Chapter 31: I Know That You Got Daddy Issues~

"Shoto."

The young boy stood in the shadows of the dark hallway after his win in the second event. The victory was a close one, in fact the only reason his team had won was because he was able to hold on to the million-point headband as that explosion kid grabbed every other headband that was around his neck.

His posture was straight. Taut in expectation of whatever scolding he was going to receive, and his head hung low as to not be perceived as defiant or disrespectful.

If he just waited this out, then he could get back to his classmates. Not that he was actually friends with any of them, but he felt somehow safe around them. The probability that Endeavor would yell at him, or heaven forbid hit him in front of so many young and impressionable students was next to zero and that gave Shoto a sense of comfort.

"Your performance in the last round was less than satisfactory. If you would stop with this childish rebellion and use your fir-"

"No."

The second that the word was out of his mouth he winced. He hadn't meant to interrupt his father; he just couldn't stand to hear this again. He couldn't bear to listen to his father diminish him or his mother's quirk again.

That regret was only intensified as he felt a fresh wave of heat hit him and his father's presence move closer to him. On instinct the boy's body curled up in an attempt to make him look smaller and to protect him, but Shoto pushed his shoulders back and lifted his head, refusing to show such weakness.

"What did you say to me?"

"I said no. We've discussed this before and I think that I have made myself quite clear. I refuse to be your tool." His words were hard, but his hands shook as he stared his father down. It took every ounce of strength to keep his voice from faltering, from giving away just how terrified he was in his father's overbearing presence.

Endeavor's eyes flashed as he glared at his child. "I would be careful how you speak to me boy. I have invested too much into you for you to just throw it all away. You will win, you will surpass the number one hero, and you will do it using the fire I gave you! I am your father and-"

Shoto scoffed, cutting Endeavor off. "You may have played a part in giving me life, but I have no obligation to your petty feud with the number one hero."

"You are my son, and you will listen to what I have to say!"

"I don't care what else you have to say!" Shoto took a breath. He hadn't meant to get so worked up and shout, but he couldn't help it. When it came to his father, something just came out of him. "Make no mistake, I will win, but I will do it without your help and without your power. You can go now; it is against the rules for anyone but the UA staff and students to be back here during the festival."

Endeavor glared at his son for a moment more before walking away without another word.

Shoto watched as his father left and as soon as he was out of sight the boy collapsed against the wall. His back slid down until he was sitting on the floor gasping for breath that he had been holding.

The boy had been trying to calm himself down enough to go back and join everyone when movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. His head snapped to whatever he saw and as he looked, a familiar small boy with messily curled green hair froze in his gaze.

The two boys just stared at each other for a few seconds of tense silence. They both knew that Izuku had overheard something that he shouldn't have and now Shoto would have to do something about it.

"Uh…imma just-"

"Hold it." Izuku tried to sneak away but was stopped by Todoroki's intense voice. The boy who had just been hyperventilating out of nerves from standing up to his abusive father had put back up that wall of ice surrounding himself from everyone and everything around him. "Izuku Minori, was it?"

Izuku cringed at his moment of idiocy and the weak coverup that he presented. "Yep…that's me. And you're Shoto Todo-"

"Don't-" The boy quickly interrupted with just a bit more volume than he meant to, "Don't call me by his name. You can call me Shoto."

Ahhhh…so they were back here huh?

Izuku reallyyyyy wasn't good with people and especially friends and the whole first name thing. What was the protocol? Was he supposed to offer up his first name? It was probably only fair considering that the other part was fake. But had it been too long? Would it be awkward now? And he already had to deal with stumbling in on the majorly uncomfortable situation that happened between the number two hero and his son, he wasn't sure he wanted to add any tension to that.

"Uh, alright…"

"Would you prefer if I called you by Izuku or Minori?" His question was straight forward and uncaring. From what he got from the student from their last meeting, he wasn't the best in social situation either. Maybe that weakness went further than Izuku had initially thought.

He didn't realize that he hadn't responded to the boy's question until it had been just a bit too long since he asked it. "Oh uh, Izuku is fine I guess."

"Good. Now, about what you saw-"

"Look, you don't have to; it's really none of-"

"I need you to be quiet and listen."

It was more of a plead than an order, even with his monotoned voice. Honestly? This was the last thing Izuku wanted to get involved with. He had so many of his own problems to deal with, not including his vigilante work and trying to keep up with his new relationships, but something in Shoto's eyes…

He looked like he needed help. And Izuku helped people.

"Okay."

Izuku made himself comfortable leaning on a wall as he listened to the boy share his story. Of his screwed-up childhood, his father's abuse and neglect of his other children, how he was practically raised to be a tool and soldier rather than an actual human being, of his father's resentment of All Might and his ambition of surpassing him, of his plan to have his own son do what he knew he could not.

Hearing it all made Izuku want to throw up.

He knew that trauma was subjective and that everyone had their own experiences that couldn't be compared to other people, but still…listening to Shoto's story planted a weight in his chest. He knew that his life was messed up, he knew that he had a right to be upset and everything but putting it in perspective was extremely humbling.

That had been happening a lot actually. Hitoshi's story, Shoto's…they all had issues, they were all broken in their own way, and a sick side of Izuku took comfort in the fact that he wasn't alone.

"Now you know. That's the story behind the number two hero."

Izuku couldn't respond for a second, still shocked from hearing everything. "…wow…"

A tiny bit of sadness flashed across Shoto's gaze before he schooled his face again. "I'm sorry that I had to unload all of that onto you, but it was necessary to understand what you overheard."

Izuku only nodded weakly.

After another few seconds he looked up at the expressionless boy. His half-cut hair sticking out in the bland hallway like a sore thumb. "And what about your quirk? Half of it's from your dad and the other…?"

"My mother. She has a powerful ice quirk. My father took notice and practically bought her from her family so that he could breed the perfect successor…me. That's why I refuse to use my left side. I refuse to use his power after everything he's done to me and to my family."

It was those words that snapped Izuku out of his shock. He stared at the boy, analyzing him as much as he could. "That's wrong." The words were out before he could stop them and once they left his tongue, he clapped both hands over his mouth and glanced worriedly at Shoto. "Uh, I-"

"What do you mean exactly?"

Trying to gauge the boy's reaction, Izuku didn't necessarily see any anger at the comment, but he thought that it'd probably be best to tread lightly. "No, it's just-"

"There is no need to be afraid. You can speak freely."

No emotion. Somehow that was even worse.

Izuku sighed, letting go of any worry or protest that he was going to give. "I just think that you're wrong. The way that you're thinking and going about this is incorrect."

"Please explain."

The boy's ineptness was painful and Izuku wished that he had just found Hitoshi like he'd been trying to for the second time that day. "I understand you resenting your dad and anything to do with him, but it not his quirk. There is absolutely nothing about you that has to be tied to him whatsoever if you don't want it to be. You are your own person, and you can be that person apart from him."

"I-" Shoto cocked his head to the side slightly, confusion clearly showing.

"It seems that daddy issues are pretty common lately. My dad showed up out of the blue recently after not showing his face for twelve years, even for his wife and son's funerals, and practically demanded that I respect him simply because he was the one who just so happened to be my father. But even so, I realized that I had no obligation to him or his attempts at apologies-if you could even call them that."

It took the boy a moment to respond, his gaze settling over Izuku and listening intently as he spoke. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"It's whatever," Izuku shrugged, "It felt good to finally tell the bastard off though."

This brought the hint of a snicker to Shoto's thin-lined mouth. "Yeah…it did." He seemed to be reminiscing of his own stand against his father only moments ago.

"I get not wanting to do what he asks out of spite and stuff, but don't sabotage yourself because you're so wrapped in his web that you can't see clearly."

The only response he got from the boy was a singular small nod before their eyes met once again. "I think that I should be getting back to my classmates and as I said, it's against the rules for you to be here."

Izuku nodded and started to walk back the way he came and as he did, Shoto could've sworn he heard the boy snicker under his breath, "Oh, you have no idea."

As Izuku made his way back to the stands he was blocked by a large body with crossed arms and a very distinguishable scarf. Slowly he raised his eyes to Eraser's glaring ones and tried to give his most innocent puppy dog eyes in an attempt to quell some of the hero's fury.

"Heyyyyy Eraser…"

"Problem child, what do you think you're doing here? This is for students and staff only."

Izuku let out a nervous laugh, "Do you think they'd make an exception if I told them that we lived together?" Immediately Izuku was grabbed by the back of his shirt and was being dragged down the hall by a stomping Eraserhead. "Okay, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I promise I won't use that card!"

Eraser released Izuku's shirt causing him to stumble a couple steps forward as he caught his balance, and the boy shot a glare at the hero. "That was rude."

"You're being annoying."

"That's kind of my job."

"You're not funny."

"Mic thinks I'm hilarious."

"Mic is annoying too."

"I'm going to tell him you said that."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

The two stared each other down, both silently accepting the other's challenge and refusing to lose by being the first to look away. Unfortunately for Izuku, Eraser was a literal pro at staring contests and could refrain from blinking for a lot longer than he could.

The boy finally blinked and groaned as a small smirk crept onto the hero's face. "You suck."

"Go back to your seat already, the last event is about to start."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Little did the two of them know that they had a third person watching their interaction and listening to conversations he wasn't supposed to hear.

Izuku sat back down in his seat as he studied the bracket that was broadcasted on all of the screens surrounding the arena. Hitoshi's fight was first, and he was against some hero student from 1-A apparently.

He was kind of peeved that he wasn't able to catch his friend before the final event, but he also knew that the talk he had with Shoto was exactly what needed to happen. He didn't regret it, he was actually happy that he was able to help, even if it was just a little bit. Because that's what he wanted to do right? He wanted to help people.

Hitoshi's opponent was named Go Oba. Izuku hadn't met or heard anything about the kid, but that didn't mean much considering that he only just met a few of the hero students today and barely knew the names that they had given him.

Izuku didn't know if he was nervous or not, his feelings just kinda sloshed around in his chest and mixed into a hot mess.

On one hand, he was very confident in his friend's strength and determination, but they hadn't been training for all that long and they knew nothing about his opponent. Oba had already gotten into the hero course and therefore had to have strength of some kind.

"ALRIGHTTTTT! ARE YOU GUYS READY TO WATCH SOME RAD BATTLES????" Mic's voice boomed once again over the crowd that screamed in anticipation for the 1v1 battles. "OUR FIRST MATCH IS THE HERO COURSE STUDENT GO OBA VERSES GENERAL STUDIES STUDENT HITOSHI SHINSO!!"

The fire on the pillars surrounding the arena fluctuated and the crowd roared as the two boys walked up the steps to face each other.

Hitoshi looked tired as per usual, but Izuku could tell that he was nervous. The way his shoulders were set gave away just how on edge he was. The other guy, Oba seemed excited. Or at least more excited than Hitoshi was letting show.

Even through his facade of uncaring, Izuku could see the small smile pulling at his lips and the way he lightly bounced on his heels. This was where he needed to be. And he was ready.

Oba looked intimidating, just what you would expect from the hero course. His silver hair struck out as if fell just above his bright red eyes that just begged for a good match. Izuku couldn't take any guesses as to what his quirk was from his appearance, but he was excited. This was going to be interesting for sure.

Midnight announced the commencement of the first match and immediately the two boys were off, racing towards each other.

Hitoshi would be trying to end the match before he had to use his quirk. A good strategy, but it also put him in a vulnerable position of not knowing what his opponent would be able to do. He had no indication of his quirk and was therefore literally running in blind with the hope that his strategy was better than the other boy's.

As the two met, they immediately began exchanging blows. Hitoshi was holding his own fairly well, but his form was sloppy from time to time. Overall however, Izuku was proud. He could see his fighting style seep out of the boy's moves and felt a small smile creep to his lips.

He would have to have Hitoshi fight with some other people so that he didn't get too used to fighting him and possibly developing bad habits. Maybe he could convince Eraser to spar with the kid some.

The two boy's blow were more or less matched with the others. Neither was doing too much damage to the other and it was very clear that in physical ability the two were on relatively equal ground. But now it would come down to quirk ability and Oba's was a complete wildcard. Hitoshi's was to him as well, but if he wasn't careful with how he handled this, then even if he won this match the ones after would put him at the disadvantage of his opponents knowing exactly how to avoid his quirk.

Suddenly Oba landed a hit directly across Hitoshi's cheek and the boy went down in a heap on the ground. It wasn't a particularly hard blow, but something was off. Hitoshi wasn't getting up and Izuku knew for a fact that he could take his fair share of beatings. Which meant that something was extremely wrong.

This was only confirmed with the boy attempted to get up but crumbled back down and felt out the ground around him shakily.

Oba let out a laugh as he approached his opponent and knelt down to Hitoshi who didn't acknowledge the boy right in front of him. He didn't even seem to be looking at him. What was going on?

Hitoshi blindly felt out the space around him and when his hand bumped into Oba's body, he struck out with zero hesitation sending the boy flying backward.

Even so, he didn't seem to even see what he had done. He frantically shook his head and breathed so heavy that Izuku could see his chest rising and falling from the stands. He was still on the ground and his opponent was recovering quickly.

That was before, of course, Oba's body went ridged. Hitoshi got him. He muttered a small command and his opponent obediently walked right over the boundary line, winning the match for Hitoshi. As soon as he crossed the line Hitoshi must've released his control, because the boy crumbled to his knees.

Whatever had been happening to Hitoshi must've been released as well because he was now looking around at everything clearly.

Midnight announced Hitoshi's win and the two boys were ushered away so that the next battle could begin. Izuku would have to ask his friend about what happened later, because he was sooo confused as to what just happened.

On the bright side though, he doubted that anyone figured out how Hitoshi's quirk worked. He noticed the boy enacting multiple false activation requirements so that his opponent would be confused as well. Good. He's doing well…

Let's just hope that he can keep it up.