Warnings
POV switch?
Mentions of Abuse
Alternating names
Thievery
Non-canon Touya
Shoto Todoroki. Son of the number 1 hero. You'd think he'd have the perfect family, the perfect life, the perfect existence.
If that were the case he wouldn't be bleeding out on the training room floor in his house. His sister wouldn't have to drag him up to his room. His siblings wouldn't have to clean and bandage the wounds made by his hero father.
Every night.
Shoto got home from school, changed into his training clothes, and waited in the training room for his father. If he wasn't in the training room before his father there would be a punishment, if he wasn't dressed properly there was a punishment, if he complained, if he talked back, if he didn't fight correctly there was a punishment. His father always seemed to find the smallest things wrong that he could punish Shoto for.
Every night.
Shoto would think about how his life could change. He'd think about a happy family, no abuse, no mental hospital, no death, no burns, no scar. But alas it was all a fantasy, when he opened his eyes he was met with the smell of blood and the sight of his broken and battered body.
Every night.
His body seemed to break, over and over again. Though he kept going, not giving him a chance to slow down, not giving him a chance to heal.
Every night.
When would the nightmare end?
.
.
.
It was late, Shoto had just finished a 'training' session with his father. He was lucky, this wasn't as bad as the ones before. He managed to push himself up with maximum effort. His muscles ached and begged for rest but he pushed on. He got himself to a standing position and hobbled as best he could.
He was in the hallway on the way to his room when he heard something. He looked to the closed door the sound came from and did a double take, almost falling over quickly steadying himself on the wall.
That can't be.
That's when he heard it again louder now that he was paying attention.
No one had been in that room for years. Too painful. But that was definitely where the noise came from.
Touya's room...
Shoto limped towards the door, his legs screaming at him to lay down, but he needed to find out what the noise was. Putting his ear to the door he heard some shuffling, then a quiet sob. Common sense being nonexistent in Shoto's head at this moment, he put his hand on the door handle.
He carefully opened the door trying to get a look inside, momentarily forgetting that he could barely walk. He managed to crack the door open without making a sound. He looked as far as he could into the room, briefly seeing a flash of red.
That's when his legs gave out, having been put through too much strain. He collapsed into the room, the stranger turning around, at first terrified at being caught but after he saw Shoto on the floor, blood and bruises littering his body, he rushed to help.
As the stranger ran over, Shoto realized it was no stranger at all.
Hawks, the number 2 pro hero was the one in his older brother's room. That made sense, they were friends before Touya had died. Though he was confused as to why Hawks had snuck in, surely Fuyumi would have let him in if he asked.
(Earlier with Hawks)
Hawks had just finished his patrol and was now on his way back home when he caught sight of the Todoroki house. He stared at it for a minute before realizing he was subconsciously moving closer to it. He ended up at a window on the second floor.
A window he knew well.
The window led to Touya Todoroki's room. Hawks first and only friend at the time. The window was how he would get into Touya's room as his father, Endeavor, was strict and wouldn't allow Touya friends. That puzzled Hawks before he started to notice the bad burns on his friend's arms.
Touya would always play it off telling him it was from his quirk, and sometimes it was, but that wasn't the only injury he'd seen Touya with. He quickly realized what was going on but he assumed it had stopped once Touya had died, losing a child is a soul crushing loss.
One he guessed Endeavor wouldn't want to experience again. But now looking at the youngest Todoroki, bloodied and bruised laying on the floor of Touya's room, he knew it never stopped. Hawks quickly ran to Shoto's side, turning him over, noting all his wounds.
"Shoto..." Hawks was at a loss for words before noticing the increase in blood pooling around a wound on Shoto's stomach, "Come on we have to get you to a hospital!"
"NO!" Shoto shouted quickly regretting it as he winced his throat was sore, as Endeavor had choked him, "Please no hospital," Shoto said quieter.
Hawks stared at the kid in shock, realizing how much he must have gone through for this to be so normal for the teen. Deciding against the hospital, respecting Shoto's decision he carefully picked up the young Todoroki.
"Okay, we won't go to the hospital but I'm not letting you stay here."
Hawks carried Shoto out the window and flew him to the hero's apartment. He set him down on the couch, quickly snapping a photo for evidence and ran to get the medical kit.
He dressed Shoto's wounds, being sure to stop the bleeding and clean them thoroughly before wrapping them.
Shoto fell asleep soon after Hawks had finished cleaning him up. The hero stared at the teen for a minute recalling the adorable, happy child he used to be.
A bittersweet smile appeared on his face. Shoto was always happy when Hawks came over, he'd want to spend time with his older brother and friend. Hawks could never say no to the small child and Touya, though he acted annoyed, was happy to have his little brother around.
Hawks had met Natsuo and Fuyumi as well but not as often since they were separated from Touya and Shoto. The winged hero loved Shoto like a little brother but after Touya died he distanced himself.
He could see now that that was a mistake. If he stuck around he could have noticed the abuse sooner and put a stop to it.
The next day
Shoto woke up in an unfamiliar place, memories from the night before rushed into his head. He was at Hawks apartment.
Hawks knew about the abuse now.
Anxiousness seemed to crawl on his skin like a million little spiders.
He scratched at his arms before hissing in pain, remembering the injuries on his arms from the last training session. He slowly stood up only to see Hawks in the kitchen area. Hawks apartment wasn't super big but it was a decent size. It was pretty open as well, the counter being the only thing separating the kitchen and living room as well as the carpet turning to tile. Hawks noticed Shoto was awake, smiling widely at him.
"Heya kiddo, I'm making breakfast have a seat," Hawks gestured to the small dining table. Shoto sat down trying to clear his head. He was still sore and didn't know what to feel emotionally.
"What time is it?" Shoto asked.
"About 9:30, I wanted you to sleep for as long as you could, your body needs rest."
Shoto jumped out of his seat looking alarmed, "I have school!"
"Woah, calm down kid. I already called Aizawa and told him you wouldn't be coming in today. You need rest and we need to talk about what happened yesterday," Hawks explained, "Now sit down while I finish up breakfast."
Silently Shoto sat down. He wasn't very happy he was missing school. He also wasn't happy that the number 2 hero called his teacher. And he wasn't looking forward to the conversation they needed to have.
Only a few minutes later Hawks had finished breakfast serving to both Shoto and himself.
"So, can you explain what happened last night?" Shoto looked away from Hawks and continued eating purposefully ignoring his question. Hawks wasn't having that.
"Shoto. What happened?" Hawks asked sternly.
Shoto still refrained from answering instead asking a question of his own, "Why were you in my house last night?"
Hawks knew what Shoto was attempting and wasn't letting him get away with it.
"Nice try kid, you'll have to tell me eventually. Or I could go to Endeavor myself..." Hawks trailed off as Shoto's head snapped up, "That got your attention."
Shoto sighed, finally giving in.
"I'll tell you after we eat, it's a long conversation."
Hawks nodded satisfied.
The boys then finished their meal in silence, both thinking about the looming conversation ahead of them. Once they were done, Hawks took the plates and put them in the sink, gesturing for Shoto to go into the living room.
Both were seated on the couch as Hawks waited for Shoto to start.
"Okay...so..." Shoto trailed off, not sure where to go with the explanation, Hawks picked up on this, deciding to help the teen.
"Just start with last night. We can go from there."
"Okay, when I got home from school I had to change and go to the training room, my father came home not long after and started my training."
"And what exactly did this training entail?" Hawks asked, sort of fearing the answer.
"He started by attempting to punch me while I dodged. Then he started throwing fireballs at me, yelling at me to use my fire. When I refused and used my ice instead to block his fire he got angry. He came towards me and continually punched me in the stomach, eventually lighting his fist on fire giving me 2 last punches. Then he took me by the neck and choked me before dropping me on the floor and kicking my stomach as well. Then he left me on the floor and I was walking to my room when I heard you."
Hawks was disgusted. He knew Endeavor hurt his kids but not like that. That was far beyond training, it was just plain abuse.
"Does he do that often?"
"Every day, though usually it's worse and Fuyumi has to drag me to my room. Then she and Natsu would bandage my wounds."
Worse?! Every day?! What the hell?!
"Okay kid, why don't you head to my room to get some rest, it's right through that door," Hawks gestured to a door off the living room. Shoto got up not having the energy to argue.
"Thanks Hawks."
"Just call me Keigo, Shoto. It's not like we're strangers."
Shoto nodded and made his way through the door Keigo pointed out. Keigo took the opportunity to think. It was obvious he needed to get Shoto out of that house. He had the picture of Shoto's wounds but he didn't have any proof that Endeavor did it.
For a half an hour Keigo sat thinking and researching what he could do to help the half and half teen. Then a thought struck him. Endeavor had security cameras in and around his house all Keigo had to do was break in and find the tapes.
Was this a good, thought out plan?
No, not at all.
Would it be risky?
Yes, yes it would.
Was Hawks going to do it anyway?
Yes, yes he was.
After leaving a note for Shoto, Keigo made his way through the air to the Todoroki house. Figuring the easiest way to get in would be the window in Touya's room Hawks flew to the back of the house.
Luckily Hawks knew Endeavor was at work right now, Fuyumi was teaching and Natsuo had gone back to college, so the house should be empty. Now the problem was finding the room with the tapes, as well as deleting the footage of Keigo ever being there.
Deciding to forego stealth, Hawks checked the house quickly. He scanned every room looking for some inkling of the tapes. Finally after about an hour of searching, the Todoroki house was really big, Hawks found what seemed to be Endeavor's office.
Quickly making his way inside he started to go through the cabinets and drawers looking for any sign of the security tapes. There was a lot of storage space in the big office and it took Hawks a while to search through it all. After searching through all the cabinets and drawers in the room, he moved on to the desk. The big drawer at the bottom of the desk was locked but everything else was open.
Hawks realized this is where he'd keep the tape considering it could get him arrested if anyone found them. Luckily Keigo had searched the rest of the drawers meaning he knew where the key was. It was honestly pretty stupid, locking the tapes up but keeping the key in a regular drawer where anyone could find and use it.
Rapidly grabbing the key and unlocking the drawer he saw security tapes labeled, 'Training Room'.
This must be it.
Grabbing the tapes he stuffed them into the bad he was smart enough to grab.
Now to erase me ever being here.
He sat down at the desk after re-locking the drawer and putting the key back. He brought up the computer trying to guess at the password. After a few tries he attempted something.
Of course that's it, Shoto.
The password being the youngest Todoroki's name could seem like an endearing fatherly thing to do but Hawks knew better at this point. He used Shoto's name because the teen was his chance at victory, at surpassing All Might. The password ultimately just showed his obsession with his son. Touya had told Keigo about Endeavor's goal to surpass All Might. Having kids to use as weapons or tools.
Though Hawks hadn't known the severity of everything.
Quickly locating the files, he deleted the ones of him ever being there. He was no tech wiz so he couldn't make it seem as though the files weren't missing but luckily Endeavor wouldn't know who came in and deleted the files. He briskly logged out of the computer and made it seem as though no one came into the room.
That's when he heard the front door open. Leaving the room swiftly as it was on the opposite side of the house than the door, he attempted to make it up the stairs without being seen. Successfully he made it to Touya's room and out the window before he could be spotted, flying back to his apartment.
Back to Shoto.
When he got back he discovered Shoto was still sleeping. It had been a few hours since Keigo left but he wasn't surprised the young boy was so tired. Having to 'train' with Endeavor everyday and going to hero school, meaning training at school plus finding time to do homework the poor kid must have been exhausted.
Opting to let Shoto sleep, Keigo made himself a late lunch, making a bit extra in case the teen woke up.
The next day
Unsurprisingly Shoto had slept the entire day. Hawks called Eraserhead again to excuse Shoto from school for the week. That didn't go over well with the peppermint boy though.
"I can't miss school again!"
Hawks sighed, getting a bit frustrated with the half and half teen. Since he woke up and Keigo told him that he'd be missing school for the week, Shoto had argued and argued.
"Shoto. I will get your assignments if that makes you feel better but I'm not letting you go back to school for this week. You need to recover, you probably haven't been allowed to really recover if you've been doing training everyday so take this time to rest."
Shoto pouted. "What about training? I don't want to fall behind."
Luckily it seemed as though he wasn't arguing anymore.
"You aren't going to fall behind, you've been training since you were 5 and have probably had more extensive training then the rest of your classmates combined. Besides, I don't want you to hurt yourself anymore."
"Fine."
Shoto had told Keigo more about everything after he woke up, before the hero told the kid that he wouldn't be going back to school. Which is how he knew Shoto had been training/abused since he was 5.
"What about my father?" Shoto asked suddenly.
"What about him?"
"When will I go back to him? How will he react to me being gone?" Shoto now looked like a scared puppy, his head was down and he fidgeted with his hands, shifting his weight between his feet.
Keigo on the other hand was shocked. How could he think I would send him back there?!
"Shoto... I'm not going to send you back there." Hawks spoke carefully and slowly hoping to not panic the kid.
"What?" Shoto now looked very confused.
"Don't worry about it too much kid. I'll talk to you about it later."
Shoto looked like he wanted to know more but decided to leave it alone for now.
"Okay, Shoto, you can do whatever you'd like here, I have some errands to run. The only thing I ask is don't leave and no training." Hawks explained.
Shoto nodded and Hawks took that as his que. Going out on the balcony he flew off in the direction of the police station. After he'd gotten home yesterday he had a chance to watch a couple of the tapes. They were disturbing to say the least. He couldn't stomach it after the first few. Now he was going to a detective he knew that could help him either get Endeavor arrested or at the very least keep him far away from Shoto.
(I made up a random detective character)
"Hey Hawks, so what's up you sounded urgent on the phone?" The detective, Kaito asked.
Hawks had arrived at the police station and Kaito, his detective friend, was at the front waiting to meet him. Kaito had led them to an empty integration room so they could talk.
"Do you happen to have a tape player?" Hawks asked.
Kaito quirked an eyebrow, but beckoned Keigo to follow him. They walked down a few halls until Kaito opened a door and they both went inside. There was a tape player and a TV on a table, most likely used to view evidence as they would do now. Hawk took the tapes out of his bag, setting them on the table next to the player.
"What have you got there?" Kaito asked.
"Before I tell you I have to ask you something," Hawks looked at Kaito who nodded for him to continue, "Have you ever gotten reports of Endeavor abusing his children?"
Kaito stood shocked for a minute, not expecting for that to be where the conversation went. After regaining his bearings he answered.
"Yes a few times. The first couple times we ignored it, I mean he's the number one hero. After a few more we decided to look into it as multiple people had reported it. Though it never led anywhere." Kaito looked at Keigo, and judging by his face could guess where this was going.
"You're not saying...there's any truth to it...are you?" Kaito asked wearily.
"Watch these and you'll see."
Hawks popped the first tape in, it started with Endeavor dragging a screaming and crying 5 year old Shoto into the room while a woman with white hair followed quickly also crying. The woman tried to talk to Endeavor as he threw Shoto to the ground.
The number 2 hero, at that time, then turned his attention to the woman having been ignoring her prior. He grabbed her arm and slapped her across the face before pulling her out of the room, throwing her out before slamming and locking the door.
Little Shoto watched the whole encounter, screaming for his mother. Endeavor turned his rage on the little boy. He 'trained' him far harder than anything a 5 year old should be doing and would hurt Shoto whenever he did something wrong or refused to do something.
This went on for a couple hours in which Hawks skipped through in order to show Kaito what happened next.
Suddenly there was a loud banging coming from the door pulling both Endeavor and little Shoto's attention. Soon after the door burst open revealing a young boy around the age of 14 with red hair turning white, Touya.
Touya quickly ran over to Shoto swiftly placing himself in between Endeavor and the young Todoroki. Endeavor yelled at the small teen and even went as far as punching him a few times before storming out of the room. As soon as he was gone Touya ran to Shoto looking him over for a minute before picking him up as gently as possible and leaving the room with the broken little boy.
Hawks looked over to Kaito to gauge his reaction. Kaito had a face of shock, horror, disgust and pity all at once.
"This is real?" Kaito asked incredulously.
"Yeah, right now Shoto is staying with me because this has continued all his life. All these tapes are ones with similar footage as Shoto grows. Most go on for hours."
Kaito ran a hand through his hair, "Christ."
"Do you know who the boy that saved Shoto is?"
"Touya. He was my best friend and Shoto's older brother."
"Was?"
"He died." Hawks made it clear he was done with that part of the conversation. Kaito looked at him with sympathy before turning back to the task at hand.
"Okay well this will turn into a process. With this evidence we'll be able to arrest Endeavor right away, but there will be a lengthy trial which Shoto will have to participate in." Kaito explained.
Hawks sighed but nodded. For the next hour or so Kaito went through what he predicted will happen with the arrest and the trial before sending Keigo home to explain everything to Shoto.
"I'm home!" Hawks called as he walked through the balcony door.
Shoto looked over from where he was sitting on the couch reading a book.
Hawks went over and sat next to him explaining the situation. By the end Shoto was close to tears but he learned long ago that crying was weakness, though when Keigo wrapped his arms around the teen, he broke, crying into the older man's shoulder.
Shoto wasn't really sure why he was crying. Maybe it was because he'd gotten caught, maybe it was because Keigo watched the tapes, maybe it was because he hadn't cried in a long time.
Or maybe it was because he was finally beginning to feel safe.
(A few months later)
The trial was finally done and Endeavor had been sentenced to life in prison. Shoto felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Throughout the trial Shoto had been staying with Hawks.
One day Keigo had surprised Shoto by asking to adopt him. It was a bit of a shock but he felt safe with Keigo and decided that he liked the idea.
Keigo had gotten used to Shoto being around. Though it was hard to adjust with Shoto's PTSD and other mental challenges. But Keigo knew what to do when Shoto had a nightmare, or a panic attack, or an episode.
Episodes.
They quickly learned that Shoto had hallucinations. Whenever he'd get really scared or trapped in his memories Shoto would see Endeavor. He'd believe he was really there. It was hard at first but Keigo learned quickly how to deal with it.
He couldn't imagine Shoto living with someone else, it left a bad taste in his mouth. Keigo grew very close with Shoto and saw him as a little brother, like he did once before.
So Keigo and Shoto still had a long journey together but hopefully they could figure it out together.
Keigo and Shoto Takami.