(hey i wanted to request silly girl by chloe moriondo with shoto???)
A/N: Here I am with another Todoroki fic! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out - it’s not a typical kind of fic that I’d write about Shoto, but I think the song paired nicely with it. It’s more serious than sweet I would say, but def fluffy at the v end. Also this song is so good omg. Anyways, thank you so much for requesting this within the event, I hope you love it!!!
Word Count: 1.6K
Shoto Todoroki gave you butterflies. He gave you that head-over-heels, “kicking your feet in the air” kind of feeling that makes you realize you’re in love. And not just that casual crush kind of thing - it was the kind of love where you smiled at him whenever you walked into class. That kind of love where you looked at him first after you finished a presentation, to see if he was nodding his head in agreement with your statements.
He appeared to be too good for the world, too lovely. When there was even a shadow of a smile, a chorus of angels seemed to sing and shine a halo on top of his head. He learned and spoke and trained with such grace and poise, like a ballerina not breaking a sweat during a difficult variation. His clothes were always ironed and fit him well and his hair flopped over his forehead in such a way that it looked like someone had meticulously set every strand into its place purposefully and methodically. To you, Shoto Todoroki was perfect.
What you didn’t know was that after he closed the door to his dorm room, he could do little to prevent himself from collapsing on his floor, his head in his hands. You didn’t know that some nights he would get so sad thinking about his family that he’d cry until he was hiccuping and felt like he was about to throw up. Or about the way he’d wrap himself in a blanket so tightly it felt like his mother giving him a hug, even though he hadn’t had one from her since he was eight years old. Shoto Todoroki was not a pristine tea plate in a fine china set. He was cracked. Falling apart. Broken.
But Shoto hid it well. He placed that soft indifferent mask on his face and went about his day, trying to force that worry and insecurity and heartbreak down, down beneath that facade. No slipping up, no making a scene. Perfection.
You weren’t meant to be up this late, however, a strong urge for a cup of tea had you out of your bed and walking down the hallways. It was late at night, or rather, really early in the morning so all of your classmates’ dorm lights were turned off. As you passed door after door, it was kind of funny. Some had white noise turned on, others calming piano music. Just another thing that made you love dorm life so much - the individuality. However, something was starkly out of place. The further down you walked, the more light seemed to be spilling out of a door. Cracked open just a smidge, you frowned. Who on earth is up this late? You thought to yourself, your feet carrying you a little quicker to the light source. Peeking at the name plate next to the door you sucked in a breath. Etched onto the plastic read the name “Shoto Todoroki”. You shook your head, taking a step back. It’s not my business to question why he’s up so late. You tell yourself, looking towards the end of the hallway where the common room lay, begging you to come and make a cup of tea. However, when you heard a faint sniffle, your head snapped back to his door. Not. My. Business, you force into your brain. Squeezing your eyes shut and spinning back around, you make to get your warm beverage. What stops you dead in your tracks is when you hear a cry. A cry, coming from Shoto’s room. Shoto was crying.
You knock softly, not too loud to wake anyone up but loud enough for him to hopefully hear. Immediately, the sniffles and quiet sobs stopped. You looked towards the ground to see a shadow slowly appearing and becoming bigger as he moved towards the door. It creaked open gently, and as soon as you saw his face, a part of you crumbled. His hair was messy, his pajamas rumpled. His heterochromatic eyes were glazed over with tears and tinged with red. You could see that his cupid’s bow was a bit wet as well, probably due to a runny nose.
“Oh, L/N. Did you need something?” He asked, however it came out more like a statement. You opened and closed your mouth a few times, trying to think of what to say before shaking your head. “Alright then, good night.” He says, moving to shut the door. You’re too quick, though, placing a hand on the door to prevent any further movement.
“I don’t need something,” you say a bit shyly, though your eyes gave a steadier impression, “but I think you do.” He said nothing, but continued to look at you. It felt like you were at a stalemate in a game of chess, neither of you were budging. Until the red-and-white haired boy conceded and swept the door open quickly, making you stumble into the room and almost fall face-first onto the floor. He didn’t say anything, but sat down on his futon quietly. “I just, uhm,” you begin, fiddling with your fingers and trying your hardest to not make a fool of yourself. “I wanted to make sure that you’re okay.” He looked up at you quickly after you said that and slightly narrowed his eyes.
“Does it seem to you like I’m ‘okay’?” You swallowed slightly and shook your head, more confident this time.
“No, it doesn’t seem like that. You’re one of, if not, the most put together people I know. This doesn’t really seem like you.”
“On the contrary, this happens quite often, it’s just that no one knows.” He says, laying down and staring at the ceiling.
“Is there anything I can get you to help? I was actually on my way to get a cup of tea, but maybe you might like a pillow or something to hold on to-”
“No, nothing tangible will help with this.” Shoto says, his tone a bit cold.
“What about if I listen?”
“Listen to what?”
“Whatever is troubling you. I don’t judge, I promise.” Shoto snorts a bit at your response.
“Didn’t you just say I’m so put together? You were alluding that I am someone who is perfect, so this will certainly prove to be troubling to your idea of me.”
“Perceptions change and people have layers.” You say simply, laying down on the floor next to him. “I like to get to know people, and if you’re not completely who I thought you were, who cares? It’s not people’s ideas of you who matter most.” You don’t see it, but he cracks a small smile.
“Okay then.” And so he tells you. He tells you everything that makes him cry and worry and keeps him up at night. He cries through most of it as he confesses the darkness of his life, both in fear of it finally coming to light and relief. Relief that another person now knows what’s been troubling him since infancy. He tells you how his mother was taken away from him before the age of ten after she scarred his face. He tells you about his father and how every part of that man’s being plagues him. He confides in you about his siblings and how detached he felt from them, and how he was too young to know his older brother that died. He tells you how completely cracked and shattered he truly feels.
“Todoroki, do you know what kintsugi is?” You ask, your eyes growing a little droopy from drowsiness but still fighting to stay open. You see him shake his head out of the corner of your eye. You take a breath, and then continue. “It’s an art where people repair broken pottery, china, and other stuff like that by sort of gluing the pieces back together with gold. It’s so that people know it was previously broken, but it’s made even more beautiful than it originally was with pretty golden seams.” You shift your head to look at Shoto to find he was already looking at you, a fresh wave of tears in his eyes. A couple of your own start to slip down your cheeks as you smile widely at him. “And I know that you said you were broken. I believe you truly were. But I see the gold that binds you back together. You’re not perfect. You’re not without flaws. But you’re incredible, and admirable, and so completely brave for being able to live what you’ve lived through and be who you are.” And, for the first time, Shoto smiles at you - truly smiles at you. It’s wobbly and his lips were stained with salty tears, but he was smiling. “And so many people love you for it. All of us do. So please don’t be afraid to cry in front of us or confide in us. Please be you with us.” You say, basically pleading. Shoto chuckles a bit and nods his head. A smile graces your cheeks as you sit up. “Good” You say simply, standing up and smoothing out your pajamas.
“Are you going?” He asks, standing up quickly.
“While it is Saturday tomorrow, it’s also 2:30 in the morning, so I should probably get some sleep.” You sigh, yawning. He nods but looks slightly crestfallen. You hold his hands and give him a sleepy grin. “I’m going to bed, but I’ll be awake in the morning. Come find me then, okay?” You say, earning a squeeze of your hand back. “Sweet dreams, Shoto.” You say, slipping from his room into the dark of the night.
“Sweet dreams, Y/N.” He whispers, turning off his light and falling onto his futon. For the first time in years, he doesn’t have nightmares. Instead, when his head hit the pillow, he found himself dreaming of you.
A few months back I was guessing that maybe Horikoshi didn’t give us a hospital arc after the war because he had a DIFFERENT hospital arc — maybe even a battle — in mind. With all the separate battle locations, and at least All Might and Tsukauchi stationed near Central Hospital, it seemed plausible. (Unclear if Kurogiri is still there…I assume so although it’s not confirmed.)
BUT IF WE GET IIDA PRINCESS-CARRYING TOYA TO CENTRAL HOSPITAL, WHERE REI, FUYUMI, AND NATSUO CAN REUNITE WITH HIM, I WILL BE SO HAPPY. And if we get an “updated” version of the Sports Festival awards ceremony talk between Shoto and All Might I will ascend.
This one had SO MUCH packed into 17 pages! Let’s start with Shoto and Toya, since the chapter opens with them and wraps back around to them towards the end. Clearly, this fight took a lot out of them both. Toya doesn’t say a word, and we don’t get any insight into his mental processes. He’s just…frozen. Pupils gone, mouth stuck in what could be either a smile or a cry for help (or both). His chest seems to be covered in ice compared to the blackened, exposed muscle we saw in the last chapter. Then we have the humming, glowing orb in his chest. I’m pretty sure it’s him healing rather than exploding, and here’s why….
When Nagant exploded, it didn’t start with an orb — it was cracks. Further, AFO had her burst because she had a change of heart. Likewise, when Star & Stripe caused quirks to explode out of Shigaraki, it was because New Order revolted against other quirks. There’s a fundamental mismatch between quirk and will. AFO even says as much in Ch.92 of Vigilantes; that villainy is an imbalance between quirk and will.
Toya was born with everything to become a hero. He wanted to be a hero too, or at least, he wanted to be like his father, whose whole identity is based around being a strong hero. For Toya, becoming Dabi was the mismatch. Putting on the cold, standoffish personality was an act. In reality, Toya is loving, caring, and passionate. We’ve seen him caring about Twice, Toga, and even Shoto (in between trying to kill him). We saw Toya run home after waking from a coma. We saw him turn down AFO multiple times, including this chapter.
I don’t think Toya is developing an imbalance for AFO to exploit — he’s closing the gap between what he wants/needs and his quirk’s power. Shoto didn’t really “defeat” Dabi; instead, Shoto acknowledged that he saw and heard Toya. Shoto validated Toya’s grief and rage, and now the cracks can close.[ETA: I see lots of speculation that Toya will do a Prominence Burn because the orb is making the same noise Endeavor makes when prepping that move. However, it could also be Toya warming back up. As Ujiko said in Ch.350, heat is energy born of living things as they move and THRIVE.]
This is the part Spinner doesn’t understand. He looks at Toya and sees the person who had it all, which is almost exactly how Toya looked at Shoto. Spinner is shocked that Toya’s convictions would “fail,” to the point that Spinner thinks Dabi’s defeat is fake news. But Toya’s convictions didn’t fail. I’m not convinced his worldview changed at all, because his worldview wasn’t wrong. Toya needed to be seen and heard and cared for. And that’s what Shoto did — Shoto agreed with Toya and extended empathy from a hero to a villain.
In the meantime, we see Spinner’s self-doubt and fatalism go into overdrive. He falls prey to AFO because he doesn’t have the inner drive or willpower to resist what AFO offers him. Spinner knows he’s not “a big messiah” and that the LOV is “past the point of no return,” and his only remaining loyalty is to Shigaraki. Spinner’s now fully on board with the mission to destroy it all and “demolish the system.” This is very different from Stain’s mission to establish a “more pure” hero system, so I think it’s (sadly) fair to say that AFO corrupted poor Spinner. I’m going to hold out hope that Shoji will reach him.
Speaking of reaching out, I really loved seeing Tsukauchi support All Might. It’s about time an adult was really truly there for him (although I’m still concerned AFO has his weird alien fingers clawed into Tsukauchi). Plus, the official translation makes their talk sound much more somber and less like a celebration, which sounded out of character, tonally. I also thought Tsukauchi turning the microphone over to All Might recalled Bakugo turning to Iida during 1A’s Deku retrieval.
The leaks really made it sound like the heroes were launching a premature celebration, but I’m glad that’s not the case. I was happy to see Present Mic (YEEEEEAHH!) and Shoji protecting Central Hospital, with Mt Lady and Mina protecting Jakku. Both of those are key locations that AFO would obviously plan to attack so he could reclaim Kurogiri and Gigantomachia. That said, Kirishima’s entrance is a bit weird. I get that he was part of the vanguard appearing through the portals to push the villains into their pods, so he was in the parking lot. But unlike Shoto, who warped with Toya, Kirishima must have stayed back and then warped (?) to Jakku (???). I know that Kirishima and Mina have unfinished business with Gigantomachia, but given the chapter title “Endeavor,” I’m getting Kamino vibes because Kirishima has interacted or been placed near Endeavor twice in Kamino.
Also, the new villain with Fatgum and Aoyama, Kunieda, mentioned Dictator, and Kirishima worked with Aoyama and Hagakure to secure Dictator in Kamino (after Momo and Shoto cuffed him).
Man, I really hope Aoyama gets to use his belly button laser to mow down those flowers. I don’t know what kind of flowers they are, but they look like some kind of lily or amaryllis, maybe even venus flytrap flowers? A variation on Kunieda’s name can mean “country” + “branch”, so something like a nationalist with a plant/branch quirk makes sense. The flower stems are impaling the other heroes/villains, and I’m not sure that Fatgum’s quirk helps a whole lot, so BELLY BUTTON LASER, IT’S YOUR TIME TO SHINE!!!! TWINKLE AND THOOOOM AWAY!!!!
As for “bat of Aesop,” it’s just an insult about how bats “play both sides” and don’t have convictions of their own. Here’s 2 fables involving the deceit of bats:
Alright, now let’s talk Endeavor, because AFO pulls out a classic villain line: Heroes will lose, because they have too much to protect. AFO said the same against All Might; Nagant said the same against Deku when she made him choose between her and Overhaul. With All Might and Deku, the answer was, of course, protect everything (except yourself). AFO came to Kamino to take All Might’s image, pride, and spirit, then to kill him. AFO managed all but the last.
Through Toya, AFO managed to take the same things from Endeavor — his facial scar, his public image, the joy of reaching #1. Interestingly, All Might countered AFO’s mind games like how Shoto neutralized Dabi. All Might agreed with AFO, saying yes, he had many things to protect. He told AFO to go ahead and expose his secret to the world. He admitted he wasn’t the best teacher. But then All Might used those “weaknesses” to explain that he can’t die here, because there’s still too much for him to do. Izuku, in particular, was All Might’s anchor encouraging him to live.
That’s the part that makes me worry a bit about Endeavor here. He had a front row seat to watch All Might in Kamino, and to see All Might struggle afterwards. I hope Endeavor can use AFO’s barbs to motivate himself to keep fighting, because I want AFO to die and I want Endeavor to see Toya and Shoto together. (We know Toya still wants his father to see him, so in this particular case I’m not concerned about a victim being made to face their abuser, as was the case with Eri and Overhaul — plus Eri is a minor).
Will Endeavor rally and realize there’s still so much for him to do to as a father? Is Endeavor aware of how Shoto brought “down” his other son? Does Endeavor know there’s a chance Toya is healing? Or does he think he caused one son to rip apart the other? And…are crazy hand quirks the only surprises AFO has in store for Endeavor?
“No matter what, no matter when, no matter where, I will always come back to both of you.”
Happy TodoIzuOcha Week 2022! Here’s my entry for Day 1, aka Soulmates! Some of the objects here are from canon, while others are from various AUs of mine! I love the idea that no matter what kind of circumstances soulmates find themselves in across universes, they’ll always stay connected and find a way back to each other.
A self indulgent piece of my children dressed as their favorite MHA Characters.
It began as a really dumb idea I had and it lived rent free inside my head for a month until now.
Bastet is my little ray of sunshine. Even though he’s older that he appears, and is really wise and brave because of it, he’s also the nerdiest of them all. He was cursed to wander the world gathering info so…Deku was an instant click.
Rubris is really stoick and if it wasn’t for his feline bro, she would be a glaciar. Also…daddy issues. After the accident that left those scars on her back, Todoroki’s story started to resonate with her.
It’s a hunch but maybe before that, she used to have a Momo costume…maybe a Dabi one?…
I’m back… I guess hahaha I just want a place where I can post my fanarts and sketches… Just for fun :,) I gonna post many drawings in this days hahaha enjoy…
I don’t remember if I put these on here but here are the redesigned UA burger boys. They look better and plus they fit on a 4x6 sticker sheet which makes me happy.
