Fire Within -Tododeku

Trial by fire

With each passing day Izuku was met with the extreme heat created by the fire in his own body. He was holding a plank as his whole body was set on flames, which had become blue due to the intensity of the exercise.

Endeavor saw his plank waver, and he immediately said:

"More, Midoriya! Heroes can't afford to be weak. I want to feel the heat where I am standing right now" he stood on the other side of the huge training room of his house. Endeavor had decided to stop using the exercising room of his agency, since he was starting to spend more time at his house due to the lack of need to actually be present at his workplace on a saturday. "Five more minutes," he ordered.

Izuku nodded, his vision blurred from exhaustion, and his entire body drenched in sweat. He had already trained for hours without respite, and the relentless drills showed no sign of ending. Endeavor had a reputation for his relentless pursuit of perfection, and he expected nothing less from him.

A five minute plank while he used his quirk was nothing but just one more exercise of the following through. He kept doing repetitive movements as they tested still how much fire he could unleash without suffering major repercussions. As the training session continued, Izuku felt the inevitable wave of nausea building inside him. He knew that pushing himself beyond his limits was a dangerous game, but he couldn't afford to show weakness in front of his mentor. The desire to please Endeavor and prove his worth kept him going, even as his body screamed for respite.

And then, it happened.

Just after a ten minute repetition of an exercise that Endeavor called "Fire-Enhanced Muscle burst", which tasked him to generate intense heat with his fire quirk and use it to supercharge his muscles. Once he had done that, he executed a series of physically demanding movements. But then, he couldn't avoid doubling over and emptying the content of his stomach onto the floor.

Endeavor regarded him with a critical eye.

"You really need to toughen up. You are just like my son. He refuses to take this seriously enough."

Izuku wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and struggled to catch his breath. The intense workout had pushed him to his limits, and the pain in his muscles was nothing compared to the frustration he felt for showing weakness.
Endeavor continued, his gaze distant as he recalled a memory from the past. "Shouto went through a similar phase when he was just a child. I trained him rigorously, just as I'm training you now" the man said and his gaze hardened on Izuku. "I will get someone to clean this mess. You have been proving yourself for weeks now, so I will ignore this incident." Izuku felt relief beside his shame. "Get up. I am going to show you how real heroes work".
Izuku couldn't help to feel despair and an overwhelming sadness. This wasn't any different than training with Hisashi.

Shouto watched and heard everything, hiding behind the door. He took off before any of them could see him.
So his father was training someone his age. He couldn't hear his name, but he had seen his green hair and eyes, had seen the same look he could see on his own in the mirror. The same tired, yet determined eyes. What was he doing? He was just subjecting himself to mistreatment. It was absurd. Shouto didn't know him, but he was absolutely sure the boy could train on his own. What was the need to affiliate himself to Endeavor? He had witnessed how much pain and exhaustion Izuku was willing to endure, and it only fueled Shouto's resentment. Puking? That brought back some old and unwanted memories.

He knew everything had to do with the fact that Endeavor was the number two hero, and the fact that his name would be enough to open him unexpected doors. He had no idea his father only considered him a tool to get to Shouto.