The day Shoto and Aki turned four.
It was a cold winter morning. Shoto had been sitting quietly in the training room, a place Touya knew all too well. Aki was supposed to be napping but had, predictably, escaped and was playing nearby.
Shoto had been examining his hands with a serious expression when suddenly, frost began to spread across his right palm. At the same moment, small flames flickered to life on his left.
"Dad," Shoto said quietly, his young voice steady despite the surprise.
Enji had been in the hallway speaking with Rei when he heard his son's voice. He entered the training room, took one look at Shoto's hands, ice and fire, manifested simultaneously, and threw his head back with laughter.
The laugh of a man who had finally achieved what he'd been working toward for years.
"AS EXPECTED!" Enji roared, flames bursting around his body in his excitement. "PERFECT! ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!"
Rei appeared in the doorway, her face pale. She knew what this meant.
Aki, forgotten in the corner, watched with wide grey eyes as his father scooped up Shoto, still laughing.
"Your training begins now," Enji declared. "We won't waste another moment. You will surpass All Might, Shoto. This is your purpose. This is what you were born for!"
"Enji, wait—" Rei stepped forward, her voice shaking. "He's only four years old. He's just a child—"
"A child with the perfect quirk!" Enji turned to her, his eyes blazing. "This is what we've been working toward, Rei. Don't interfere."
"He's too young for such intense training," Rei insisted, her hands clasped together pleadingly. "Please, Enji, just let him—"
"I said don't interfere!" Enji's voice thundered through the room. "If you want to be useful, go stop Touya from training! He's destroying himself out there, and he won't listen to me at all!"
The words hit Rei like a physical blow. She knew about Touya's secret training sessions, how he pushed himself to the point of burning his own skin, how desperate he had become to prove himself worthy.
Enji had thought that having more children would discourage Touya, would make him give up on the dream Enji himself had planted in the boy's mind. But it had done the opposite. When Shoto was born, especially when Shoto was born with that distinctive appearance, Touya had only become more reckless.
And now, with Shoto's quirk manifested exactly as Enji had hoped, that desperation would only grow worse.
"Enji, please..." Rei tried once more, but her husband had already turned away, his hand on Shoto's shoulder as he began explaining what training would entail.
Shoto looked back at his mother with those mismatched eyes, so young, so innocent, with a lot of excitement. Happy he made his father proud.
In the corner, Aki had gone uncharacteristically quiet, watching his mother looking at his twin brother being led away by their father with a worried face.
For the first time in his short life, Aki wasn't smiling.
…
Shoto's quirk manifestation had been transformative for the Todoroki household, though not in any positive way.
Shoto spent hours every day in the training room with Endeavor. The sounds of fire roaring and ice cracking had become as common as breathing in their home. On the rare occasions Aki caught glimpses of his twin, Shoto looked exhausted, his small body covered in bruises that their father dismissed as "necessary for growth."
Rei had grown quieter, more withdrawn. Her attempts to stop Enji's brutal training regimen had been consistently shut down. Instead, she spent most of her time trying to prevent Touya from literally burning himself alive in his own desperate training sessions.
Fuyumi did her best to hold the family together, taking care of Natsuo and Aki when their mother was too overwhelmed.
And Aki... Aki had grown slightly less chaotic, but there was an undercurrent of something else now, a need for attention that had intensified as he watched rei's eyes turn to Shoto.
…
As Enji was training Shoto, Touya watched from the far end of the corridor, half-hidden behind a sliding door that had been left open just a crack.
His hair was completely white now.
Through the narrow gap, he could see Enji standing behind Shoto in the training room, one massive hand correcting the boy's stance, the other gesturing sharply as he barked instructions. Shoto's small body trembled as ice crept too far up his arm, only to be seared away by heat a second too late.
From the outside, it was brutal.
From Touya's eyes, it was something else entirely.
Enji's voice, harsh and unyielding, twisted as it reached him. The sharp commands blurred, reshaped themselves into something sweeter,
"Yes. That's it. Just like that."
"I knew you could do it."
"Look at you. So strong. So perfect."
Touya's teeth ground together hard enough to hurt.
He saw the way Enji leaned forward when Shoto succeeded, the way his flames flared with excitement. In Touya's mind, it looked intimate, like something he had once thought was meant for him alone.
Man's romance, Touya thought bitterly, nails biting into his palms. The kind I was never allowed to finish.
His tortoise eyes, gleamed with something feral as Enji's punch touched Shoto's shoulder. The punch was firm and hurtful, but Touya saw pride there. Affection, even. The punches said:
"As expected of my masterpiece son."
"So handsome. Much better than that garbage Touya."
Rage coiled in his chest, thick and suffocating. His flames sparked at his fingertips, licking the air before he crushed them back down.
'I was first.'
'I was trying harder.'
'I burned myself for you.'
And yet the man in the room never once turned his head toward the hallway.
…
After the training,
Rei had Shoto wrapped in blankets on the futon, hands fluttering anxiously as she spread salve onto his bruises. Her voice was soft, panicked, endlessly gentle.
"Oh Shoto, you're cold. He really went too far this time!"
"Does it hurt here? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Aki sat cross-legged near the door, red hair messy, posture deceptively relaxed.
To anyone else, he looked like the same innocent, curious child he had always been.
But his grey eyes were locked on Rei.
From Aki's perspective, the scene warped just as badly as Touya's had.
Rei looked impossibly beautiful, glowing in the lamplight as she cradled Shoto's hands between her own. Her worry felt excessive, almost devotional. Every touch lingered too long. He can hear the touches saying:
"You're my best son."
"Oh baby, come here. Let me hold you."
"I'll take care of everything."
"I wish Aki was half as good as you!"
Aki's fingers curled slowly into the fabric of his sleeve but his face stayed perfectly calm. His eyes, though, were really cold.
He remembered tripping earlier that day, skinning his knee on the stone path. Rei had kissed it absentmindedly, already distracted, before hurrying back toward the training room. He remembered tugging at her sleeve and being told to wait. Just for a little while.
Shoto never had to wait.
Aki tilted his head slightly as Rei pulled Shoto into a tight embrace. Shoto melted into it without hesitation, small hands fisting in her clothes.
Aki suddenly smiled again. Really sweetly.