It was a quiet day in the hospital and Touya would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the fact that Toshi could regularly come and visit him now. His kid was currently sat across from him on the bed having arrived a few minutes earlier. It was clear he had something on his mind that he wanted to say from his body language alone, raising the kid over the years had taught him a lot and it always proved helpful at times like this.
"You wanna' talk about something?"
Toshi shook his head.
"You sure, you seem upset?"
"'m sorry..."
"For what?"
"Going to UA."
Touya furrowed an eyebrow.
"Why?"
The kid remained quiet.
"Toshi, I know for a fact that the League didn't allow you to go to UA out the goodness of their hearts, you must have been there for a reason, what was it, what did they have over you?"
"'m sorry..." He repeated.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm not mad, or upset, or anything like that, I just want to know the story, okay, that's all."
"I was selfish, I... wanted to go, I wanted to go outside again and go to school, I remembered you talking about it and I wanted to know what it was like."
"You're telling fibs again, Little Cat, or at least trying to make yourself look bad. So, will you please tell me what they told you?"
"They said that I had to give them information on UA, the teachers, and the pros, if I didn't, then they wouldn't feed you. They said that the more info the more you'd get, same thing with how good the information was. I couldn't let you starve so I did it."
"Toshi..." He sighed softly.
"I tried to do enough, I tried so hard to get information for them but I couldn't do it and it made me feel like shit because I know you made some kind of deal for me, you must have done because there's no way they'd just give me that much extra food. You did god knows what and went hungry for me and I couldn't even do the same for you."
"They were starving you too, kiddo; you're not supposed to go an entire day of school without any food, it's a miracle you didn't land yourself in the hospital so it's not surprising you didn't have the energy to scout for information. But they shouldn't have had you doing that in the first place so I'm glad you stuck to your studies rather than worrying about all that."
"Touya…"
Reaching out he placed his hands on Toshi's cheeks, softly making him meet his gaze.
"I survived. We survived; that's all that matters. I know I've said this a lot but whatever we did back then, whatever they made us do, no matter how much it makes you feel like a bad person, you can't blame yourself, it won't do any of us any good."
"But I hurt so many people, you don't understand Tou, I sold out my classmates, the school, the tutors, I got my friend kidnapped, and I destroyed All Might…" His voice broke as tears began to trickle down his cheeks. "He can't be a hero anymore… because of me. I've done nothing but ruin everything around me since I got out of the facility. What-."
Toshi's breath caught in his throat as he shook lightly.
"What if I'm not a good person?"
"Hey… hey!" Touya wiped away one of the tears with his finger before replacing his hand back on his kid's cheek. "Look at me."
A few seconds later those purple eyes found his once again.
"You were under their control, you couldn't say no and they also used me against you. Everything you did when you first went to UA was not your fault, there's nothing you could have done, and about selling out your school, the League were always going to infiltrate UA and launch an attack, that was going to happen whether you gave them intel or not; that's not on you Toshi. And everything else… well I wasn't there to see it but I'm sure the people involved know what kind of person you are and that you would never hurt them."
He pulled the kid close into a hug and held him tight.
"You're not a bad person, Toshi, you're far from it, you care about people, and you're a licensed pro now too according to Shoto. They don't just hand those out to anyone which means you're a hero, that's quite an achievement considering what you came from."
"I had help."
"I'm sure you did but don't diminish your own achievements, if you hadn't put in the work then you wouldn't have that license. I'm real proud of you, kiddo."
Toshi looked up at that, eyes almost disbelieving.
"But…"
"No buts." Touya smiled. "So, what's your hero name?"
"Mindjack." He answered, signing the name sign along with it.
"Oooooh, I like it, very cool!"
Toshi smirked.
"You need to think of one too."
"I'm not a hero, kiddo."
The kid shuffled to make himself comfy on the bed against him.
"Yeah you are, to me anyway."
And Touya could have broken down in tears right then, he was sure the shock on his face at the words was noticeable but in that moment he didn't care.
Leaning down he pressed a kiss to his kid's head which earned him a swat to his arm.
He smirked before resting back down against the bed.
"You're an amazing kid, Toshi, don't ever let anyone ever tell you otherwise."
