Mama Bear Inko
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or the characters mentioned in this story. If I did, Shouto Todoroki would have all the love and affection he deserves
Chapter 1
It's been six months since Midoriya Izuku and Todoroki Shouto have been dating. The first month or two there was some awkwardness and tension. Shouto's complicated family issues crippling his emotions and social interactions. Izuku's ability to overthink and the bullying from childhood was causing severe anxiety. However, despite the complications of both their pasts, and despite all the misunderstandings both boys were able to get past that and find happiness with each other, and slowly they were also healing. Both Izuku and Shouto decided to keep their relationship to themselves for now until they were ready.
It Was the night before winter break started. Izuku and Shouto lay next to each other gently touching hands in the dark of Izuku's dorm. Shouto used his ice to sneak into Izuku's room after bed check. "Sho?" Izuku asks. "Hmm?" Shouto gives a small hum of acknowledgment to his name as Izuku continues to rub the back of his hand with his thumb. " I told my mom about us a while ago actually… she's been so excited to meet you, well I was hoping you'd come over for dinner to meet her ...sometime during break? Only if you want no pressure or anything." Izuku rambles on his nerves of edge. He's gotten better at reading Shouto so he doesn't immediately panic when his boyfriend tenses up and doesn't respond right away so he doesn't stop his hand motions. Shoto closes his eyes and takes a deep breath relaxing a bit before he turns to face Izuku, holding his hand just a bit tighter. " Do you think she will like me?" The shy question startling Izuku. Squeezing his boyfriend's hand reassuringly Izuku says, " I don't think my mother has a mean bone in her body, but I also think she will genuinely love you." Shouto lets out a small smile and pulls Izuku to his chest and says, " okay I'll go. Now sleep, we have to get up early to vacate the dorms." Izuku kisses Shouto's cheek and falls asleep easily, exhausted from his earlier training. Shouto lies awake with Izuku by his side wondering how he will get away from under his father in order to go to Izuku's house.
Izuku's All Might alarm clock rings out at 8 am waking Shouto from a restless sleep. He gently shakes Izuku awake telling him he needs to head back to his own dorm before Aizawa Sensei sees him leaving the dorm. "Five more minutes?" Izuku mumbles from under the blanket, nodding he lies back down listening to the even breathing his boyfriend lets out. Left alone to his thoughts, Shoto knows that the dorms were a blessing. A chance to get away from his father. It feels like he was living his life holding his breath and now that his father is no longer breathing flames down his neck he can just exhale. If Shouto had it his way he would spend the entire break living in the dorms but, all good things must come to an end. He turns and looks at Izuku and hopes that this good thing is the exception.
Shouto collapses in the middle of dodging another burst of flames from his father. He tries to play it off. Tries to pretend it was on purpose, to roll with the downward motion of his body, but his arms strain against gravity and his legs get tangled and he's left in a panting, sweating, exhausted heap on the floor. He can't drag in a full breath without choking on the humidity. He's shivering and overheated and his mouth tastes like ash and he kind of wants to cry, but he won't. He knows what happens if he does. "You're my masterpiece". "Masterpiece" the word echoes around Shouto's head. He catches a punch to his stomach and doubles over in pain. " a perfect combination of your mother's ice and my fire". Other parents tell their children they have their mother's smile, their father's nose, the children of Endeavor were not, they were reduced to just quirks.
Shouto lunges at his father ice at the ready, Endeavor anticipates it and grabs his arm, throwing him over his shoulder. Shouto lets out a shout as his back and head connects with the floor. The room is spinning he realizes and as he lays on the floor exhausted from training for hours, his body becoming a map of cuts and bruises. " You will never surpass All Might if you keep refusing to use your fire, Shouto." Endeavor tells him as he looks at him. " You'll always be pathetic and weak if you keep resisting me," he says as he walks towards the exit. He looks back over his shoulder and says, " that's enough for today. Tomorrow I expect a challenge. Tomorrow I expect you to be worth the time and effort I have put into you. Tomorrow Shoto, I expect you to prove to me that you are not falling behind your pathetic classmates, or else you will not be returning to the dorms after this break is over." And all Shouto can say is, " Yes father". When Endeavor leaves Shouto stays on the floor, he looks up and the ceiling and wishes for his mother, wishes for Izuku, he tries to hold back the tears in his eyes, in one burst of anger he slams his right hand on the ground causing a surge of ice to encase the room. He sighs and forces himself to get up, slowly he makes his way to the shower passing his brother and sister in the hallway.
If there was one word to describe Midoriya Inko it would be sunshine. He thinks as he watches her cook a million things celebrating his return home. Izuku could not have asked for a better mother. She would worry about him and fuss but at the end of the day, she was his number one supporter in everything that he did. At the tender age of four Izuku and his mother found out that he was quirkless, knowing that his chances of being a hero were low, she still supported his dream of being a hero, applying to UA. She put up with all the anxiety of being the parent of a hero, never knowing if the day he came home he would be in a body bag, she still pushed him to follow his dreams. And when he told her that he was in a relationship with Shouto Todoroki, she just smiled wide and asked him if he was happy. When he told her yes, she cried and said " that's all a mother can ask for", then he cried and then they laughed and sat on the couch watching movies and eating ice-cream.
Sunshine is exactly what his mother was and he would not trade it for the world. He watched her taste test dishes and talk about what she has been doing since the last time he has been home. When she was done he told her about Shouto and about training with All Might, he told her about how Kaminari challenged Iida to a race, about the time Azawai Sensei fell asleep in class and woke up forgetting that he was supposed to teach a class, only to realize that he was in said class when Ojiro pointed it out. They laughed and had dinner together like they used to and Izuku was happy. When his mom went to bed he took out his phone and texted Shouto to see how his first night back home went frowning at the thought of him having to face Endeavor.
Once Shouto finished his shower and dressed himself he made his way to the kitchen where Fuyumi made dinner, checking his phone he replied to Izuku telling him that things were fine and that he was just about to eat dinner with his siblings, Endeavor went out to patrol. He set his phone down and Natsuo went and grabbed the first aid kit tending to his injuries while Fuyumi served their plates. For a few, it was silent as both siblings busied themselves with their self-assigned tasks.
" Fucking bastard!" Natsuo yelled out as he struggled with the stitches he was about to give his little brother. "Natsuo!" Fuyumi exclaimed. " I'm not sorry for what I said Fuyumi, look what he did to Shouto. His fucking SON. All for the sake of his stupid pissing match with All Might. "Let me beat the shit out of my son to prove that I Endeavor am indeed a man and that my strength is greater than All Mights," Natsuo said, giving his best Endeavor impression towards the end. " I know. Don't you think I know that this is a shit show Natsuo are you forgetting that I'm here with you, that Shouto is here too." Fuyumi said while slamming the plates on the table. " I know how you feel. But I don't want to spend Shouto's first night home raging about Father.-" " Stop both of you" Shouto interrupts Fuyumi and says to both of them. Sensing that Shouto does not want to continue the conversation Natsuo continues wrapping and treating his little brother's injuries, when he's done they sit and begin to eat in silence.
Shouto's phone goes off and he looks at the message Izuku sent, its a baby picture of him and Bakugo in matching All might onesies, a smile creeps on his face as he admires how cute Izuku was and how Bakugo still looks like a loudmouth in the onesie. His sister sees the small smile and asks him who he's talking to as an attempt at conversation. Growing up they were never close. After determining that Toya, Fuyumi, and Natsuo were failures, their father raised them separately from him, to avoid distractions. After mother went away Fuyumi tried her best to fill her shoes, Natsuo tried to be a better big brother, but fear always stopped them from getting too close. Now, things were changing and they were slowly becoming closer.
Shoto thought about what to tell them but in the end, he settled on the truth. " Izuku… he is my boyfriend." Shouto told them, his eyes hidden under his hair, holding his breath, waiting for their reaction." Both Fuyumi and Natsuo gasped and looked at each other as if to confirm that they heard correctly. It was silent before a smile spread across Natsuo's face. He clapped his brother on the back forgetting about his injuries and said " alright, my little brother is finally gettin' some'' Shouto choked on his air as his brother just grins and laughs at his suffering. " Natsuo" Fuyumi says as she smacks him on his arm as she laughs. She turns to her youngest brother and smiles, and says " tell us about him." and the tears that Shouto was trying to hold in finally came down and his body shook with his quiet sobs. They hug him and tell him it's okay, that they love him, he's their precious brother, there is nothing he could do, and no one he could love that would make them love him any less. Once the crying has stopped he tells them about Izuku. He tells them how his smile is bright and how his muttering is an odd habit but if you listen closely he makes insightful observations and valid arguments, he tells them how they hold hands in the dark, how Izuku makes him laugh and feel like he can finally breathe, he's not forced to play the role of the son of Endeavor, he can simply be Shouto. Fuyumi and Natsuo look at each other and then look at the peaceful grin on their brother's face and for once in their lives, Endeavor can't destroy this moment with his flames.
A week passes. After telling his siblings a weight has been lifted off his shoulders just one of the many, it's enough that training with Endeavor does not leave him emotionally exhausted just physically battered. He trains with his flames, his control over them is shaky, Endeavor berates him, accuses him of weakness. Shouto trains harder and soon it becomes apparent he is anything but weak. The bruises on his body heal only to be replaced with new ones, the burns on his skin not only come from his father's flames but his own, eager to consume him. Shouto and his siblings spend the time doing things they should have done together as children building forts, pillow fights, teasing each other, snowball fights and Shouto enjoys every moment of it until it is time to train and his body is left broken. At dinner one day while Endeavor is not out patrolling, he brings up the invitation. " Father?" Shouto asks as he sets down his soba. Fuyumi and Natsuo look up from their own soba and tense up knowing what is about to be asked.
"Yes." Endeavor answers as he continues to look at the paperwork he brought home from the agency. " Izuku Midoriya invited us to have dinner at their house on Saturday… I was wondering if it would be alright if we attended." Shouto explained slowly. " Izuku Midoriya?" " My … friend, my classmate… the one I fought at the Sports Festival." Fuyumi and Natsuo gave each other nervous glances wondering what their father was going to say... Would he figure out that Shouto means more than friends? Endeavor finally looked up from his papers and stared at Shouto and finally said, " it would be rude to decline an invitation. View this as a reward for taking your training seriously. At what time will they be expecting us?" " Yes, father. Izuku said at 5 pm." squeezing his hands in his lap as his father used his request to make it about his training." Dinner resumed as normal and Shouto went to his room. He texted Izuku to tell him his father agreed but at a price.
They talked about their breaks and then Souto said, " I told him you were a friend, a classmate. I was scared to tell him the truth because he already threatened to pull me from the dormitories, the next threat would be to remove me from UA and then we'd be" Shouto rambled on afraid that Izuku would be angry with him for not telling his father the truth. " Sho, it's okay. Knowing how your dad is I can imagine this would be something very hard for you to tell him. You can tell him when you are ready." Izuku said on the other side of the phone as he washed the dishes from dinner. " I can feel you smiling through the phone," Shouto told him as he laid in his bed. " I thought your quirk was half hot half cold," Izuku jokes. " Yes but I am fluent in four languages and the fourth is Izuku." Shouto fires back. They laugh and wish each other a good night.
Izuku lets his mother know that Shouto's father does not know that they are dating yet for her to just act like it's a dinner between friends. She frowns and says that Shouto should trust his father. That all a parent wants is for their child to be happy and for them to be loved. He blushes and sputters out "I Never said I loved him" his mom gives him a look and says, " a mother knows". Izuku tries to explain to her that Shouto's relationship with his father is complicated while trying to respect Shouto's privacy, it's not his business to tell not even to his mother. She says that Endeavor is a hero, he would not cast his son out for loving who he loves. She does not understand the situation but she respects it nonetheless and agrees to not mention the relationship. Instead, she talks about how excited she is to meet Shouto.