It was a known fact that Endeavour hated waiting in hospitals, waiting for the doctors to finalize medical examinations, or get post mortem results, granted these still paled in comparison to when Rei had given birth. Nevertheless, today was defiantly a close second…. actually close fifth technically speaking.
Endeavor was waiting on the Izuku's medical examination results, said boy was asleep in the hospital bed he was sitting next to. The boy had begged Endeavour to stay, worried something might happen, Endeavour didn't have a problem with this. Granted he was planning on staying anyway, so this just made it easier, it wasn't till an hour later that the head doctor had returned with the results.
"Oh good to see you're still here, Endeavour," The doctor said as he walked over to check on Izuku. "I see he's still asleep."
"Yeah, he was having what I assumed was a nightmare a bit ago, but I was able to calm him," Endeavour stated as he brought his hand through Izuku's curls. "So what did the test say?
When Endeavor asked about the examination, the doctor face turned sour
"The examination…. let's just say, as a brief summary, that boy's mother will most certainly be heading to prison," The doctor stated as he looked over the notes. "Well, we patched up his head wound and found bruises, likely from blunt force trauma. We found six of his ribs were cracked, bruising both old and new across his body, mainly in the chest and leg. We also found a couple of faint scars on his torso, and we found signs of malnutrition."
Endeavour felt a chill go up to his spine when the doctor finished listing off the injuries Izuku had.
"His mother…. did all that…. just because of his quirk?" Endeavour felt sick to his core.
"Sadly, that is the case, sir, I've seen many children go through this. Parent's abusing their children because of their quirk or lack thereof." The doctor replied, he truly hated days like today.
"Have you been able to find any medical records for Izuku or even his…mother," Endeavour growled at the mention of the woman.
"Sadly, not yet…. But we've got a few staff members looking and contacted the nearby hospitals, but it may take a few hours or days. Well, I'll leave you be, I'll have someone keep an eye on the little guy when you leave." Soon the doctor left the pro hero and child alone again in the room. Endeavor looked back to Izuku, sleeping on the bed. A part of him grateful he found the boy before it was too late, but another part….
'Midoriya….Midoriya….why does that name sound familiar.'
The next day Endeavour was able to get his hands on Izuku's medical records, and he had remembered where he heard the name Midoriya from.
"Midoriya Hisashi, aka Demon's breathe. Known villain, wanted for multiple counts of murder, destruction of property, assault, illegal quirk use…. damn, where does this list end?" Endeavour asked as he went through Hisashi's criminal record. It almost seemed endless. He had found the file at his agency that morning, buried under Burning's idea of origination, after what seemed forever, he finally found the info on his quirk.
"Ok, it seems when he was four, his quirk manifested, and he had a basic fire breathing quirk, standard. But when he reached adulthood out of nowhere…. his quirk evolved." Endeavor was perplexed, while quirk evolution was common, but mainly in people who have trained for years or were in a life or death situation. "His evolved quirk allowed him to conjure fire from his limbs and increased both the strength and heat of his fire breathing. Side note, what made his quirk stand out was his unique green flames" Endeavour continued to read through the file, he learned that Hisashi hadn't been sighted in Japan for almost a year, likely fled to lay low somewhere else or it got too dangerous for him here. It makes sense, though, with not only himself but All Might living in Japan.
Now it was time for Izuku's file.
To Enji's surprise, the file was bare-bones. It listed his date of birth, family, and last known address. When he looked at the medical section, there was barely anything as well. The only mention of a trip to the hospital was when he was four and came in with a broken arm. His mother claimed he fell down the stairs, a clear lie after noticing this was a day after his quirk had been diagnosed and cataloged.
"Ok, let's see what this "villainous" quirk is" Enji turned the page and found Izuku quirk profile.
"Quirk, Devil's foot. The quirk allows the user to conjure flames around his legs, said user seems to have either fireproof skin or high durability to fire. Side note, unlike most fire quirks, the user's flames take on a green color instead of the normal red/orange."
"The only thing remotely villainous is the naming convention!" He growls as he remembers the childish prejudice towards his quirk during school.
Now it made sense to Enji, when Izuku's quirk came in, all anyone saw was his father's quirk and not the little boy. The rest of the file had little to offer or at least anything that could help atm. Endeavor let out a sigh as he leaned back in his chair.
"AGAIN!" Enji's father shouted as he smacked the kendo stick across the floor as the Eight-year-old Enji Todoroki laid sprawled out on the floor. "I told you, boy, you were made for one thing and one thing only, pull the family name out the mud your grandfather left it in, now do it again!" His father screamed
This was Enji Todoroki's life, daily physical abuse, coupled with sociological damage. He wasn't born from love. His parents only got together to create the perfect fire quirk. It was one of the first things he could remember, hell the two hated each other most days. He tried to push himself up, but his body gave out when he got onto his hands and knees, this just made his father angrier.
"Damn it, boy!" His father shouted as he grabbed his son by his shirt. "Don't act like you're done, we're done when I say so, and I know you've been through worse!" He forced Enji to his feet to resume his training. After an hour of more training, Enji's father finally let him go to bed, Enji limped down the hallway, his body covered in bruises and his flames. He was forced to keep it active for as long as possible. This was the most natural part of his training. Enji's anger towards his father always made his quirk flare-up; he hated the man with every fiber of his being.
'I hate him…I hate him…I HATE HIM…IHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIM' Enji's flames grew even stronger and hotter; his hatred was fuelling them. But he was so caught up in his thoughts. He failed to notice his flames changing to a deep blue in color.
'IHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIMIHATEHIM!'
Enji awoke from his nightmare. He was panting like he had just run a marathon. Looking to his left, he saw Rei with a look of worry in her eyes and saw she had her hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry if I scared you" Endeavour mumbled
"It's ok….. I know, guess both our past still like to linger in the back of our heads, but we can't let that define us now," Rei said in a quiet tone.
Enji pulled Rei into a hug. The stood there in silence for a moment. Moments like this made Enji wonder how he convinced this snow angel to go out on a date with him, let alone marry him. The pair eventually broke off from their hug, and Rei looked at Izuku and Hisahi's files.
"So what's with these two, looking for a villain through the family?" Rei asked
"No, it's part of a case I'm working on. Abusive parents." He replied Rei frowned, wrapping her arms around herself, fighting off her old memories. Enji put his hand on her shoulder, proving her comfort.
"What's going to happen to him?" She asked
"Well, we got the mother at the police station at the moment, and her son is currently in the hospital. According to his medical report and his file. It seems likely his mother has been abusing him since the day his quirk had arrived." Enji replied, Rei looked back at the picture of the Izuku in the file, she frowned at the idea that any mother could abuse their own child, but a part of her knew it to be true.
"Any idea why she hated his quirk so much?" she asked again
"Well, his father is a notorious villain, and both their quirks have similarities. My speculation is, Hisashi likely abused her until he either got bored of her or he was forced to flee Japan. Then when her son's quirk arrived, all she saw was another version of him, only this time, he was the one who couldn't fight back." Enji theorized, Rei forgot how well her husband could breakdown cases like this in a few minutes. It made sense how he had made it into the top ten so quickly.
"But what will happen to him?" Rei asked again, Enji sighed.
"The doctor says he'll be the hospital for a month, afterward if we can't find any other family members. He'll likely end up in the foster care system." He stated, but a scowled. "But with a quirk tied to a well-known and dangerous villain, he'll likely be abused all over again, bullied by the children and mistreated by the care home staff. For all, we know this will result in him becoming like his father." Enji groaned as he leaned back in his chair, he wanted to help the boy, but nothing came to mind.
"Well…. There is….. another way," Rei said sheepishly, Enji looked at his wife somewhat confused. "We…. Could always….. take him in ourselves" Rei finished
Rei idea, in Enji's mind, was brilliant, the only issue would be though if Izuku would want to live with them. Enji spent the next two weeks visiting Izuku. He was surprised to learn how much of a hero fanboy he was. Izuku asked Endeavour a hundred questions a day about his work, quirk, or on the villains he faced. Izuku was defiantly confused when Endeavour told him of the time he fought a guy, who's quirk allowed him to control any lane lines painted on the road.
It was now a week till Izuku release from the hospital was due, Endeavour saw this as the perfect time to act. He was sitting next to Izuku's hospital bed, he was in the middle of writing out a report, while Izuku was watching the news.
"Endeavour, why do you keep coming to talk to me?" Izuku asked
"Simple, I want to make sure you're recovering well, and from what the doctor's said, you've almost made a full recovery." Endeavor replied he saw Izuku smile for a moment from Izuku. He was glad Izuku got calmer around him.
The pair sat in silence, enjoying watching the news. That all came crashing down when the next story came up; it was about Izuku's mother. She had been convicted of child abuse, quirk discrimination, and child neglect. Before the story could continue, Endeavour grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. He saw Izuku hug his knees to his chest and tremble with fear.
"Shh, shh, sh." Endeavor pulls the boy into a gentle embrace, "She can't hurt you, I'm right here."
"Maybe." Izuku whispers
"You want to talk about it? I hear it helps." Izuku shakes his head, "Alright, how about a happier topic? What about heroes, who's your favorite?"
"All Might," Izuku whispers. Endeavour groaned, hearing that name.
"Of course you like that blond idiot" Endeavour Replied
"What's wrong with All Might? He saves everyone with a smile" Izuku asked
"More annoyed that blond idiot basically has every child in the world as a fan, what about the rest of us!" Endeavor stated Izuku laughed at Endeavour's opinion on All Might. The pair continued talking about other heroes for another hour.
"You asked about my family, do you want me to tell you?" Izuku said out of nowhere, catching Endeavour off guard.
"Uhh…sure…but only if you want to talk about it," Izuku nodded back. "Ok then, what can you tell me about your father, we didn't find anything that could be his at your home."
"Momma….she got rid of it all….said she wanted to forget him," Izuku said
"What was he like? Endeavour asked
"H-he hit…..Momma….a-all th-the time," Izuku whimpered. "I tried t-to help, but….he just start hurting me…."
"Where is he?"
"Gone…..left…before my quirk….came"
It was now clear to Enji; his theory about Inko was right. She was in an abusive relationship with Hisashi, and after he left and Izuku quirk came in, she let all her anger and frustrations out on him. Endeavour pulled Izuku into another hug. The pair sat there in silence for a few minutes till Endeavour could tell Izuku had calmed down.
"Endeavour….what's going to happen to me?" Izuku wheezed.
"Well, we've sadly failed to locate any family members of yours" Granted Endeavour wasn't going to any of them near him if they did find any. "So you'll likely end up in a foster home, until you either are adopted or reach adulthood" Endeavour felt Izuku cling to his costume, the boy was terrified of that idea, rightly so. "But, there is another option."
"What is it?" Izuku asked as he looked up at Endeavour
"You can come live with me, and my family" Endeavour responded, he saw Izuku's eyes start to fill with tears at this idea.
"Y-you…wa-wan-t…me to…l-l-live with you?" Izuku blubbered
"Of course, my wife brought the idea up, but I be lying if I wasn't considering it myself," Endeavour chuckled. "Only problems though be, you'll fall in love with Rei's cooking day one, Natsuo will try to get you to wear his terrible shirts, and when my daughter sees you. I have a feeling she'll hug you and never let go" Endeavour laughed at the times he had to save Natsuo and Shoto from Fuyumi's hugs.
"W-w-what..ab-a-out…my…q-qui-rk?"
"Don't worry. No one thinks it's a villainous quirk," Endeavour said as he ruffled Izuku's green hair. "I think it's an impressive ability, defiantly more of a hero quirk in my opinion than a villainous quirk. So would you like to live with us?" Endeavour asked
A part of Izuku thought this must have been a cruel dream, that he wake up any second to find Endeavour hadn't saved him, and he was still trapped in his room, waiting for his mother to come in and beat him for using his quirk. But he knew this wasn't a dream, from the taste of the hospital food, the fluffiness of the special blanket the doctor had given him, and the warmth Endeavour gave off, especially with is hugs.
"C-c-an…I….pl-pl-eas-e st-y…wth….you," Izuku asked through all the tears and snot.
"Of course you can" Endeavour responded, bringing Izuku back into another hug, he felt Izuku crying through his suit, but he knew these were tears of joy, not of fear or sadness.
The rest of the week flew by as Endeavour had the paperwork sorted to become Izuku's legal guardian. Granted, he wouldn't have the name Todoroki, that only become possible after the Todoroki's proved they provided a safe and loving home to Izuku. The only issue at the moment was Izuku's room wasn't finished, so they decided to bunk him with Shoto, who had no problem, he was excited to meet the famous Izuku.
On the day Izuku was scheduled to be released, Endeavour came to pick him up after a short patrol. The six-year-old was nervous but did his best to put on a brave face. Endeavor found it adorable at Izuku's brave face. He was basically imitating All Might's signature smile. Once the pair reached the front door of the hospital, Endeavour lifted Izuku onto his shoulders and walked out the front door and made his way home, Izuku the hole time loving the view from Endeavour's shoulders.
A/N: Man you all love some good Endavour, same here. The number of messages and reviews rook me by surprise, but after Izumi Aizawa took off, I shouldn't be surprised. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you all have an amazing holiday and New Year