A/N: I'm alive, and so is this fic! The pandemic has forced me into isolation—which would normally give me plenty of opportunity to write—but sadly my creativity is hampered somewhat by the stresses brought on by the current situation. I'm doing the best I can to push through, however, and hopefully this thing will blow over before the year's end. Stay safe, stay healthy, wear a mask, wash your hands—and above all, don't give up hope!

I waited for the match to start with a mixture of anticipation and terror. The anticipation came from my knowledge that the fight between Izuku and Todoroki in canon was already an impressive bout, and with Izuku having access to Full Cowling it would likely be even more impressive. The terror came from the fact that, while Izuku wouldn't have to break his fingers to win this time, Todoroki was still an overwhelmingly powerful combatant. The part that had me truly torn, however, was the knowledge that if my brother won, I would have to fight him in the final match of the sports festival.

I know you can win, Izuku. Just don't break yourself in the process; I'll be waiting for you in the final round.

"You've seen him and his brother strut their stuff throughout this festival, and now he's determined to make the final match a sibling rivalry: it's the green-haired phenom, IZUKU MIDORIYAAAAAA!"

Toshinori looked down towards the arena floor from his seat. Soon, his chosen successor would face his most difficult opponent yet in the festival; in the process, his developing skills with One for All would truly be put to the test. He thought back to when he first met Izuku, the weak but determined child with the heart of a true hero. Now, though, Midoriya had truly begun to come into his own, having changed and grown so very much in such a short amount of time. Thus far, his performance in the festival was everything either of them could have hoped for in a debut; the opening speech that Izuku gave, the impeccable skill and speed in the obstacle course, and the cooperation and leadership displayed in the riot ball match all coming together to show the country his worth. Now, having dominated in his previous matches, it was time for an opponent who could potentially push Izuku to his limits.

You've come so far, Izuku Midoriya. You truly are meant for the spotlight. Keep it up and show the world what you're made of!

"And his opponent, who's instantly flattened every challenger he's faced so far, the son of the legendary number two hero Endeavor: the icy-hot wonder, SHOTO TODOROKIIIIII!"

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the stadium, Endeavor glared down at the ring. Somewhere, All-Might was watching this match; of that, he was certain. This Izuku Midoriya brat had "All-Might's Apprentice" written all over him. There was no way that the smiling fool would miss the chance to see his little pet project fight. But the fool wouldn't be smiling much longer, not when his creation froze, burned, and crushed the pitiful green-haired whelp All-Might had chosen. The thought nearly put a smile on his face; the 'symbol of peace', that moron who undeservingly held the number one spot, would watch as a superior specimen humiliated his apprentice for the world to see. In fact, the only thing preventing Endeavor from grinning was the knowledge that his own creation had chosen to defy him. No, not merely defy, but to actively rebel! How dare Shoto refuse the destiny he was created for! Endeavor had put far too much effort into forging the perfect weapon that would bring his rival's ambitions crashing down. And so it was that Endeavor left his own box seats and stood at the railing overlooking the arena floor, ready to send his creation a silent message should Shoto continue to rebel.

Do not disappoint me, Shoto...

Shoto gazed across the floor at his opponent. Izuku Midoriya's face was almost a brick wall, the only true expressiveness being his piercing, focused stare. Clearly, when Midoriya insisted that he would hold nothing back, he meant every word. A treacherous voice in Shoto's mind suggested returning the favor; after all, his opponent had proven himself a powerful competitor, and any fight against him would definitely be an uphill battle. Even so, Shoto pushed that voice as far down as he could. There was only one thing that mattered, and one thing alone—humiliating his bastard of a father. It didn't matter what Midoriya's quirk brought to the table, it would end the same way: buried under a glacier as the old man watched in impotent fury.

"Todoroki," said Midoriya, his face still as cold as stone, "I know you think you have to prove something to your dad. But you don't. If you focus on him, you'll lose."

Shoto almost found himself considering those words, but he shook them off. No. I'll win without my fire. I can do this.

"BEGIN!"

Shoto didn't waste time with a verbal response, instead replying with a blast of ice straight at Izuku; to his dismay, Midoriya leapt sideways, dodging it with ease... and upon landing, stood where he was, crossing his arms contemptively. When it became apparent that his opponent had no intention of moving again, Shoto fired off another blast, which was dodged once more. As before, his opponent did nothing to take advantage of the miss. His mistake, Todoroki mused; the two blasts may have missed, but now Izuku Midoriya was in between two very high walls of ice, the second blast curving over and connecting with the wall made by the first to create a narrow tunnel. Without hesitation, Shoto sent a third blast—far more powerful than the other two—with the intention of filling the tunnel and ending the match instantly.

And then the impossible happened. As the blast surged forward, Izuku held out his hand and flicked his finger... creating a massive gust of air that completely shattered the advancing wave of ice. Todoroki gritted his teeth and braced himself for the counterattack... but none came. Looking up, he saw his opponent standing right where he'd been at the very start of the match, crossing his arms again.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to fight back?"

"No," replied Midoriya, his face still blank. "I refuse."

With a growl, Todoroki tried again, this time with an even larger wave of ice, only for it to be rebuffed with another finger-flick. Once again, Midoriya remained stationary, staring right at him.

"That won't work, Todoroki."

"Shut up and fight me!"

Another glacier surged forward. Another blast of wind shattered it. And still his opponent refused to budge.

"Fight back, dammit! Start taking this seriously!"

"Not until you do, Todoroki. If you want me to fight you, stop holding back."

Clenching his fists in growing anger, Todoroki decided to try a different tactic and surfed forward on an ice wave, sending dozens of frozen shards at the green-haired boy. To Todoroki's shock and dismay, Midoriya shot up through the roof of the frozen tunnel, breaking out with zero effort before landing on the opposite side of the ring. Wheeling around to try again, Todoroki cursed under his breath as his infuriating opponent dodged and sidestepped everything that was thrown at him, not once taking his gaze off of Todoroki.

"If you don't fight back, Midoriya, you're going to lose—"

"And if I do, you will."

Something about that statement stopped Todoroki in his tracks.

"You can't win, Todoroki," Midoriya continued. "In fact, with the way you're currently fighting, beating you would be easy for me. You're starting to slow down; using nothing but ice is putting a strain on you. Why should I even bother?"

"Shut up! I don't have to listen to—"

"Yes you do!" Izuku snapped. "I get it, you hate your dad. You have every right. But you aren't proving anything to anyone like this, except that you're unwilling to fight seriously! Why humiliate yourself like this, just to spite him? You're better than this!"

Todoroki tried to shut Midoriya up with another blast of ice, but as the latter predicted it was weaker than before, to the point where all it took was a couple of steps to the side to avoid it.

Izuku continued glaring at him. "Stop holding back, Todoroki! Use your fire!"

"No," Shoto replied defiantly; "I refuse! I'd rather lose than rely on that bastard's quirk!"

"IT'S NOT HIS QUIRK, IT'S YOURS!"

Something inside Shoto's soul shook at that. "What...?"

"Don't you get it? The only thing making it 'his' quirk is your refusal to use it! Or do you seriously think anyone in this stadium thinks of it as if it were some borrowed thing? It's yours, not his! You haven't hit me once, Todoroki! If you want to break free of him, you have to stop letting your hatred of him control you! You have to stop holding back! So what's it going to be? Are you going to just let your entire life revolve around him, or your feelings about him, or are you going to live for yourself for once? Forget him! I'm your opponent! So stop holding back... AND HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!"

A hundred memories of painful beatings flew through Shoto's mind. A hundred memories of cruel words followed. A hundred memories of his tears, and a thousand of his mother's. All of these images piled up on each other, slowly forming into one, crushing realization: Izuku Midoriya was absolutely correct.

That bastard is still dominating me, even when I'm fighting him.

Shoto sighed and steeled himself.

...No more.

With a mighty effort, he began focusing on the opponent in front of him, removing all thought of his father from his mind as the frost covering the right side of his body began to dissipate; at the same time, he felt his left grow hotter and hotter, the air around it visibly distorting as it heated up. And as his mind centered on Midoriya, blocking out all distractions, a massive gout of flame erupted from his left hand, spreading across that entire side of his body to become a raging inferno. With the flames balancing out the ice from his right, Todoroki finally unleashed his quirk in all its unbridled fury.

"Alright, Midoriya! You wanted me? HERE I AM!"

For the first time since the start of the match, Midoriya's stony expression broke, shifting into an excited smile. "Nice to finally meet you, Todoroki." With a crackle of green lightning, Izuku shot forward like a bullet, forcing Todoroki to block the advance with a wall of fire as he surfed out of the way on a wave of ice. Midoriya turned to follow, but was forced once again to stop as shards of ice flew at him, narrowly avoiding the pillar of flames that descended on him shortly after. Izuku briefly managed to close the distance again, but was rebuffed by a fiery fist swiping at his face. The two combatants chased each other around the ring, evenly matched, but as things progressed it was clear that Todoroki's reserves were greater than that of his opponent.

You can't keep this up forever, Izuku, Shoto thought, and you're smart enough to see that. What's your next move?

Deciding not to wait for whatever trick Midoriya had up his sleeve, Todoroki surged forward, holding a wall of flames in front of him to shield himself as he charged straight for his opponent. Suddenly, his vision was blocked by a thick cloud of steam. Shoto had only a second to realize what had happened—obviously, Izuku had thrown a chunk of broken ice at the fire shield—before he spied the latter mere inches to his right. He shifted his body to meet the attack, but it was too late; a superpowered clothesline slammed into his midsection, sending him out of the ring and ending the match.

As Midnight called the bout in favor of Izuku, the boy in question walked over to him and extended a hand with a warm smile.

"Thank you, Midoriya."

"You don't need to thank me," Izuku replied. "Just don't forget what I said. And... if you ever need help—if there's anything else I can do to free you from him once and for all—don't ever hesitate to ask."

With that, Shoto walked back into the entrance tunnels; as he did, he spied his father glaring furiously at him.

"You miserable failure! What were you thinking, Shoto?! If you hadn't been fooling around, that brat wouldn't have stood a chance!"

Something about his father's face caught his attention.

"SHOTO! Are you even listening to me? You failed, and now—"

"Heh."

Endeavor blinked. "...What was that?"

"Hahaha."

"Shoto, what is the meaning of—"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He couldn't stop laughing. This was the man who'd dominated him his whole life?

"Stop that at once!" Endeavor snapped. "There is nothing funny about this!"

"Oh, but there is, father," Shoto said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "And it's you. I spent this whole time focused on you, but the look on your face... I don't need to surpass you. I already have. Not in raw power, not yet, but in everything that matters? You aren't even worth thinking about. You never were."

Shoto ignored the look of utter disbelief on Endeavor's face and continued walking. For the first time in his life, he felt truly free.