Chapter 1

When Aizawa was roused from his sleep in the middle of the night due to an alarm at the dorm, he initially was concerned. An alarm in the middle of the night could mean a villain infiltration, which wasn't too surprising. These villains nowadays were cunning enough to sneak in.

And with the latest villain attack against UA students that got several of them injured certainly put everyone on high alert.

But, once he checked security cameras on his phone, he realized that it was just one of the students taking a night stroll. He couldn't quite make out who it was on the small screen, but he had a hunch.

Damn it. If Midoriya and Bakugou were picking another fight with each other, he might just expel them this time. He was too tired for this.

So, he got dressed and headed down the sidewalk in the cold air down to the first-year dormitory. He had a plan to wait in the common room until the problem child came back and he would surprise him in the dark. That should scare him into not pulling another stunt like this again.

He rounded the corner, fully expecting to march right inside and plop down on the couch, but he stopped short when he saw a figure hunched on the bench just outside the door.

Aizawa squinted in the dark, trying to make out who the figure was, but it was hard to see. So he approached carefully, his hand clutching onto his capture weapon that hung around his neck. Something about this felt strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

It wasn't until Aizawa got right up to the door did he realize who it was–and the revelation shocked him.

He definitely did not expect to see Todoroki Shouto sitting outside in the middle of the night.

Aizawa frowned. It certainly surprised him, but he couldn't quite say it was unexpected. Todoroki was one of the students who was injured during the villain attacks. He was usually a pretty reserved student, so Aizawa couldn't tell if the boy needed counseling or anything like that. He seemed fine after Shuzenji released him.

But... maybe he wasn't quite as well as everyone had expected.

The boy was holding himself and shivering, icy crystals formed on the right side of his body. He was hunched over too far for Aizawa to see his face, but he recognized the obvious distress that was in the boy's shoulders.

"Todoroki?" Aizawa called, dropping his hand from his neck.

Todoroki flinched, tightening his grip around himself and shaking harder. He huffed out some steam and finally raised his head, barely allowing Aizawa to see the stressed expression on his face.

He didn't speak, and he didn't even seem to recognize where he was, which made Aizawa feel unsettled.

"What are you doing out here? You realize it's past curfew?" Aizawa asked.

Todoroki blinked at him, seeming to not really understand what he was saying. After a few tense moments, Todoroki's eyes cleared up a bit and he glanced down at the ground between his feet.

"I... It was too hot in my room," Todoroki said. "I wanted some fresh air."

Aizawa looked over the boy's body again, taking note of the violent shivering and the vice-like grip his hands had on his arms. Ice was forming on more parts of his body and slowly creeped to his left side, which steamed off instantly.

"Well, you shouldn't be outside past curfew. You should go back inside," Aizawa said.

He rested his hand on Todoroki's right shoulder.

It was an instant mistake.

Todoroki let out a gasp and jerked backwards, nearly falling off the bench. He glanced up at Aizawa in horror, his frame still trembling badly as more ice formed on his cheek.

Aizawa stared down at his hand that touched Todoroki's shoulder. He blinked for a few moments and tilted his head a bit.

Todoroki's shoulder was hot. And it was his right shoulder.

Something was wrong.

"Todoroki, I need you to calm down," Aizawa said, reaching out to him again.

Todoroki flinched again and more ice crawled up the boy's neck. This was getting bad. If this continued, it was possible that Todoroki could get frostbite.

Aizawa lifted up his hands and activated his quirk, his hair standing. The ice on Todoroki's body fell in chunks to the ground, and he stared down as they fell from him. He blinked up at Aizawa again, looking a bit calmer.

"A-Aizawa-sensei?" Todoroki said, finally seeming to know where he was.

Aizawa relaxed a bit and blinked, allowing his quirk to cut off. He reached out his hand slowly, making sure Todoroki could see every move, and then placed his palm on Todoroki's forehead.

Aizawa flinched and quickly pulled his hand away. The boy was burning hot.

"I think you're running a fever. And I don't know how that can affect your quirk," Aizawa said. "C'mon. Let's get to the infirmary."

Todoroki looked uneasy, his arms tightening around himself.

"I... I'll just go back to my room," Todoroki said. "I'm sorry to have made you come out here."

Aizawa pulled his brows together and looked down at Todoroki in concern.

"I don't think you understand. That wasn't a request," Aizawa said.

Todoroki let out a puff of steam and shivered again, more ice forming around his body. He shook his head.

"I just need rest," Todoroki said. "I'll be fine."

"No," Aizawa said, almost vehemently. These kids were always so stubborn. Why did he always have to get the troublemakers? "You are obviously unwell. You need to get help. No arguments. Got it?"

Todoroki had never looked so small. He always stood pretty tall with that confident gene that seemed to run in his family's blood. But right now, he seemed nothing more than a nervous, 16-year-old kid.

Which, Aizawa had to remind himself, Todoroki was just that. A kid.

Aizawa sighed and reached out his hand, gently placing it on Todoroki's back. It was so hot on his back, and yet, there were ice crystals forming. It would be fascinating if Aizawa hadn't been so concerned for Todoroki's health.

"Let's go. The quicker Recovery Girl can look at you, the quicker you can go back to bed," Aizawa said.

Todoroki swallowed and then nodded, looking really uncomfortable. He pushed himself to his feet and stumbled a bit with his balance. Luckily, Aizawa was there to catch him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"Just lean on me for now," Aizawa said. "Let's go."

Todoroki nodded again, and that was the cue for Aizawa to get walking.

As they headed towards the school building, Aizawa made a quick call to Shuzenji, regretfully waking her up. But she tutted and said it was no trouble and that she would be on campus shortly.

"Just make him comfortable," Shuzenji had informed Aizawa, and he wanted to roll his eyes. How could he make sure he was comfortable when he himself felt so out of place?

They entered into the school building and made it to the infirmary, Aizawa having to use his quirk a few times to get Todoroki to stop forming so much ice. He helped Todoroki onto one of the beds and handed him the blanket.

"Sit tight. Recovery Girl said she would be here soon," Aizawa said.

Todoroki looked down at the blanket and then back up at his teacher.

"You... don't have to stay," Todoroki said, guilt laced in his voice. "I didn't mean to wake you up in the middle of the night."

Aizawa hummed and grabbed the blanket from Todoroki's hands to wrap it around the shivering boy's shoulders. Then, he pulled over a chair to sit next to Todoroki's bed.

"It's no trouble, kid. It's part of the job," Aizawa said. "I haven't had a nightly patrol in a while anyway. It feels good."

Todoroki pulled the blanket tighter around himself, still trembling like a leaf while both sides of his body reacted to his quirk.

It must've been the fever, Aizawa deduced. He had no idea just the amount of damage fevers could do on a person with elemental quirks.

Then again... a lot of the students had gotten sick throughout the year. More than once, for a few of them. But this was the first time seeing Todoroki so unwell.

Something must have triggered it.

Aizawa folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair, leveling Todoroki with a gentle stare.

"So, do you get sick often?" Aizawa asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Todoroki shook his head. "I... haven't had a fever since I was a kid."

Aizawa quirked a brow. "That long ago?"

Todoroki nodded, tightening the blankets further. Aizawa activated his quirk to get the ice to fall from Todoroki's body, and the boy instantly sighed in relief as the trembling minimized a bit.

"Did you tend to get sick after using your quirk too much?" Aizawa asked.

"No," Todoroki said, sighing into the blanket.

"Hm." Aizawa twisted his lips. "I guess I'm just curious because this seemed to come on suddenly. No one else in the class is sick."

Todoroki looked at him, shivering in his blanket. He stayed quiet as his brows pulled together. He seemed confused as he thought it over, his lips twisting.

"I don't know," Todoroki answered, and it was obviously a lie. His hesitation had given it away.

Aizawa wondered. He always had a sickening feeling about Todoroki's upbringing, but he never brought it up because it didn't seem extremely obvious. The boy even interned with his father twice. There didn't seem to be a huge problem there.

But…

What if there were problems that Aizawa just hadn't seen before?

Aizawa cleared his throat, deciding to pry harder into Todoroki's psyche. "So, when you were a kid, what was going on around you when you got sick?"

Todoroki's eyes snapped back to him, ice covering his cheek. Aizawa paused, deciding to hold back on using his quirk for a bit.

"Was school stressful when you were young? Fights with siblings, perhaps?" Aizawa asked, and Todoroki squirmed on the bed, his hands tightening their grip on the blanket around him. Aizawa paused, eyes narrowing. "Or… maybe a disagreement with a parent?"

More ice shot up Todoroki's neck and face, his hair shiny as the sweat froze on his scalp. He let out a visible puff of air and shuddered, ducking his head.

Bingo.

Aizawa sighed, his fingers reaching up to pinch his nose. He took a moment to just breathe. He didn't know any of the facts, but it appeared that his original apprehensions and suspicions were correct. And the very thought made him sick to his stomach.

"Okay," Aizawa said, lifting his head. He activated his quirk, giving Todoroki some relief from the bitter cold. "So… Extreme stress can make you sick, then. Am I correct?"

Todoroki wiped the melted ice from his cheek and looked at Aizawa, and the look in his two-toned eyes made Aizawa's stomach twist. It was guarded and fragile, something he had never seen in his student's eyes before.

After a moment, Todoroki sighed and nodded, burying his nose back into the blanket and continued to shiver as sweat slid down the left side of his face.

Aizawa released his quirk and sat up in his chair. He tried to tie the pieces together, thinking back to what could have caused Todoroki the stress here, now. What could it have been?

And then it clicked.

The villain attacks the other night. Todoroki was one of the ones injured.

And he had been on his own, fighting against some villain that he hadn't wanted to talk about.

Aizawa leaned forward on his knees, staring at Todoroki seriously.

"What happened during the villain attacks?" Aizawa asked, his tone solemn.

Todoroki inhaled sharply and looked back at Aizawa with widened eyes.

"What?" he mumbled.

"You heard me. The villain attacks," Aizawa said. "What happened? That's what's caused your stress-induced fever, right?"

Todoroki swallowed. "I…"

"You're the only one who hasn't spoken about the specifics of who you fought and what happened," Aizawa said. "So talk. What was the villain like? Is it someone we've faced before?"

Todoroki looked as if he had been slapped, visibly shaken. He skin paled and his eyes glazed over slightly as he seemed to picture what had happened. Then, he blinked rapidly and lowered his gaze, his teeth chewing lightly on his bottom lip. He nodded slowly in response to Aizawa's question.

Aizawa raised a brow. "Who was it?"

Todoroki sighed and hesitated, obviously not wanting to talk about any of it. But the resigned look on his face showed that Aizawa had won. And it didn't feel good to win.

"It was… Dabi," Todoroki answered.

Aizawa's eyes widened. It had been a few months since he had heard about that man. He didn't even know that Dabi was one of the people attacking UA. Why in the world had he not heard about it until now?

"Why am I just finding out about this?" Aizawa asked, his voice a little tense.

Todoroki swallowed again, more ice crawling up his skin. "I… I don't know if I can say," he said softly.

Aizawa immediately backed down as thousands of worrisome thoughts flooded his mind. He took a slow, deep breath and decided not to jump to any outlandish conclusions until he heard the facts directly from Todoroki himself.

"You can trust me," Aizawa said gently. "I want to help you. But I can't do anything to help unless I know what happened."

For the first time all evening, Todoroki looked at Aizawa with a look of so much trust and surprise in his eyes that it made Aizawa think that he had been doing his job incorrectly this entire time. How had it come to this? That he couldn't completely gain the trust of his students? What had he done wrong?

"What did he do to you?" Aizawa asked. He was almost desperate, his anger starting to get the better of him.

Todoroki hesitated once more, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.

"It's… He didn't necessarily do anything," Todoroki started.

"Except for maiming you," Aizawa said, scoffing. "Is that it? When he hurt you… Did that cause the stress?"

Todoroki suddenly looked stricken, his face contorting into a mixture of pain and anger. His hands bawled up the edges of the blanket, gripping them fiercely.

"No. It's… He's…" Todoroki swallowed again and shut his eyes. "He's my brother."

Aizawa blinked at him, all of his thoughts screeching to a halt.

What?

"Come again?" Aizawa asked, his heart starting to thud inside of his ears.

Todoroki flinched and hunched in on himself further, shivering. "H-He's… my brother. Touya." He sighed and shook his head, looking frustrated. "He… We all thought he died, but… he's alive."

And a villain, no less.

Aizawa hung his head and ran his hand through his hair. He held his breath and closed his eyes for a moment. It was worse than he thought. Never in his wildest imaginations did he think that the son of a hero could turn to the other side. What kind of a cruel world was this?

"H-He s-spoke to me, and told me all of these things that only Touya would know," Todoroki said, starting to blabber as his panic rose. "I never got to know him growing up, and then he died and—"

Ice crackled again as it started to spread to the bedsheets. Aizawa was on his feet in an instant, rushing over to Todoroki's side and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Take a few breaths, Todoroki," Aizawa said. "You need to calm yourself down."

Todoroki took in shuddering breaths and hung his head, looking afraid.

"He's… so different than what I remember," Todoroki said, his voice trembling with each word. "He was always trying to protect all of us so we didn't h-have to train. But now… He's killed so many people."

Todoroki released a puff of steam, coating the blanket in a thin layer of moisture. Aizawa gripped his shoulder, urging him to relax. But Todoroki barreled on.

"And now… I don't know what to do," Todoroki said. He looked up at Aizawa, his brows furrowed and his eyes so, so lost. "He… He wants to kill our father."

Aizawa squeezed his shoulder. "Todoroki. Breathe." He demonstrated proper breaths for the boy. "In through the nose, out through the mouth."

Todoroki closed his eyes and followed Aizawa's instructions, breathing slowly and evenly until his chest no longer stuttered and his frame no longer shook so violently. Aizawa could feel his shoulder slump as he relaxed, and the cold temperature wasn't so biting.

"Better?" Aizawa asked, and Todoroki nodded wordlessly in response. Aizawa hummed and patted his shoulder. "Good."

Aizawa sat down on the bed next to Todoroki, thinking over his assumptions and the new information that was trying to process in his brain. Having this knowledge was dangerous, and could drastically affect the hero realm—no, the entire world—as they knew it. What would be the first steps? Outing Endeavor as an abuser once he got the truth out of Todoroki? Alerting the authorities? Going after Dabi—Touya—himself?

What was the best option?

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose again and then ran his hand down his face. This was such a mess.

"Sensei," Todoroki called suddenly. He glanced down at his student, taking in the boy's tentative expression, and he hummed inquisitively. "What's… going to happen now? Are…" His lips twisted a little. "Are you going to tell the police?"

Aizawa paused and tilted his head. "I'm not sure yet. Why?"

Todoroki winced and averted his eyes. "I'm… worried that news of this will get out. And while my family might be happy that he's alive," he took a moment to swallow, "I… I don't think it will good for them to know what he's become."

Aizawa blinked, his expression softening.

"My mother is getting better. And if she were to find out about Touya now, I…" Todoroki sighed and hung his head. "I don't think it will be good for her."

Damn. This was all so complicated. How could he resolve this? How could he fix this?

Ah, well. First thing he had to do was contact Nezu. This was definitely going to be a mess.

"I'll talk it over with the Principal, so you don't worry about it," Aizawa said. He hopped up from the bed. "You just focus on getting better."

Todoroki suddenly reached out and grabbed ahold of Aizawa's sleeve, which made the teacher's eyes widen. The fever must've really made Todoroki feel vulnerable. The poor boy probably didn't know how to handle being so sick.

"Are you… going to tell my father?" Todoroki asked. "About Touya."

Aizawa noticed that Todoroki's hand was shaking, and a thin layer of fear was laced in his eyes. He wasn't sure what that expression meant, but he feared that it could be Todoroki's instincts kicking in to try to protect himself.

It was all so wrong.

"Not initially," Aizawa said, patting Todoroki's hand. "Don't worry, though. We're going to do everything very carefully so no one has to get hurt."

The tension in Todoroki's body seemed to melt off of him (maybe literally), and his body just wilted. He let go of Aizawa's sleeve and nodded, his eyes drooping as he looked down at his lap. He suddenly looked exhausted, and Aizawa wondered how much of this had been stewing in his mind in the past few days. It had probably been a constant in his brain. It made Aizawa feel righteous anger bubble in his chest.

"Just… next time, come talk to me," Aizawa said to him. "Don't wait until the last minute to let all of this out."

Todoroki locked eyes with him and nodded. "Yes, Sensei."

Aizawa nodded back, feeling at least somewhat settled. "Good."

He leaned back in his seat and sighed, folding his arms across his chest again. He stared at Todoroki with hooded eyes.

"So, was it the fever that woke you then? Why did you lose control in the middle of the night rather than yesterday or right after the attack?" Aizawa asked.

Todoroki suddenly looked shy, his lips pursing as he looked away.

"I had a nightmare," Todoroki explained, "about my family celebrating my birthday together. But Touya… er, Dabi, I guess, came and killed our father and destroyed all of the decorations." He paused for a moment. "I guess… it kind of reminded me of all the uncelebrated birthdays I had in the past, and… then my thoughts spiraled out of control."

Aizawa furrowed his brow. It seemed a little random.

Unless…

"When is your birthday?" Aizawa asked.

Todoroki glanced up at him and he looked so, so tired.

"Today."

The word put a terrible taste in Aizawa's mouth for some reason, and he found that he couldn't speak. He simply stared at Todoroki with dread in his chest.

Why did all of this have to happen on the poor kid's birthday?

"Ah, sorry, sorry! I came as fast as I could!"

The door to the infirmary swung open and in walked Recovery Girl, a small smile on her face despite the bags under her eyes. She shivered as soon as she got close to the table.

"My goodness! It's so cold in here!" she said. She looked over Todoroki's form and tutted. "You look like a mess, boy!"

Todoroki bowed his head a little in shame. "Sorry for waking you."

Recovery Girl waved her hand. "Nonsense. You're ill and need treatment." She glanced at Aizawa and shooed him with her hands. "Now, now. You go on back to bed, dear. I'll take care of him."

Aizawa bowed his head slightly. "Thank you, Shuzenji."

He looked to Todoroki and nodded at him, trying to look as comforting as possible, but Todoroki looked a bit concerned, almost a panicked look in his eyes. Aizawa paused, watching as Recovery Girl started to take Todoroki's temperature, but the boy did not remove his gaze from Aizawa's frame.

"Ah. Actually, Shuzenji," Aizawa said. "I think I'm going to hang around here for a bit."

Todoroki instantly relaxed, the panic leaving his eyes. Recovery Girl faced him with a less-than-happy look on her face. She sighed and shook her head.

"If you really must stay, then fine. Just don't get in my way," she said.

Aizawa nodded and pulled out his phone, holding it up in the air for Todoroki to see.

"I need to make a call. I'll be right outside," Aizawa promised.

Todoroki nodded and finally leaned back in the bed, allowing Recovery Girl to do what she needed to do. She gave him a kiss on his forehead and his eyes fluttered shut automatically, his chest slowly rising and falling as he drifted off.

Once he saw that Todoroki was finally relaxed, Aizawa left the room and immediately dialed Principal Nezu's number.

"Ah, sorry it's so late," Aizawa said with a sigh. "But… we should talk."