Just Him - Todoroki Family

[vedisesenwein]

Just Him

 

Rating - Mature

 

Pairing - Enji Todoroki/Rei Todoroki, Enji Todoroki & All Might

 

Characters - Enji Todoroki, Rei Todoroki, Touya Todoroki, Fuyumi Todoroki, Natsuo Todoroki, Shoto Todoroki, All Might, Izuku Midoriya

 

Tags - Febuwhump, Febuwhump 2024, Febuwhump 2024 Day 13, Whump, Todoroki Family Spoilers, Guilt, Reflection, PTSD, Death, Jealousy, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Fire, Fire as a Metaphor

 

Summary

Prompt: “You weren’t supposed to get hurt”

“So Enji was gentle with Rei, because she was small and scared. Because she didn’t understand what they were doing yet. Enji didn’t know this was when the fire started. He didn’t know he was going to watch his family reduced to ashes all around him. This had never been about them – just him.”

 

Author’s Note

Hey y'all, I didn't know what to do with this, but I'm actually pretty proud of this one lol.
Enjoy!

-0-


It all came back to Enji’s father burning alive. Enji hadn’t been there when it had happened, but he’d seen it replayed on the news too many times to count. Enji had trained incessantly after that, swearing that he would never meet his father’s fate. Little did he know that he would set his entire family to flames and spend the rest of his life watching them burn.

He’d watched All Might rise to the top effortlessly as he worked himself down to his bones, and he’d sworn that he would surpass All Might, but he never did. So then he swore to create someone who could. He married a woman with an ice quirk, hoping that her quirk would make their offspring able to take more fire than Enji or his fire could.

She was young, younger than he was, too young, really, but he forced that thought out of his mind. It was a quirk marriage, but the two of them were giving society a gift – the perfect hero. So Enji was gentle with Rei, because she was small and scared. Because she didn’t understand what they were doing yet. Enji didn’t know this was when the fire started. He didn’t know he was going to watch his family reduced to ashes all around him. This had never been about them – just him.

When Touya was born, something changed in Enji’s chest. Touya was so small and defenseless – but he was hope itself. He was the possibility of a better world, the promise of a second chance. He was the second chance Enji threw away, but he didn’t realize that until it was too late. Until the forest was burning around him and he couldn’t find Touya anywhere. His son. Touya hadn’t been supposed to get hurt.

Rei went from being small and scared to being a ghost of even that after Touya’s death. She cried at his funeral, almost frozen tears running down her face, smearing her mascara, but she retreated into herself after that. Enji couldn’t cry no matter how much he wished he could, but he could feel them trapped somewhere behind his eyes. He didn’t realize how lost Rei was until she mutilated their child. He sent her away after that, because he couldn’t risk her jeopardizing their masterpiece. Shoto might be their last chance after losing Touya. Rei hadn’t been supposed to get hurt.

Natsuo moved out on his eighteenth birthday, despite all the fighting and screaming, it wasn’t a dramatic affair. Enji just went to work like he did every day, and when he came back, Natsuo was gone. Fuyumi was making dinner in the kitchen, and Enji brought Shoto down so that the three of them could eat together, not having it in him to leave anyone alone. He tried to call Natsuo, but he’d blocked his number. He wasn’t surprised, he was starting to realize he hadn’t been the best father. Natsuo hadn’t been supposed to get hurt.

Shoto had always been afraid of his fire, and Enji had tried to coax it out of him, and then force it out of him. Shoto had never forgiven him for sending Rei away, even after what she’d done to him, even though he saw the scar she’d left on his face every time he looked in the mirror. Enji saw Touya every time he looked at him, and maybe that was the problem. He had been so gentle with Touya, but he pushed Shoto until he broke, kneeling on the floor in his own blood, vomit, and tears. Shoto didn’t cry anymore, and he’d only used his fire once, at the Sports Festival when Izuku Midoriya – All Might’s successor – said it was his, not Enji’s, even though it was the only thing Enji had ever given to him. He jumped at the opportunity to move in the dorms, leaving his family in his dust. Shoto hadn’t been supposed to get hurt.

Fuyumi stayed even after everyone else had left, even after Shoto had left, even when it was just her and Enji alone in their family home. They ate dinner together in silence every night, because she’d given up on trying to strike up conversations years ago. Every night, he thanked her for the meal, and every night, she cried herself to sleep. He stood outside her door sometimes and listened, wondering if he should go in and try to comfort her, but he never did. Fuyumi hadn’t been supposed to get hurt.




Enji was sitting by his son’s deathbed. He was losing him all over again, having failed to save him twice. All Touya had ever wanted was his approval – his love – but Enji had been too caught up in surpassing All Might to give it to him. Touya had been an incredible child. He’d been smart, brave, funny, and far too dedicated for his own good. Touya had burnt himself alive trying to prove that he could still be what Enji wanted.

Then Touya had returned, except he hadn’t been Touya anymore. He had been Dabi. He hadn’t known that after he’d died, he’d been all Enji had wanted, even if he could never use his fire again. Dabi was burnt everywhere, covered in charred skin lined with staples, smoking from the cracks of himself. He was burning alive again, and all Enji could do was fight him.

“You weren’t supposed to get hurt,” Enji said, the tears finally escaping him as he watched Dabi die. None of them had been supposed to get hurt – just him.