When Fuyumi opened the front door to her eerily quiet house, she wasn't sure what she expected. Maybe Endeavor standing in the foyer, waiting with his fists on fire, ready to dole out the punishment she probably deserved. Maybe her twin brother Touya ready to sneak out, telling her that she should run too for fear of being seen by the hulking brute at the head of the family. She certainly wasn't expecting this.
Fuyumi pushed open the front door and stepped into the threshold of the house to find Todoroki Rei standing by the door, looking more present than before. Her breath caught in her throat, not having predicted her mother, her painfully complacent and wounded mother, waiting up for her right by the front door. She looked ghostly pale, even with the purple bruise on her delicate cheekbone and Fuyumi felt a surge of anger at its presence. Fuyumi steadied herself and placed a stony expression on her face in lieu of the startled one from a few seconds prior.
"He left for his office in town," her mother murmured, examining her only daughter with an unreadable look on her face. Relief went through her body like warm water, relaxing her when she heard the words.
He's gone for the night.
"Oh, alright," she replied awkwardly, unsure of what to do now that He wasn't a threat for now. "Where, uh, where is everyone else?"
Rei walked through the foyer into the kitchen and Fuyumi followed, padding through the quiet house. Her mother went to the stove and reached down into the cabinets below it to pull out a tea kettle. Rei turned on the faucet behind her and began filling up the kettle with water. Fuyumi sat down at the kitchen table, her hands clasped in front of her to stop their fidgeting.
"Shouto and Natsuo went to bed a few hours ago. Touya is probably still up waiting for you."
Fuyumi nodded, looking at her hands. For a few minutes, the only sounds to be heard in the Todoroki household was the bubbling of the hot water in the kettle and Rei's movements around the kitchen as she gathered the necessary ingredients to make tea. Unable to take the lengthy silences for very long, Fuyumi couldn't take it and broke.
"About today," she started, clenching her hands tightly to keep herself in control. "I—"
"It's not your fault," her mother says quietly before taking a deep breath. "You should have never had to step in like that and it is my responsibility as your mother to protect you and I didn't." Rei focuses on her daughter and closes the distance between them, her words like a balm to Fuyumi. "I'm so, so sorry, my darling girl." Rei wraps her arms around her daughter in a way she hadn't since she was small and Fuyumi almost started crying again.
"Mom, it's not your fault either!" she whispered fiercely as she felt her mother's slight shoulders begin to shake with silent tears. "He's a monster," Fuyumi hissed, anger and dejection and misery coloring her tone. "He shouldn't be hitting you or Touya or being mean to Natsuo and Shouto or…" she paused, searching for the word she had learned about in school. "He shouldn't be abusing us, Mom."
The girl was only answered with more sobs as tears stained her bright blue shirt. "Don't worry, I'm going to help make it better. I'm going to protect you," Fuyumi declared, patting her mother's back reassuringly.
Her white head snapped up and her red-rimmed eyes searched her daughter's face, frightened. "No, child, you mustn't challenge him or else he'll—"
"Mom, I'm going to protect us," she states, a fire in her eyes that reminds Rei eerily of her husband. "I'm going to become a hero, but not like dad. One that actually helps people out of the goodness of their hearts, not to win some stupid rank. Then, I can save us."
Rei laughed humorlessly, clutching her daughter's face in her cold hands. "I should be protecting you. I've done such a poor job at it as of late…"
"We'll protect each other, alright?" Fuyumi promised, searching her mother's grey eyes for anything and finding something akin to hope in them.
"Alright," Rei agrees, nodding. "But if things get out of hand like that again, I do not want you getting in the middle of it." For a moment, Rei sounds more like the woman Fuyumi remembers from her earlier years than ever before. "If I tell you to stop it, you stop, no ifs, ands, or buts, do you hear me?"
"Yes, ma'am," she says, listening to the tone that told her that there was no room for argument.
They both jumped at the sudden hissing of the kettle, their hearts racing. It's sad, Fuyumi thinks, that she and her mother jump so horribly at sudden noises because of Endeavor's continuous awful treatment of them. Not for much longer. When mother and daughter placed the sound, they relaxed into each other, laughing lightly. "Now," Rei says, releasing Fuyumi from her hold and stroking her hair with a grin on her face, fragile as glass. "Black tea is still your favorite, right?"
Fuyumi's answering smile was small and tentative, but just as warm and genuine.
—
When Fuyumi reached the top of the landing after drinking tea and talking to her mother for longer than she ever had before, a hand grips her upper arm and hauls her into another room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Before she even had the chance to be scared, she sees Touya looking equal parts furious and proud as he studies her, turning her around and turning her arms in his hands to check for bruises or burns.
"Did he hurt you? I swear to God if he did, I'll—"
"He's gone," Fuyumi says in a placating manner to stop her excitable aniki from committing patricide. "He's at his office in town according to Mom and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon."
Touya stops, his green eyes less frantic and angry and much more relieved. "Good." He sighs deeply and walks over to his bed, flopping down on it and staring at the ceiling from his back. Following suit, Fuyumi sits down as well with a bit more grace and they sit there, basking in the comfortable silence, each waiting for the other to break it.
Touya does first. "Where'd you go?" he asks, shifting a little on the bed. Fuyumi shrugs.
"Out."
Touya laughs and flicks her in the arm. "Oi, quit with the vague answers, you ass," he snorts. His good nature fades a little bit and he sobers up. "The park?" he asks, referencing the place they used to go whenever being at home become too much.
Fuyumi nods, looking down at her clasped hands. "I didn't think about it. I just.. ran," she says. "I ended up there." She looked up from her hands and right at Touya. "What happened when I left?"
He grimaces, reaching a hand up to rub his face. "The Old Man fucking lost it. Started screaming and yelling," he replies with a little bit more mirth than probably healthy. "Threw a whole tantrum. I think he was surprised at how strong you were, 'Yumi," Touya adds, looking at her. "You literally froze him in his tracks. That's impressive."
Fuyumi laughs humorlessly. "I bet he didn't expect his failure of a daughter to do that." Touya frowns.
"You're not a failure, he's just a fucking asshole," Touya swears, a furrow appearing in his brow. Fuyumi stays quiet, not wanting to respond. Touya knows that the neglect that Endeavor doles out to his more icily-inclined siblings is a sore subject, particularly for Fuyumi. Sometimes, he wishes that he could be ignored too for once, just long enough for his body to stop using itself as kindling everytime he uses his quirk. But you can't always get what you want. "So, what now?" he asks, changing the subject a little. "I mean, you have to deal with him tomorrow when he comes back from his bitch-fit."
Fuyumi sighs, flopping back onto the bed with him, forcing a couple chuckles out of him, "I know, I just… I'm working on it, alright?" He nods, not pressing for more for which she's grateful. Still, she likes to run things by her twin. Fuyumi sits up and leans against the headboard. "Touya," she starts, not entirely sure how to begin this conversation.
He sits up, sensing the change in her tone. "Yeah?"
"Um… Do you think I would, uh, make a good hero?" she asks, her mouth tripping over itself in the rush of words she pushed out. Touya's red eyebrows disappeared into his hairline and Fuyumi wanted to disappear. Her question was stupid, there's no way Touya would endorse her idiotic fanta—
"Yeah," he answers suddenly, cutting off her negative thoughts. "I do."
Fuyumi blinked owlishly at him. "Really?"
"Well yeah," he says, a small smirk on his face. "You have a good heart, a brilliant mind, and a powerful quirk. That's kinda all you need."
Do not cry, do not cry, Fuyumi inwardly scolds herself, trying her best not to tear up at his encouraging words, but this is Touya, if anyone would not judge her, it'd be him. She threw her wiry arms around her twin, hugging him tightly to her. He responded in kind by hugging her back and patting her shoulder blades lightly, if not a little mechanically.
"You trying to become a pro-hero?" he guesses. She nods against his shirt, surreptitiously trying to wipe away all evidence of her tears. "You know the Old Man isn't going to—"
"I know," she interrupts, clearing her throat and pulling away gingerly. "But I'm going to do it, Touya, I am," she says with Todoroki-brand determination lighting up her silver eyes. Touya looks a little taken aback at his twin's resemblance to their fa— Endeavor, he corrects inwardly. With that look on her face, she looks like Endeavor. "I want to be able to protect you guys."
"You will," he reassures, grinning at her. "You'll be better than him, I know it," he says, and for the first time in a while, Fuyumi beams at him. "What's the first phase of your grand plan?"
She sets her shoulders back and laughs a little breathlessly. "Getting into UA."
"UA?" Touya repeats incredulously and for good reason. That school had one of the best hero courses in the world. All of the greats went there.
Even Endeavor.
"Yeah, I know it's a long-shot but—"
"I'll help you every step of the way, 'Yumi." Touya is the one to initiate the hug this time, pride welling up in his chest. His twin was going to be a Pro-Hero. She folded into his embrace, sighing happily.
"Good," she mumbles into his chest. "It would be a lot harder to convince you to do this with me if you weren't."
Touya freezes, his eyes widening at his sister's words. "Wait, wait, wait. You want me to become a hero with you?" he whispers, wonder in his eyes.
"I wouldn't have it any other way, aniki."
"But my quirk," he starts, looking down at the ground, his cheeks growing red with shame. "It's faulty. That's why Endeavor stopped training me last month," he reminds her bitterly. Fuyumi thinks back to that day and inwardly winces, remembering how torn up Touya was and still is about his callous treatment. "I could never be a hero. Not like you."
Fuyumi punched him in the arm, snapping him out of his pity-party. "You can and you will. Think about it, we'll be a tag-team, saving the world and other extreme sports with hoarfrost and hellfire," she sings the last bit with a playful grin on her face. "It'll be like those cartoons Natsuo loves so much."
"But my quirk..." he tries again weakly, feeling hope bubble up in his chest.
"Is fine," she finishes. "Besides, we'll work on it together. We have three years, seven months, and twenty-six days until the entrance exam. There's time, Touya."
He heaves a sigh. "The Old Man really isn't going to like this," he warns, staring her dead in the face as she realizes that she has him.
"I don't give a damn what he likes or doesn't like," she shoots back, a frown marring her face. "This is for us."
"For us," he repeats, trying out the words in his mouth and liking the warm feeling they cause. "When do we start?"
Fuyumi grinned, a twinkle in her eye that hadn't been there before today. She has a goal now, Touya realized.
"Tomorrow."
Touya returned her grin. "Alright then get out," he ordered, shooing her off the bed. "If we're going to be training, I need as much sleep as possible."
Fuyumi laughs, rising off the bed and letting herself out of her twin's room. "Goodnight."
"Night."
The door closed quietly and with that, Touya was alone again and more hopeful than he could ever remember being in his eleven years of life. He fell asleep with a smile on his face and woke up bright and early the next morning ready to train hard.
He was going to be a pro-hero.
And no one, not even Endeavor himself, could stop him.
A/N: A double upload? Yeah, I just couldn't stop writing. Again, this was written and published same day so if there are any errors or spelling mistakes, my bad. Also, this particular fic is going to have very few chapters as I'm working on a larger-scale fic for the Naruto fandom at the moment and want to dedicate most of my time to that particular project. But I will be making this a series (titled 'Hoarfrost' after my name for Fuyumi's quirk), likely a series of one-shots (likely in chronological order because I'm crazy like that) in this universe and how the Todoroki family's lives change for the better because of Hero!Fuyumi. I freaking love Touya and he deserved a hell of a lot better than he got so this is pretty self-indulgent. Yes, I think her and Touya are twins and yes, they're going to be superheroes together. Fight me. Again I say FUCK ENDEAVOR AND THE GROUND HE WALKS ON. I've been fortunate enough to have never been abused so I can't write completely authentically, but I hope that it was accurate enough the way that the Todoroki fam reacts to it. Endeavor's a piece of shit. You can't change my mind.
Question of the Post: What should their hero names be? Comment down below.
Also, feel free to leave me OCs that you want for me to write into the next bits whenever they eventually go to UA. They can be faculty, students, whatever. Drop 'em below. I'd love to read them.
Alright, bye y'all!
