything about 'normal' 'cause I wasn't allowed around anyone other than my father for most of my life, and he wasn't 'normal' at all, but he always tried to get me to act 'normal' too. I didn't get to watch TV or go outside and play with other kids, I've never even gotten to play with my older siblings even though I wanted to. I don't get other people easily and I dunno how to talk to people. I don't get a lot of words people my age say, I don't get sayings or expressions, and I can't talk to people about hobbies or interests 'cause I don't get other people's interests and I was never allowed to have any of my own, so people say I'm weird or rude 'cause I don't know what to say," Shoto replied.

"See?! You get it! People don't understand us so they say we're weird. We're not weird! We're just different! It's them who are weird! They reject anyone who isn't 'normal' but won't teach us what 'normal' even means. They just expect us to change who we are 'cause they don't like it. Why can't they change for us if it's so easy?" Toga exclaimed.

"Mhm, they won't try to understand us, so why should we try to understand them? If 'normal' means I can't be friends with some people because they're different, then I don't want to be normal. I don't think it's all that fun to be just like everyone else anyway. It's nice to find people who are like me sometimes, but I wouldn't want everyone to be the same. I like different," The two-toned boy agreed, "Besides, their 'weird' doesn't make any sense anyway. I just met you a few minutes ago and I don't think you're weird at all. I don't think you're creepy, either. I don't get why they'd call you those things."

Toga lit up at that last comment, seeming to catch her off-guard, but making her happy nonetheless as she smiled widely, fangs on full display as she seemed to glow. Shoto could almost see sparkles in her eyes.

"You don't?! I really, really don't look creepy to you?!" She asked.

Shoto shook his head insistently, mindful not to worsen his headache from his still-present head injury, "No, I think you look pretty. I like seeing people smile. You look different, but I like it. Your eyes and your fangs kinda remind me of a cat's, and I like cats. They're cute."

Toga seemed to brighten even more, which the younger teen hadn't thought would be possible. She squealed happily and tackled Shoto into a big hug, nuzzling her face into his chest. It took Shoto off-guard, but he quickly found that he didn't mind it. He liked the hug. It hurt a little, due to his injuries, especially since they had been unbandaged, but he found that the warm, fuzzy feeling he got from it made the pain worth it.

When she let go, she was still grinning wildly.

"It's decided! We're best friends now! You can call me Himiko and we can do lots of stuff together! I'll show you lots of fun stuff to do and we'll be a team from now on!"

"If I get to call you Himiko, then you get to call me Shoto. I've never had friends before, but I think I'm gonna like it. Thank you for being my first one, Himiko," Shoto replied, finding her complete and utter glee to be contagious as he found himself smiling brightly and genuinely for the first time in years.

"C'mon, c'mon, Shoto! We should go see the others! You should get to know them better too now that you're an official member!" Himiko urged, taking him by the hand again and pulling him back into the bar.

"I figured you'd both come back in here eventually. Todoroki, sweetie, I brought you some fresh bandages and antiseptic. Mind showing me your injuries real fast? I'll get you patched up good as new for now," One of the members (Shoto was sure this was Magne. She was the only girl here besides Himiko) spoke, holding up the medical items for him to see.

"Oh... okay," Shoto replied hesitantly. He didn't quite trust anyone other than Natsuo to patch up his injuries, but he wouldn't be able to have Natsuo do that for him anymore, so he supposed he'd better get used to it. Besides, Himiko was good, he could trust her, and she apparently really liked Magne, even regarding her as a big sister, so maybe he could too.

The older woman gestured for him to sit beside her on the couch, placing the items on the table as the two-toned boy complied, sitting down and removing his top again.

"Alright, I'll try to make this quick, don't worry. It might sting a little, so you might want to brace yourself, but I promise I won't hurt you," She assured, gesturing for the teen to move a bit closer.

Shoto nodded and slid closer slightly, trying his best to sit still as instructed.

The second he felt the cold, wet gauze pad on his back, he flinched, Magne pulling away to give him a second to recover.

"Sorry, did that hurt?" She questioned.

"No. I didn't really feel it. Sorry, I've never had anyone but my older brother take care of me when I'm hurt. I'm not used to this. I'll try not to move," The two-toned boy apologized.

"It's okay, I know it's uncomfortable, I don't blame you for flinching. I know we're strangers right now, but I meant it when I said I wouldn't hurt you. This is your new home, you can trust us here," The older woman soothed.

Shoto nodded, getting somewhat teary-eyed. So Magne was nice too. She and Himiko had been so nice to him, it was unfamiliar, but welcome.

So why was he sad?

Oh.

He missed his siblings already.

"Are you okay, Shoto? You look sad now," Himiko asked as Magne resumed cleaning the wounds.

"Mhm, I just realized I left my siblings like this. I just woke up from a coma, and they know how badly I was hurt. I told the nurse to call my brother so that he could be there when she ran tests, but she didn't even get to. I ran out after she told us she'd call the police on us, so he knows I'm awake, but he doesn't know how I'm doing. He and my sister both saved me, he stayed with me and tried to keep me awake while my sister called the ambulance, and I just ran off. They're gonna think I just ran away and died in the streets somewhere. I don't want to do that to them, 'specially since we've already lost our oldest brother. I know it still hurts them, and I don't want that, but there's nothing else I can do. I couldn't go back home before I ran away, and I don't want to, not that I could now, anyway. I can't stop until I get rid of him and make sure they're safe, but even after he's gone, I won't leave. There are too many things to fix, and I would never be able to fix them properly as a hero like he wanted," The younger teen answered.

The members of the League seemed to be listening intently, and Shoto could have sworn he saw one of them (what was his name again? Dabi, he was pretty sure) flinch as he mentioned Touya. Hm. There was something familiar about him, now that he was taking a closer look.

Oh well.

"Alas, sometimes sacrifices are necessary to achieve our goals. You've got a kind heart, despite the path you've chosen, but Magne said it best; this is your new home. You may still miss them, that's unavoidable, but if you allow yourself to make new memories with a new family, then it may start to hurt less, don't you think?" Another member (Mr. Compress Shoto thought), chimed in.

The two-toned boy hummed in response, turning around and allowing Magne to clean the injuries on his chest and stomach upon seeing her gesture for him to do so.

"Besiiiides, you said you were doing all this villain stuff for them, right? All the more reason to keep it up! Make the world a better place for them and then see what happens!" The masked man (Twice, Shoto was pretty sure, thank god for Himiko) piped up before immediately tacking on a loud "Or not! Who cares?!"

Shoto nodded along to their words. The League had just met him, but they were all being so kind to him. Well, all the ones who'd actively talked to him anyway. He had been raised his whole life to despise villains. That they were pure evil, subhuman even, and should never be shown even just a shred of mercy or sympathy.

But they weren't. They seemed more like troubled, outcasted rejects who'd found a home with each other and found peace through violence. They were the epitome of the phrase "hurt people hurt people". Then again, so was he.

Maybe that's why he got along so well with them.

He'd never had a single friend his whole life, but he managed to make a best friend within the first twenty minutes he'd been here.

"Oh yeah! Guess what I found out!" Himiko exclaimed suddenly, raising her hand in the air.

"What is it, crazy?" Dabi questioned, rolling his eyes as if the girl did the same thing about fifty times a day.

"I'm not the youngest member anymore!" She announced happily to the room.

"Oh? How old are you? Young Todoroki?" The one behind the bar (Kurogiri, Shoto remembered) inquired.

"I'm fifteen. My birthday was January 11th," The teen replied, lifting his arms slightly so that Magne could wrap him in bandages.

"Huh, a week before Dabi's," Spinner (Spinner?) mentioned, mostly to himself, "I dunno what the hell I was expecting, but somehow it wasn't fifteen. I can't tell if you look older or younger than you're supposed to."

"Both!" Himiko and Twice both chimed in.

"Alright, all done Todoroki. How are those injuries feeling?" Magne asked.

Shoto squirmed in place to test out the movement he was currently working with, "They're good, thank you."

"Not a problem, make sure those are getting cleaned and re-bandaged every so often, okay?" The woman instructed, standing and tossing the used gauze pads in the trash.

The two-toned boy nodded.

"So, kid. I've been thinking it over, and I realize now that you're far too high profile to go around without any sort of disguise or alias, and obviously people are going to be looking for you, so we're going to have to come up with something for both," Shigaraki spoke suddenly, taking a few steps over to him from across the room.

"I didn't even think of that, but I guess that's true. I'll try to think of something," Shoto responded.

Dabi sighed and pushed himself off the wall, "I've got some spare hair dye. I just dyed mine last week, so it'll be a while before I need to redo it. Come see me after we eat tonight or something. We'll just have to find an eyepatch or something to cover the scar. At worst, we use some bandages. It'll save you from having to find colour contacts to hide the heterochromia too. You do whatever the hell you want for the rest."

"Okay, thank you. I'll go get something to use as a disguise once my hair and scar are fixed. Until then I should probably stay hidden," The two-toned boy agreed.

"Agreed. Update us when you come up with something to use as an alias," Shigaraki instructed, leaving the room with Dabi following behind him.

Once they were gone, Himiko's attention snapped back to Shoto, gently but insistently tapping him on the arm so she didn't hurt him, "Shoto, Shoto! So do you know what you're going to use as an alias yet?"

"No. I never even had any ideas for names when I was being forced to be a hero, I never saw the point. They just seem too flashy and dramatic for no reason. They don't even have an actual purpose. I can see why villains use them, it actually keeps us hidden, but the heroes are all famous. Everyone knows their real names, it just seems braggy and useless for them. I was always just going to go by 'Shoto', so I have no ideas," The younger teen admitted.

"Oh, so I'm not the only one? Like 'All Might'? 'Endeavour'? Really? Okaaay, we get it, you think you're unkillable gods, no need to advertise it all the time," The schoolgirl replied.

"That was another reason I never wanted one. My father hates the press and stuff, but he loves the attention, so he still does media stuff. I used to want to be a hero, but I never wanted to be anything like him. I didn't wanna be flashy and intimidating, I just wanted to save people. I didn't need a hero name because I didn't wanna be someone different. 'Endeavour' is a top hero for a reason, he's strong and solves a lot of cases, but Enji Todoroki isn't a good person, husband, or father. He's different in public than he is with his family. I didn't want that. I wanted to be a good hero and a good person. There wasn't supposed to be any difference between the hero Shoto and the person Shoto. Obviously, I'm not a hero, but..." Shoto continued.

"The point still stands, yes. Very admirable, I will admit," Mr. Compress finished for him.

"Aghh, why do people always ruin the good people? I would actually like heroes if there were more like Shoto," Himiko whined, draping herself over the arm of the couch next to her friend.

"I'm... really not that great, but thank you, Himiko," The two-toned boy mumbled, a little flustered from such high praise.

"Yes, you are, shush," The older teen responded, pouting at him for a moment before she shot straight up and gasped loudly, attracting everyone's attention in the process, "I have an idea! We can help you pick your alias! Everyone here except me has one, so we should be able to come up with something!"

"I'm sure we could, what do you think, Todoroki? Would you like that, or would you prefer to choose your own?" Magne asked.

"I like that idea. I'm not really creative, I dunno how long it would take for me to figure it out myself," Shoto accepted.

"Most of our aliases tend to have something to do with our quirks, but I don't think that's wise, considering you're one of the rare few with two. Anything we tried to come up with would raise too much suspicion, and we don't want that now, do we?" Mr. Compress pointed out.

"Yeah, the kid's got two, but in case you forgot, he's got a fire quirk and an ice quirk. Both are common as hell, he wouldn't be too obvious if his alias only refers to one of 'em," Spinner suggested.

"I believe Spinner may be on to something," Kurogiri piped up from the bar, "If young Todoroki's alias only indicates one of his quirks, then we may be able to hide his identity even better. He could conceal one of his quirks for now and trick everyone into believing he only has one. Then, as we get further along with our plan, we could easily allow him to begin using both again and make it seem natural as if he'd just gained a new quirk, rather than having two from the very beginning. It's as Compress said, his quirks combined would give him away far too easily, especially if he's only gone missing. The public is under the belief that he's alive, but his whereabouts are unknown, which would raise suspicion if there were suddenly a new villain who conveniently had the same two quirks as the missing Todoroki child."

"I'll use my ice," Shoto decided, committing to the plan before anyone else could get another word in, "You already have a fire user, so I'll use my ice. That way we have a new quirk and I'll actually be useful. Besides, I'm better at using Half-Cold than Half-Hot, and I can use it in a lot more ways, too."

He felt the room stare at him momentarily, blinking as they processed.

"We... never told you our quirks. How did you know we had a fire user already?" Spinner questioned.

"Oh, that's easy. Himiko told me everyone's names when she was showing me to my room. Well, your aliases, anyway. And just now, Mr. Compress said most of your aliases have something to do with your quirks. 'Dabi' means 'cremation'. It was more of a guess than anything," The two-toned boy shrugged innocently.

"Wow, this kid's smart!" Twice chimed in, "No he's not, it was totally obvious!"

"No, no, he's correct. I applaud your intellect, young one. We chose well when we decided to take you in. You've proven that not only have quite a lot of power, but also intelligence, both on and off the battlefield, a sharp memory, logical, strategic, and quick thinking, and awareness of not only yourself but your teammates as well, taking everybody into account when planning. It can be rare to find those who have both the skill to wield such raw power and the mind to know how to most effectively wield it, especially in a setting with many people present at once. This must have been part of your training, yes?" Kurogiri analysed.

"Not all of it, no. My father taught me to pay attention and remember every detail about everything around me, he trained me to use my quirks properly, and he made sure I was ready to handle myself in a fight, but he doesn't do teamwork. He can easily explain what he's doing to other heroes, sidekicks, and police and stuff, but he'd rather order people around than take them or work with anybody. That's one thing I'm better at than he is. He's good at paying attention to the people he works with, and figuring out where they would work best in a plan, but he throws a temper tantrum if he isn't the one leading everything," The teen replied.

"That may just make your skills even more impressive. The younger the mind, the easier it can learn to develop certain skills, that's true, but young ones tend to have difficulties learning skills necessary for battle. You managed to pick them up with ease and even taught yourself skills that your father himself lacked. It wasn't something that you were taught, yet you managed to develop the skill just fine with no instruction or examples. You make for a powerful ally, that much is certain," The bartender praised.

"Thank you," The two-toned boy returned.

"Well, now that we have a plan for concealing your identity, I suppose we should begin coming up with ideas, shouldn't we?" Mr. Compress spoke up, getting them all back on topic.

Thus began their task. They'd sat there brainstorming a bunch of ice-related names that Shoto could potentially use for the next three or so minutes before it finally happened.

"Ooh, ooh! I got one! I got one!" Himiko exclaimed, shooting up from her position on the couch excitedly.

"Hm? What is it, Himiko?" Shoto asked.

"We could call you Frostbite! Just think about it! I mean you could probably give someone frostbite easy-peasy with your quirk, and aren't frostbites supposed to burn or something? I know we're not supposed to come up with a name for both of your quirks, but no one would even notice! It'd be like a sneaky secret that no one else knows!" The schoolgirl announced, quite proud of herself for her idea.

"I've only gotten frostbite once, and it was on top of a burn, so I dunno if it's actually supposed to burn, but I like the idea. I could easily give someone frostbite with Half-Cold, and one of the downsides is that I could get frostbite or something if I use it too much, so I think it fits," The younger teen responded.

"Is that a yes?!" Himiko asked.

"I like Frostbite," The two-toned boy nodded.

"Yes! Perfect!" She celebrated, throwing her fists into the air triumphantly, happy that her name had been accepted.

"I should go tell Shigaraki then, right?" Shoto, Frostbite, guessed.

"Yes, come with me, I'll assist you in divulging the plan to him," Kurogiri confirmed, stepping out from behind the bar and gesturing for the teen to follow him down the hall toward their rooms.

Shoto did as he was told and followed along quietly as Kurogiri took him through the hall, stopping in front of one of the doors to the personal rooms and knocking.

"Tomura, I have brought young Todoroki. We've come up with a plan to hide his identity, we're here to discuss the details," The man spoke.

The two-toned teen heard the leader's voice from the other side, but couldn't quite make out what he had said, or if he'd even said anything at all.

Whatever it was, though, it had been affirmative, as Kurogiri opened the door and ushered him inside.

Inside, the blue-haired man put his game console down on his desk, swivelling his chair around to face the two who'd just entered, "Alright, kid. Tell me what you've got."

"We realized while we were trying to come up with an alias that it would draw too much attention to me if I suddenly showed up with the exact same quirks as the 'missing' Todoroki kid, so I decided that I would hide Half-Hot for now. The League already has a fire user, and I'm better with Half-Cold anyway. If I do that, then I'll just look like a villain with a regular ice quirk, and they're so common that it wouldn't be too weird," Shoto divulged.

"Once we're further along with Master's plans, then we can easily have him begin the use of both of his quirks again, and make it seem like the flame quirk was not something he was born with, but rather something he'd been gifted," Kurogiri added.

Shigaraki seemed to contemplate this for a moment.

"Good. That's one problem solved, then. Did you come up with an alias yet?" He inquired.

"Yes, sir. The others helped me choose one. I've decided on Frostbite," The two-toned boy answered.

"Perfect. All we need is a disguise now and you'll be ready. Is there any equipment you think you'd need?" The leader questioned.

"I'll probably need some sort of tool for temperature control. My quirks are usually always active to keep my body's temperature balanced, so I never feel hot or cold, but when I use one quirk without the other, I either overheat or give myself hypothermia. If I'm gonna be using my ice quirk, then frost will start building up on my body after a while, and it'll make it harder for me to move. It wouldn't be good for long missions unless I had something to control my temperature without me using my fire quirk. I might also need something to help me use my quirk through both sides. I know someone's going to notice after a while that the ice is only coming from my right side. Besides, it'd be easier when I'm fighting if I can use it from either side," The teen suggested.

"I'll let our guy know and have those made then. Is that it?" The blue-haired man asked.

"For now, yes."

"Good. Welcome to the League of Villains, Frostbite," Shigaraki replied.

"Thank you, sir," Shoto bowed slightly and followed Kurogiri back through the halls and into the bar.

Himiko hopped off the couch and ran over when she saw the two re-enter the room, "So? What'd Shiggy say?!"

"He accepted the plan. I asked for support items that would balance out my body's temperature and help me use the ice on both sides of my body so I can use Half-Cold without giving myself hypothermia or giving away that I can only use it from my right side," The younger teen explained.

"Frostbite is now an official member of the League of Villains," Kurogiri added.

The schoolgirl squealed and hugged her new friend tightly, bouncing in place excitedly. Shoto was a bit more prepared for the hug this time, so he managed to remember to hug her back.

"Hey! Great news! Good to have you, newbie!" Twice exclaimed, "Ugh, not another one!"

"A sincere congratulations, Frostbite! Welcome to the League of Villains," Mr. Compress congratulated.

"Welcome to the team, kid," Spinner acknowledged.

"It's good to have you here, sweetie," Magne added, "Come sit back down! Now that everything's official, I think it would be nice for you to get to know everyone a little more, wouldn't it? Especially since you'll be going on missions and fighting with the rest of us, right?"

Frostbite nodded and sat back down on the couch.

"We should start by telling you our quirks, I suppose," Mr. Compress suggested.

"Wait, wait! I wanna see if he can guess any more!" Twice interjected, "He won't."

"Ooh, a guessing game! Let's do it!" Himiko agreed.

"That might be fun, what do you say, Frostbite? Would you like to put your observational skills to the test?" Mr. Compress offered.

"Okay, I can try. Where do I start?" Shoto accepted.

"Twice was the one who suggested it, try him first," Spinner shrugged. He knew his own quirk would be far too obvious for Shoto to guess, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't curious to see how well he did with the others.

The teen studied the masked man in front of him and thought for a moment.

"Hm. Well, I noticed that when you talk, you usually say the opposite right after. It seems more like a tic or a side effect than you trying to do it on purpose. With that and your alias, I'd say it has something to do with either some sort of split or duplication."

"Can I tell him now?" Twice asked the rest of the group, "I'll never tell!"

The rest of the group gestured for him to go ahead.

"You got it right! -No you didn't! I'm lying!- My quirk is called Double! I can create copies of myself or other people as long as I know their exact measurements and physical features! That's why I have these wristcuffs! They're measuring tapes! I can only make two at a time, but if I make clones of myself, they can create more clones and it can keep going on forever!" The man confirmed.

"That's helpful. You can get my measurements later. I'm 5'9'1/4 if that helps, but I don't know the rest of my measurements. I assume you'd need more than that," The two-toned boy responded.

"Mine is an easy one to guess, try to guess my quirk next," Magne spoke.

Frostbite turned to the woman beside him, studying her for a moment just as he had with Twice.

"That big tool you carry around. Is that a support item for your quirk?" He inquired, gesturing to the giant, cloth-wrapped rectangular tool next to her.

"Sort of, I use it to extend my quirk's capabilities rather than to use my quirk more effectively," She answered.

"Can I see it for a second?" Shoto asked.

"Of course, here you go," Magne handed the large object to the boy for him to study as well.

He ran his hand over the surface, careful not to damage it or anything.

"It's some sort of metal underneath this cloth... Does your quirk have anything to do with magnets? Your alias sounds a lot like it, and what you said about how you use the tool makes me think it does," The two-toned boy guessed.

"It does! It's called Magnetism. I can magnetize the people around me within a 4.5-metre radius. I can't magnetize myself or anyone outside of the radius, and the polarity of the people I magnetize is decided based on their sex, I can't control it myself. Men are polarized south and women are polarized north. The tool here is a giant magnet," Magne explained.

"Huh, that's cool," The teen spoke, handing back the magnet.

"Alright, do you want to try to guess mine next?" Mr. Compress asked.

"I can try," Shoto responded, studying the man as he'd done with the other two.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Himiko questioned.

"Doing what?" The two-toned boy asked.

"Every time you guess, you keep staring at people. What's that for?" The older teen observed.

"Oh. Sorry, is it weird? I'm just taking a closer look. You can get details about some people's quirks if you look closely. Sometimes there are changes to their bodies and stuff, even for emitter quirks or transformation quirks, there can be small mutations to make them easier to use, or changes in behaviour. I mentioned noticing Twice's split personality kinda thing, I'm guessing it's a side effect. Or the way Shigaraki always has a finger off whatever he's holding. I'm guessing he has a five-point-contact emitter quirk. Or your fangs, Himiko, and you mentioned that your quirk makes you crave blood. I'm guessing you have to drink it in order to use your quirk, but I don't have any guesses for what it does. My quirks are both emitter quirks, but my body is different so I can use them both without doing too much damage to myself. It's not the best example because it's not a change you can see, but you can still feel it. The left side of my body is always warm because my normal temperature on my left is higher to be able to take Half-Hot, and my right is always cool because the normal temperature on my right is lower to be able to take Half-Cold," The younger teen shrugged.

"Oh. Huh, I never noticed that. You also got my quirk pretty good," The schoolgirl blinked.

"And Tomura's," Kurogiri chimed in.

"My quirk is Transformation! If I drink someone's blood, I can turn into them for a bit! The more I drink, the longer the transformation holds, and if I drink more than one person's blood, I can turn into any of them without having to turn back into myself first! I can copy their voices and clothes, but so far, I can't copy their quirks or personalities, and their clothes get layered on top of mine, so I usually take mine off first. The blood cravings are just a side effect," Himiko explained.

"That would be helpful for spy missions," Shoto noted.

"Yup, I can be super sneaky!" She giggled.

"On the subject of Tomura's quirk, its name is Decay. As you correctly observed, it's a five-point-contact emitter-type quirk that decays anything he touches. That's why he never touches things he's holding with all five fingers. If used on a living being, it's quite lethal, as a single touch with all five fingers causes the decay to spread through the victim's entire body and kills them instantly, though it also works just as well on inanimate objects," Kurogiri informed.

"Oh, so that's why. I thought it was something like that," Frostbite hummed.

"Well, you're five for five technically, if you count you guessing Dabi's earlier, try to guess Compress'," Spinner spoke, getting the teen back on topic.

"Hm, does it let you make things smaller or confine them to a smaller space?" The teen guessed.

"Yes, actually. My quirk is called 'Compress'. If I touch someone or something, I can confine them to a small marble, reducing their size and weight. I can release the contents of a select few marbles if I please, though I can also release all of them at once," Mr. Compress confirmed.

"Six for six now, holy shit," Spinner piped up, "My quirk is obvious as hell, so I'll just tell you. It's called Gecko. Obviously a mutant quirk, and I can basically stick to walls and shit."

"That's cool," Shoto replied. For some reason, mutant quirks always fascinated him. He had no idea why people hated them so much.

"I don't have any clear indicator of my quirk like the others, so I suppose I'll just tell you as well. My quirk is called 'Warp Gate'. Using the mist that I generate from my body, I can create a portal of sorts. I can create several at once, but at least a part of my body needs to be present in the location for me to open any," Kurogiri explained.

"Oh, so that's what Himiko meant when she said you usually help with escapes," The teen realized.

"Yes, that's correct. My quirk is best used for escape, though I also occasionally use it to deflect attacks in battle," The bartender confirmed.

"And then there's Dabi's! You already guessed it was a fire quirk, but I'll explain it anyway. Dabi says his quirk is called Blue Flame! It's kinda similar to your Half-Hot quirk, now that I think about it, but his fire is blue because it's super, super hot! And he can use it from all over his body, obviously. He says the downside is that his body can't take the fire, though. That's why he's got so many scars all over the place," Himiko explained.

Shoto froze for a moment at that, "...What?"

"Hm? What's up?" She asked.

None of them understood the strange reaction, but before they knew it, the two-toned boy was shaking and his breathing had quickened considerably. A panic attack.

"Oh shit. Uh..." Spinner shot up off the ground, looking around to figure out what to do.

"Shoto?! Are you okay?" Himiko asked.

"Nobody panic! We've got this!" Twice assured, "WHAT DO WE DO?!"

"Calm down, everyone! The poor boy won't be able to come down from a panic attack if everyone is screaming," Mr. Compress attempted.

"Compress is correct. Everyone remain calm and give Frostbite some room," Kurogiri agreed, coming back from behind the bar counter to usher everyone away from the panicky teen.

"What the hell is everyone screaming for?" Shigaraki questioned, looking mildly annoyed as he re-entered the room.

"No, really. It's loud as shit, I was trying to take a na-" Dabi began, cutting himself off as the two took in the sight in front of them, "Ah. Well, shit. The hell happened here?"

"We figured since Shoto's an official member now, he should know more about us, right?!" Himiko started to explain.

"Right..." Dabi spoke skeptically as he urged her to continue.

"So we were telling him about all of our quirks 'cause it turns out he's really good with strategies and planning and stuff so we thought he'd be able to help better if he knew, right?!" She continued.

"Right..." Dabi said.

"So we were, and then right after I explained your quirk to him he started freaking out!" The schoolgirl finished.

Ah.

Well fuck.

Dabi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't expecting to have to deal with any of this today, but seeing as the others had no idea what to do (hey, they were trying, but they were also villains, comforting distressed teenagers was just about the last thing on the job description), he supposed he'd have to. He stepped in front of the couch and knelt down in front of the boy, who'd begun accidentally weaving webs of frost along his right cheek.

"Hey, kid. Deep breaths, Shoto. It's okay, you're okay."

Shoto was still hyperventilating. He also looked mildly dissociated.

That line was familiar.

Where had he heard it before?

...

Oh, right.

Natsuo had used it earlier to comfort him in the hospital.

"Shoto, look at me for a sec, okay buddy?" Dabi instructed, making his voice as gentle as he possibly could.

Shoto did as he was told, though his glossy eyes told him that he still wasn't completely there.

"Hey, deep breaths, okay? It's gonna be okay, I've got you," He assured.

"Natsu-nii..." The two-toned boy murmured.

"Natsu-nii's not here. Natsu-nii's at home. You're in the base, remember?" The scarred man sighed.

The teen seemed distressed to hear that. He curled into himself farther and the frost began to spread faster.

"Hey, hey, hey! It's okay, Shoto. I know you want Natsu-nii, and I know you're upset that he's not here, but Touya's here, okay? Touya's right here, buddy. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, okay?" The older assured.

The reassurance seemed to work better than Dabi thought it would because it seemed to stun Shoto out of his panic attack. The two-toned boy blinked and suddenly he was back in his body. The frost halted its spread, and he went from breathing far too quickly to barely breathing at all as he stared at the man in front of him.

"There you go, see? You're okay, everything's okay. Touya-nii's got you. Take a few deep breaths, otouto, your big brother's here. You're safe. There's no need to be upset," Dabi- no. Touya, comforted, brushing a warm hand across his cheek to rid it of the frost.

Shoto took a moment to remember how to breathe, dead silent as he stared at his older brother with wide eyes.

After a few minutes of gentle reassurance, Shoto finally spoke again.

"...Touya-nii?"

"Yeah, bud?" Touya replied.

The teen took a moment to process as if he refused to believe it was him until he heard his big brother respond to his own name for the first time in years.

His breath caught in his throat as he launched himself off the couch and into the man's arms, taking both of them down in the process as he cried. From what? Grief? Relief? Joy? He had no idea anymore. Today had been a lot.

"They said you died, Touya-nii! They found a piece of your jawbone! What happened?! We've been missing you for the past ten years! We set up a shrine in your old room and everything! Things were already bad before the accident, but after everything just fell apart! Yumi-nee raised Natsu-nii and I by herself! With the way Natsu-nii is dealing with your death, you might as well have died yesterday! And they said Mama shattered when she heard what happened to you! Why didn't you come back?! How are you even still here?!" Shoto sobbed into his brother's chest. He didn't understand why he was suddenly being so accusatory, he wasn't angry at his brother, was he? He didn't think so, but regardless, he couldn't stop the words from pouring out of his mouth.

Meanwhile, the rest of the League were watching the entire exchange. They were surprised at first to see Dabi actively caring for someone, and being so gentle and reassuring at that. However, surprise turned to confusion the second he started referring to himself as 'Touya', and then confusion turned to pure disbelief when the words 'otouto' and 'big brother' left his mouth.

"Did you perhaps... forget that the rest of us were still in the room, Dabi? Because I'm not quite sure we were meant to hear that," Mr. Compress spoke hesitantly.

"I suppose this explains why you were quite adamant about keeping your name a secret," Kurogiri reasoned.

Dabi froze momentarily when they started speaking up.

"Yes, I did. Fuck," He sighed and nudged Shoto off of him, picking himself off the floor and sitting beside his little brother on the couch, "It's official. I'm an idiot. Alright, I might as well start answering questions now so I don't have to later."

"So... Let me get this straight. You're Endeavour's supposedly dead son?" Shigaraki asked, attempting to get a hold of the situation.

"Yep. Touya Todoroki, eldest child of pro hero Endeavour, at your service," The scarred man spoke, giving a small, sarcastic salute.

"I'm gonna ask what Shoto asked because now I'm curious. If you were supposed to be dead, how are you alive? I don't even know how you 'died', so I'm confused," Himiko chimed in.

"Oh, that last one's easy. Lost control of my quirk and burned myself alive. Gimme a break I was thirteen and when dear ol' Dad found out my quirk was essentially defective, he stopped training me and started pretending I didn't exist, so I knew how to use it, but I had no idea how to stop it. Turns out, they get stronger when I get emotional, and for an unstable teenager, that can be a real fun time. I was pissed off at my Dad, the flames turned blue, I got excited that I pulled that off, and then the next thing I knew I couldn't put them out and I was dying. As for the first question, don't ask me because I don't fucking know, and I'm pretty sure most of the people who would know are dead. From what I understood, someone -I think it was All For One, but don't quote me on that- kidnapped my almost-dead body and took me to a hospital or something. I was in a coma for three years apparently, woke up from said coma and freaked the fuck out because where the hell am I, my body and voice are different, where the fuck is my family, burned the place down and probably killed a bunch of people in the process, et cetera, et cetera. I dunno, it's been seven years since I woke up," Touya explained, "I'm guessing that's why Sho had a panic attack when you explained my quirk. I'm assuming you told him about the downside, so he must've made the connection between 'Dabi' and 'Touya', remembered what the incompatibility did to his supposedly dead brother, and lost it."

"That would explain the sudden panic attack," Mange agreed.

"Why didn't you come home once you woke up, though? I get that you were mad at Father, but what about Yumi-nee and Natsu-nii? And I'm sure Mama would've been happy to see you," Shoto sniffled, attempting to wipe the tears off his face.

"I did go home once, but..." The older Todoroki sighed, "I saw some shit I didn't like and took off again."

"What did you see?" Himiko questioned.

"I don't want to say," Dabi replied, "Any more questions?"

"I'm assuming you're out for revenge too then?" Shigaraki inquired.

"Yeah, what's the story here? I mean heroes are shit, yeah, Endeavour especially, apparently, and I'm all for this whole revenge plot, we'll help take the asshole down, but can we get some backstory here so we know what we're taking him down for?" Spinner added.

"Yes on the revenge thing. Granted, I was never hurt as badly as Shoto has been, but I'm not just doing this for myself. I was the first kid, and I had pretty much an exact copy of Dad's Hellflame, so he was fucking ecstatic. Started training me at five and somehow wasn't an ass about it. Then when I got my first self-inflicted burn, got hauled off to the doctors, and got told that my quirk was incompatible with my body, he dropped me completely. Straight up ignored my existence. My little sister Fuyumi's too, but she wasn't interested in heroics and had Mom's frost quirk. She never really had a problem with being neglected by Dad, she had Mom, so she was chill. Then all of a sudden Mom was pregnant again. I obviously knew the reason for that, I was like, four going on five, but I wasn't blind, Dad wanted a replacement. My little brother Natsuo was born and I was not a fan because of the obvious replacement child. Then he gets his frost quirk, and wouldn't you know it, he gets tossed to the side as well! I got close to Natsu after that because I finally had a little brother who actually gets it. Natsu was three when Mom got pregnant again, meaning I was seven. A neglected seven-year-old with the Todoroki-brand stubbornness and matching anger issues, and a very quickly declining mental state. I'll admit he was halfway decent when I was little. I say halfway decent because obviously he was still trying to make designer babies for his own selfish bullshit, and he did still straight-up buy Mom from her parents to use as a baby machine, but he didn't hurt anyone and we were relatively happy, so obviously just like any other kid I saw the number two hero and wanted to be him, and he added fuel to the fire by telling me I could, telling me it was what I existed to be. He called me his masterpiece," Touya paused briefly to look over when Shoto flinched hard at the mention of their father's favourite nickname.

"Okay cool, noted, don't say that word in front of Shoto. Anyway, to have all that and then suddenly have the one person you cared about most treat you like you're less than dirt out of nowhere at fucking four years old? It fucked me up, that much was obvious. Then when I was eight, Shoto was born. That was where I lost my shit. His quirks manifested when he was a baby, and once again, Dad was fucking ecstatic because he had exactly what he'd wanted the whole time. I started losing my sanity at this point and was desperate to get his attention back on me, which only ever got me yelled at. This was the point where I started training in private to get stronger and get his approval, no idea why the fuck I thought it would work, he only yelled at me more when I started coming home with burns. Eventually, I spiralled so much that I tried to murder Shoto when he was about a month old. Mom stopped me, and Dad banned us from seeing Shoto, but that just added more issues on top of everything. Then he went from a neglectful parent to a full-on abusive asshole. Mom and Shoto were the only ones on the receiving end of the abuse, but the manor had fucking paper-thin walls so the three of us could hear Mom screaming and begging him to stop hurting our fucking five-year-old brother while he fucking wailed. So that did wonders for my non-existent sanity. Shoto's training started when he was five, so I was thirteen, and everything somehow got worse. We were just minding our own damn business and then all of a sudden one morning we heard screaming from the kitchen. I bolted in with Yumi and Natsu to find out what the hell was going on, and Mom was sobbing on the floor with a hand over Shoto's face while he fucking screamed, and we only realized what happened when we saw the kettle on the floor and Mom got more coherent. I pulled her off of him and stood between them, Yumi called an ambulance, and Natsu attempted to calm Shoto down and take care of him while we waited. She had a mental breakdown and Shoto walked in at the wrong time and got his face burned. She tried fixing it when we ran in, but you can't apply ice to a burn, especially a fresh one. It just destroys the skin tissue and causes a scar. She got hauled off to a psyche ward after that and I never heard from her again. I had my accident a week or two after that," The scarred man finished.

"I suppose with Frostbite's injuries this was to be expected, though I still wasn't quite prepared for any of that," Mr. Compress admitted.

Shoto shrugged, "It was better than I was expecting. I didn't know Father was an almost okay person at some point. He was never like that for me. I also blacked out after Mom burned me, so that day was also a little better than I remember it being. I thought I would've been left alone on the kitchen floor until Father found me."

"Depressing as shit. Also, I'm not that much of a monster, Jesus. How the hell was I supposed to ignore you screaming bloody murder?" His older brother commented.

"You tried to kill me when I was a baby. And I don't get anything that goes on in your head, how am I supposed to know? Okay, fine, Yumi-nee and Natsu-nii would help me, but most of the reason I know that is because they both did that a week ago when I got all these. Yumi-nee was on the phone calling an ambulance, and Natsu-nii was trying to stop the bleeding and keep me awake so I didn't die. I don't remember much from when I was little, and I haven't seen you in ten years. Sorry for not thinking you would try to help me after I got hurt," The younger Todoroki snarked.

"Oh god, you learned how to use sarcasm. Wonder where that came from," Touya rolled his eyes.

"You, probably. I get it from Natsu-nii, and even Yumi-nee uses it sometimes, but whose fault is that? They spent most of their time with you, and even if they didn't, Mama and Father don't use sarcasm," Frostbite deadpanned.

"Alright, I think that's all for questions. You're free to get back to whatever you were doing. Just keep it down, will you?" Shigaraki spoke, standing to leave the room.

"'Kay, just one thing before everyone disperses, though. Mind keeping the whole identity thing on the down low? It'd fuck up my plans if anyone let slip who I am. Touya Todoroki is still dead, and I have no connection to him," The older Todoroki requested.

"That's the whole point of an alias, Dabi. No one is telling anyone who you are, that'd give the heroes more incentive to track us down, and that's the last thing we need," The leader responded.

"Your secret's safe with us!" Twice exclaimed, "Aww... If we have to."

"Can I still call you Nii-san?" Shoto asked.

Touya sighed and contemplated this for a moment, "Fine. But only at the base around trusted members. Avoid calling me anything but Dabi in public or around people we don't know. It might help people figure out our identities if the fire user and the ice user start referring to each other as brothers."

"I'll be careful, I promise," His little brother assured.

"Good. I'm assuming you still want to talk, so if I'm assuming correctly, follow me. If not, be free. Go do your own thing," Dabi instructed, standing and returning to his room.

Shoto stood and followed behind his brother as was instructed.

Once they reached his room, Dabi collapsed onto his bed, gesturing for Shoto to sit as well. His room was far more decorated than Shoto's, there was more furniture, and items, clothes, and garbage were scattered all over the place. In their defence though, Dabi had lived here longer. Unlike his little brother, he had time to personalize (and subsequently trash) his room.

"Alright, Sho. What did you want to talk about? I could see it on your face: You're curious about something, so spill," The older Todoroki said once they'd both settled in.

"Yumi-nee and Natsu-nii always said that I'm hard to understand, how did you do it? They don't know me well, but they know me better than you do," Shoto blinked.

"Maybe you were before you got hurt, but it's written all over you now. You couldn't be more obvious. And you're right about Yumi and Natsu knowing you better than I do, but even if you weren't obvious as hell, I've been an older sibling longer than they have. I've been an older brother most of my life, Yumi is my Irish twin. I might suck at doing older brother shit, but I still have the instincts. I'm gonna assume that isn't what you want to talk about though, so what's actually on your mind?" Touya replied.

The two-toned boy sighed and thought about his words carefully, "About what you said when we were asking questions. When you answered Himiko's and I asked you why you didn't come home... What did you see when you came back?"

It was the older's turn to sigh as he ran his hands down his face tiredly, "I told you, I don't want to say."

"You're telling me. I just found out you're alive after ten years. I'm getting answers. I need to know what happened," The teen spoke definitively. He wasn't leaving any room for debate. He knew what he wanted, and he was getting it no matter what.

Touya took a moment to stare at his little brother before giving in.

"First off, I saw the shrine in my room. Do you know how freaky it is to go home after three years with a voice you don't recognize and a body that's just barely holding itself together only to find out literally everyone you know is different and thinks you're dead? It was like I blinked and then suddenly the entire world just got fast-forwarded on me. It took me like a week and a half to realize I was sixteen. Yumi and Natsu were both out of the house, probably at school or something, so I didn't see them, Mom was admitted to the hospital about a week or two before the accident, so I knew I wasn't gonna see her, but I heard Dad in the training room and went to go see him, opened the door just enough that I could look in and..."

Shoto was starting to think he knew where this was going, and he didn't like it. He leaned into his brother's side as he collected himself and continued to speak.

"The whole training room was on fire. The place was trashed, but... that wasn't even the worst part. Dad always did that, especially when he was in a bad mood... I saw you, Shoto. You were lying there on the floor covered in bruises and burns and shit... And he was standing over you with a fucking wooden beam. I couldn't even do anything about it, I felt like I was going to throw up, so I took off," Touya finished, his throat feeling somewhat dry as he recalled the horror he walked in on.

The two of them were silent for a while after that.

"You should've walked in. It would've been funny if you gave him a heart attack in the middle of all that. Sneak in and grab him by the ankle, say you're a ghost coming to drag him to hell," He giggled at his own joke.

His older brother snorted at the unexpected humour from his baby brother, "Nah, his ass is way too heavy. I should've taken pictures. Opened the door a little more, snapped a few of him and you, get a few selfies in there, post 'em to social media and caption them 'family bonding time!'"

The younger Todoroki broke into a full-on cackle at the response, "Hold up a peace sign while I'm on the floor in the background."

"You are so fucking weird," The scarred man laughed, "Brain damage changed you, my god. You never used to talk this much, and I've never heard you make a joke in your life."

"Natsu-nii says that's normal for trauma patients, I'm not worried," Shoto shrugged, "'Sides, you're one to talk. You've never talked to me at all, but you just helped me through a panic attack and then laughed at my joke. You're weird."

"Yeah, well, I was an asshole when we were younger. Since when has Natsu been an expert on trauma patients?" Dabi questioned.

"Since he's a med student in college? He's almost nineteen?" The two-toned boy answered, "He says he wants to be a doctor who deals with quirks so he can help people whose quirks have negative side effects. He told me he remembers how upset you got when you found out that your body couldn't handle your quirk, and he agrees that quirk counselling -and the system in general- sucks when it comes to quirk discrimination and how quirks are handled, so he wants to do something about it to make it better for everyone."

"Oh, that's... adorable. Goddamnit, now I miss Natsu. Alright, I know what he's doing, what's Yumi doing? She'll be turning twenty-two this year, yeah?" Touya asked.

"Mhm. She's an elementary school teacher now. She really likes it," The younger Todoroki responded.

"Huh. She always did like kids, I guess. Any special reason for this one?" The older Todoroki inquired.

"She started making random excuses when I asked like she didn't wanna tell me, but she eventually did. She said... She feels like she was never able to do enough for me. She feels like she just stood back and let Father hurt me, which isn't true, and I keep telling her that, but she feels like this is a job where she can help raise more kids, and do her best to find the ones that are going through some of the same things we did so that she can get them away from it and help give them better lives than we had," Shoto explained.

"Yep, there it is. That's definitely Yumi. Blaming herself and then deciding to raise a bunch of kids that aren't hers," The scarred man sighed, "How's Mom then? Do you know?"

"No... not really. She's still in the hospital, and Yumi-nee and Natsu-nii say she's getting better, but I haven't seen her since she was taken there, and Yumi-nee and Natsu-nii don't usually talk about her to me," Frostbite replied.

"What? Why the hell not? She's your mom too, why wouldn't they tell you?" Dabi questioned, already jumping to conclusions, he didn't like any of them.

"It's not like that, Touya-nii. They don't blame me for what happened to her. I think they're more afraid of what's gonna happen to me if they talk about her around me. Ever since she hurt me I've been having trouble remembering things, I don't use my left side unless I need to because it scares me, I have panic attacks when I hear the kettle, and I can barely remember anything about Mom. I think they're afraid that she's the reason I've gotten worse, or her not being home with us is making me worse, so they'd rather I forget about her without realizing it rather than make me lose whatever's left of my sanity trying too hard to remember whatever it is I forgot. It's fair of them to think that, 'specially since it's hard for anyone in our family to keep their sanity, but it's too late for that anyway. I think I started losing it a long time ago, I just didn't notice until it was too late. It was nice of them to try, at least," Shoto attempted to assure him.

It somewhat worked, Touya was no longer concerned about his younger siblings potentially blaming Shoto for their mother's downward spiral, but now he was concerned by the downward spiral his youngest brother had apparently undergone in his absence. Not that he was one to talk, he lost his mind years ago, but even he could admit that he wasn't so much of a monster that he wanted any of his siblings to lose themselves the same way, especially when he thought about it happening to the baby of the family when he was so, so little.

"Alright, I guess that makes more sense. Thank god they haven't taken after me. I guess, yeah, I did see you acting differently for the week or so I was still around. You were a lot quieter than usual, if that was possible, a lot jumpier, and I guess a lot more miserable, again, if that was even possible in the first place, I remember it was like, physically impossible for you to relax, you constantly looked like you were about to either sprint the second someone got within ten feet of you or cry, which is a valid response to getting boiling water poured on your face by literally the only person you actually knew and had a relationship with, but I also obviously wasn't around long enough to realize all that was long-term. Then again, I don't know how I thought it wouldn't be long-term," The older Todoroki responded, settling down.

"I don't think most of our family thought it would be long-term, Yumi-nee and Natsu-nii just don't want to lose anyone else, so they get paranoid sometimes. Father is convinced that me not using my left side is me disobeying him on purpose, and he doesn't care about me at all outside of what I'm supposed to do for him, so he doesn't even notice that anything else is wrong with me. I think Natsu-nii is the only one who's realized how bad it really is," The two-toned boy shrugged.

"What about Yumi? You said she'd been the one raising you and Natsu. Wouldn't she have noticed by now?" The scarred man inquired.

"Yumi-nee is... complicated. I don't think she's noticed. She's spent the most time with me out of her and Natsu-nii, but like I said, she's told me that I'm hard to understand. She really wants our family to be normal. I do too, but... she's the only one who still thinks that we actually can. Every time Father hurts me she gets worried, but it's like she tries to convince herself that there's a reason for it, so she just tells me to be more careful around him, or that I should try not to make him angry and just listen to him. She really believes that he's a good person and that he just has a weird way of showing that he loves us. Natsu-nii keeps arguing with her whenever she says things like that, he hates our father more than anything, 'specially since he was the reason you 'died', and he hates how she keeps defending him. She doesn't wanna hurt anyone, and I don't think she realizes what she's doing, but it doesn't really help as much as she thinks it does," The younger Todoroki explained.

"That's... fun. Fair enough, I guess, it took me fucking years to accept that he was a shit person. Do you know how they took Dad doing all... this to you?" Touya questioned.

"Not... really. I know Natsu-nii is mad. He came to visit me as much as he could while I was in the hospital, and he kept asking how I was doing and when I was gonna wake up. He fought the nurse when she started saying I was lying about how I got hurt. I haven't seen Yumi-nee since the day it happened. I did sneak into the manor to change out of my hospital clothes and get some things that I needed, and I heard them fighting about what happened in the hospital. Yumi-nee said that we shouldn't have said anything about what happened and that it was a bad idea to try to tell anyone what Father's been doing, but Natsu-nii kept yelling and saying that he could've killed me and she needed to stop defending him," Shoto admitted.

"Figures. Glad Natsu was there, at least, that's something," The older Todoroki sighed.

"Mm..." The two-toned boy hummed, looking somewhat downcast again.

"What's going on now?" Dabi asked.

Shoto hesitated for a moment, as if he were afraid to say whatever it was that was on his mind before he finally mumbled out a barely-coherent response.

"I can't hear ya, Sho. Can you speak up a little?" The older Todoroki requested.

"...Do you still hate me, Touya-nii?" His little brother's voice was still quiet, but it was more coherent this time as he averted his eyes, looking somewhat ashamed to be asking in the first place.

That took the villain off guard. The kid had found him after ten years of not knowing he was even still alive and this was what he asked him?

...

Fair enough, he figured. It was clear Shoto had some form of abandonment issues, and seemed to have more than just a negative view of himself, so all that combined with his desperation for any sort of love and validation, as well as Touya's own blatant vendetta against him when he was still around, he could see where the question had come from after giving it some thought.

Hah. 'Hard to understand' his ass. They probably just weren't paying close enough attention to him.

Oh.

Oh no.

Shoto was him.

The scarred man internally cursed at nothing and everything as he sighed and ran a burned, stapled hand down his face exasperatedly. Of all the siblings Shoto could've taken after.

"...I'm going to be honest, I don't know how to answer that. I don't hate you, but... I'm starting to wonder whether I really ever did in the first place. Sure, I was jealous as hell, but not enough to leave you for dead, clearly. I stepped in when Mom burned you, and I was one of the members to vote for you to stay when you got here earlier. I knew realistically nothing that happened to our family was your fault, I guess I just... took it out on you because that's all I figured I could do. Dick move, obviously, but what else is new?"

Frostbite blinked at him for a moment, apparently surprised by this new information, "...You wanted me to stay?"

"Yes?" Dabi answered, his tone making it sound more like a question, "Well, yes and no. I don't like the idea of you being a villain, it's dangerous as hell, and I don't want you getting mixed up in it, but I guess... like it or not, it felt good knowing that I wasn't the only one. Seeing you pop up here out of nowhere wanting to join the League just like that kinda makes me feel more sane, y'know? Like I can finally feel like me being a villain was justified and wasn't just because I'm a petty, subhuman asshole who's mad about his daddy issues. You wanted to be a hero so bad when we were younger, so seeing just how far he pushed you to get to this point makes me think it isn't all for nothing. There's a reason we're like this, it's not just in my head. Besides, it didn't feel right to leave you behind like that when I knew what he was doing to you, so at the very least if you're here I can take care of you myself, as best as I can, anyway. You won't be rotting in that hellhole we're supposed to call a 'home' anymore, and I can see for myself that he can't touch you here. And who knows? Maybe I like not being the only Todoroki here. You know what kind of bullshit I went through because you lived it. You lost it just like I did. Misery loves company, and all that jazz, we'll just be batshit crazy together or whatever."

Shoto gave his big brother a small smile at that. He liked the sound of that, "And now I get to spend time with you, right, Touya-nii?"

Touya huffed a laugh at the innocent response from the boy who'd probably thrown his entire life away just for a chance to get to know his big brother. One who was a wanted murderer at that.

"Sure can, peppermint."

The two-toned boy beamed and snuggled into his older brother's side.

"How're you feeling now? Better than before?" The scarred man inquired, wrapping an arm around the other.

"I feel happy. At least, I think this is what happy feels like, it's been a long time. I mean, my body still hurts a bit and I already miss Yumi-nee and Natsu-nii, but I made friends and I found you in one day, and I don't have to be Endeavour's son anymore. Nobody gets to know who I am, and I don't have to do what he tells me anymore. I'm happy about that. I never got to break the rules at home, but now I get to get him back for hurting our family. Running away is gonna make him really mad, and he wanted me to be a hero, so he's gonna be really upset when he finds out I'm a villain," Frostbite giggled to himself not unlike a misbehaving child, as if he hadn't essentially sold his soul to join the League earlier.

Touya chuckled and shook his head at his little brother's enthusiasm for his new career path. This kid was too much.

But if it means that now he can have a piece of his old life back? Have someone to protect and look out for? Touya thinks he can live with 'too much'.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 5 of Tales from the Todoroki Family