Chapter Text
Throbbing and aching... His blurry blue eyes flickered open only to shut tightly as light shone brightly above him. The chemical smell of antiseptic filled his senses and burned at his nose. Based on the dull pain and his senses, Touya could reasonably assume he wasn't dead. But that brought up the question of who saved his sorry ass and dumped him in a hospital. That, or some psycho surgeon picked him up to make him into a meat suit.
"Close but no cigar," a voice drawled next to him.
He almost jumped out of his skin. Shakily raising a weak arm to shield his eyes, the teen squinted towards the noise. After a few blinks, the form of a man wrapping his own right hand came into view. His messy brown hair stood up randomly as if he hadn't touched a hair brush in months. Even though he was slouching, he clearly was tall with an extremely lean build. His lab coat, covering a dark v-neck and jeans, held small splatters of red as did a set of bandages that wound their way up his left arm. This clearly wasn't the first time he was injured as his opposing arm was riddled with scars that sliced through his pale skin.
The mystery man looked up. His honey eyes glinted despite the tiredness that radiated from his form. "Your injuries practically made me faint, brat. What made you go and almost get yourself burnt to a crisp?"
Touya was... At a blank. Who was this guy? Was he a surgeon? A doctor? He had to do something based on the lab coat and doctor equipment but he looked and spoke so unprofessionally. Everything he said so far sounded suspiciously sarcastic. What was going on?
The man quirked an eyebrow. "Right... Gotta sweet talk you into speaking, eh? How about you give me your name, and I'll give you mine and a glass of water," he attempted to persuade.
Now that he mentioned it, the teen's throat felt like a desert. "T...ouya..." he whispered, voice cracking. "My name is Touya... Can I have some of your damn water?"
A lazy grin found its way onto the guy's face. "It speaks... Miracles never cease. Here ya go, brat," he hummed. A bottle placed itself into Touya's hand as he stepped closer. "My name is Doctor Shoma Yoshihara. My friends, when I had any, called me Sho-san. You, until you've paid your debt, can call me Mr. Yoshihara."
Sweet water cooled the red head's parched mouth as he chugged down the bottle's heavenly contents. He drank so fast that he had to pause as coughs wracked his chest. Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, he focused on the man and looked him over again. "You sure you’re a real doctor?" he asked incredulously.
"Watch yourself, brat," Yoshihara shot back. "I'm not gonna take any shit from a kid that looked like a barbecue from hell."
At the harsh retort, Touya decided to glance down at his arms. He blanched. Light purple scars covered his once unblemished forearms and biceps. Fresh watery bile stung the back of his throat. His quirk burned him to the point of no return this time. His hands, as always, remained scotch free of burn marks. There was a clean line from where the fire resistance stopped. The injury glared up at him and made him shudder. If his arms appeared to be that jacked up, what did the rest of him look like?
Snapping fingers brought him from his thoughts. "Earth to crispy brat. Hey, Touya!" Once attention was back on him, the doctor folded his arms. "Hey, you okay? You look like you saw a ghost."
"Why did you save me?" Touya asked as he clutched the bottle in his hands. "I'm clearly a pain. What's in it for you?"
Yoshihara blew out a low whistle. "Straight to the chase then. Well... If I'm being honest, it's because that's my job. I'm a back street doctor, and I'll help whoever I can: poor, homeless, vigilante, hell... I've even helped a few criminals. Everyone deserves a helping hand once in a while when they're hurting. People either pay me back some monetary amount or do favors. Based on how I found you, it looks like you'll be paying in favors," he explained. He ran his unwrapped fingers through his hair and only mused it up more.
Touya blinked. "Al...right. What do you even want?"
"Hm... I'm covered on a lot of things right now... I guess I could use some help around here… Just some odds and ends that need to be done,” Yoshihara thought out loud. "Besides, you'll be stuck around here for a while so you can fully recover."
The boy considered the doctor's offer. He wasn't exactly in a place to say no. He didn't have a place to go back to at the moment. "Can I... Can I stay here?" He asked carefully.
The doctor drew his hand away from his ruffled locks. "Well... I have a spare room... You sure you want to live with a stranger?"
"Better than living on the streets... I could... Pay by helping out around here?"
A snort. "I'll make you do double the work until you paid off the first favor."
A nod in response. "Fine by me..."
The doctor's grin drew back into a small lazy smile. "Welp. Looks like I have a kid now. You're lucky I'm as nice as I am, brat," he crowed before walking over to him. "Here, you've been out for two days. I'm giving you a strict 'scrambled-eggs-and-applesauce' diet for a while. I don't want any upset stomachs. And if you even think of hiding any pain from me, I'll strap you to this bed and make sure you get healed properly."
Touya shuddered. 'No thank you...' He glanced down at his forearms again as the doctor took the half empty bottle from his hand. "How..." He started, catching the man's attention. "How bad is the scarring...?"
Yoshihara paused. "Hmm. I'm not a burn specialist. If I got you to an actual specialist, you'd have far less visual damage. That being said, your nerves appear fine for the most part. Your flesh mended itself and the burns lightened significantly from when I found you... Are you sure you're mentally sound enough to handle this?" It was the first time the doctor spoke in a careful tone.
But Touya didn’t want to skirt around the subject. His lip curled. "I probably haven't been mentally sound since I was five years old. I can handle it," he spat.
Still, the doctor studied him with sharp eyes. He gave in, sauntered over to a drawer, and pulled a hand mirror from it. "Don't say I didn't warn you..." He laid the mirror in the boy's hand.
The red head inhaled before holding up the mirror. Yoshihara hadn’t been wrong. The burns weren't extremely dark but were definitely noticeable. They ran along his jawline and ebbed up to his bottom lip, the line between healthy skim and scars softer and blurry compared to the sharp line on his arms. Under his eyes were permanent shadows of light purple as though he hadn't slept for a month or two. They too had a soft blur from skin to burn. The burn on his jaw went downwards to his neck in random faded patches and dipped across his collarbone until it vanished beneath the loose hospital gown he wore. He reached up a hand and ran a finger over the burn under his right eye. The skin was soft but sensitive, making him wince as a dull pain radiated across his cheek.
"Be careful, you're still healing. My quirk can't do everything ya know, brat," stated the doctor. He was watching intently as the teen observed his appearance. "I focused a lot of my work on your face. I couldn't get the burns to vanish but they lightened and aren't as sharp a contrast as they could have been." He crossed his bandaged arms. "Lost about a pint of blood on you... So don't go messing up my handiwork, got it?"
Touya blinked away some wetness from his eyes. "Right... Uh... What is your quirk?" He questioned, handing the mirror to the man.
"Blood Mending. I can heal wounds by using some of my own blood. More blood I use, more healed ya get. Luckily, blood type doesn't matter either. Causes me to be a bit anemic with all the blood loss," Yoshihara explained simply. "Now what's up with you, brat. You got a quirk?"
The boy was silent for a second before caving. The man was bound to find out sooner or later. If he was honest, he wanted to talk to someone about his quirk. Not even his siblings knew about how destructive his blue fire could be to his own person. "I got a pretty bad hand when it comes to quirks," Touya admitted.
"What? Ya quirkless?"
"I wish..."
"..."
"My quirk is Blue Fire but if I named it, it's more like... Cremation... And the only resistance I have is with my hands." He flexed his unscathed fingers. "It's hard to control. I've been training since I was about four or five years old. If I'm over emotional while using it, the fire goes crazy, and I loose control..."
"... So the burns?"
"... My... Someone was about to hurt me... Badly. I panicked, and my quirk went haywire."
"Ah..." The doctor uncrossed his arms. "Does this someone have a name?"
Touya shot him a glare. "Not there yet, bud."
Yoshihara lifted his hands in mock surrender. "Understandable. Don't bite at me, brat. Tell me when you feel comfortable," he drawled. "Okay?"
There was silence before the teen nodded. "Alright..."
"Get some rest. I'll be doing paperwork over here if you need me," the doctor stated as he collected some folders. Placing the papers down, he flicked off the overhead lights and turned on a light on a messy desk. He settled in his chair and pulled out a pen. "We'll see how you feel in a few hours."
Obediently, Touya laid back and tried to rest.
+++
The week flew by in the blink of an eye. Touya was recovering decently according to the doctor. While the burns remained the same, the soreness almost vanished by day three. They confirmed that none of his nerves were badly damaged by the burning. He was currently attempting to just move like a normal person and get beyond the stupid "scrambled-eggs-and-applesauce" diet. So what if he threw up the first time he ate something. It was almost a week now!
He was currently glaring at the offending plate piled high with the scrambled protein. If Touya could, he would have charred the food to a crisp. But Yoshihara would probably be mad, and he wasn't about to get on that man's bad side. The teen had seen him pull a knife on a patient for threatening him. Yoshihara was not defenseless. As a back alley doctor, he'd had to learn how to defend himself against all types of people. Behind his lazy persona was someone who knew how to a gut a person ten different ways.
Touya sighed and dug his fork into the yellow mass on his plate. He needed food to function now and could dream about burgers and fries later. If he was ever going to pay back his favor, he had to bounce back soon. For now, he would watch the news and eat his shitty breakfast.
Yoshihara sauntered in, yawning. "Morning, brat," greeted the tired doctor. "Found the left over eggs?"
He rolled his turquoise eyes. "Yeah. I found them, old man."
A snort left the man as he placed a mug under the coffee maker. "That's Mr. Yoshihara to you, stupid brat. Remember who saved your charred ass," he shot back in a sharp tone. With a glance, Touya could see the amusement that flickered in his honey brown eyes. He was teasing him.
"Right..." The teen huffed and stuffed another forkful of egg into his mouth.
"... In other news, Endeavor..."
Touya's breath hitched, and he coughed on the eggs in his throat. Swallowing painfully, he jerked his head towards the screen sharply. The bastard himself was shown in hero uniform and blazing beard.
"...will be attending the banquet on Saturday to commemorate his bravery and heroic actions over this pass year along with..."
His teeth gritted together painfully. "Heroic my ass..." And then he noticed Yoshihara's intense stare.
The doctor looked from the close up of Endeavor's picture to Touya and then back again. "Ah... I see..." He murmured, a frown weighing down his visage. "... I'm not going to ask... As I said before, tell me when you feel comfortable."
Wetness rose to his eyes. "I..." He paused. "It's uncanny... Isn't it..."
He stared holes in to the eggs before him.
"Just a bit. Your hair is a bit lighter but... It's noticeable, yes."
"... My siblings were lucky... I... You know what." He stared straight into the doctor's calm gaze. "Do you know any good permanent hair dyes?"
A wicked smile slipped onto the man's face. "Maybe," he responded. He collected up the mug and cradled it in his palms. The dark, steamy liquid inside sloshed quietly. "What color do you fancy?"
"Black."
"Hmmm. Edgy but fitting. Guess teenage rebellion is better late than never, hm?"
A little smile pulled at Touya's lips. "Yeah... I guess…"
+++
He pulled the draw strings tighter so that his spiky hair fell further to shadow his eyes. The dark jacket was long on his frame, the sleeves rolled back to keep his hands free and the bottom edges brushing halfway along his thighs. Yoshihara promised to show him where to get more fitting clothing later. Until then, Touya was stuck wearing some of the doctor's clothing. The doctor was, in fact, tall as hell. While the clothing swamped the teen, he was comfortable against the bite in the air. Besides, he didn't have time to complain; he had a funeral to go to. His funeral.
As he walked, he fiddled with some of his hair. The black held a shocking difference compared to the pinky red color of his old hair. The dark tone matched nicely with his eyes and helped mute the scars on his face better. His hair remained spiked due to the genetics but dying the fiery locks made it more bearable, and his bangs now fell down in his face. At least his appearance didn't loudly scream "Endeavor's son" anymore. That, for what it's worth, was a blessing.
He turned a corner and made his way towards the cemetery. Yoshihara had pulled some strings for him and used a favor to find out the goings on at the Todoroki household. Apparently, there was a funeral a majority of the family was going to. Endeavor, on the other hand, would be at a banquet. Touya had sneered at that information. Of course the bastard wouldn’t go to his son's fake funeral. See if he cared. His siblings though...
Touya picked up the pace and slipped into the cemetery with no hassle. He weaved silently among the graves until he spotted a shock of white hair. Natsuo was talking to someone. He was clad in a dark suit and black tie. His other siblings stood behind him, Fuyumi is a pretty black dress and Shouto in a smaller version of Natsuo's black suit. Even from a distance the teen could see the redness on their faces and their eyes.
The man gave a gesture, and two people came out with a simple yet elegant casket. Touya swallowed hard. They were burying an empty coffin. They were crying for their dead brother.
'And they're safe...' He reminded himself. 'And they'll stay that way.'
The coffin was lowered into the ground. Fuyumi burst into tears, her sobs echoing across the graveyard. His chest tightened as their younger brother's held her. Natsuo was cradling her head as she shoved it into his shoulder, unable to watch the lowering box. The only one who watched intently, tears in his eyes, was Shouto. There was a flicker of something, and it was anger. Among his sadness, the youngest Todoroki flowed with a mixture of resentment and cold fury.
Touya's hands formed into fists. There it was. The fury that rose up in himself long ago. The metaphorical torch had now been passed on to Shouto. 'God... Don't let him do something stupid...' He prayed silently, and dirt was shoveled into the grave.
He stood there waiting until Fuyumi laid flowers on the freshly made gravesite. After a few moments, the trio left and Touya still remained in one place. He waited for however long it took to steel himself.
Shuffling forwards, the boy found himself before a grave stone.
2XXX to 2XXX
Touya Todoroki
Beloved Brother
Tears fell from his eyes. Delicate white daisies sat on the freshly placed dirt. Their petals furled out from the brilliant yellow center, a beauty among the dead. The bright green stalks were free of leaves, trimmed and perfect. He bent down to pick one up and rolled it in his thin fingers.
"You know the boy who died here?" came a raspy voice behind him.
Touya turned and noticed the ground’s keeper. He had a rake in one hand and a bag in the other. The man was old, deep wrinkles lining his features and head balding. He was short with eyes dull from ages hidden behind spectacles. "Well, son?"
"Yes..." The teen finally replied. "I knew him better than anyone else..."
"Ah... I'm sorry for your loss, son," the old man dipped his head. "I know what it's like, loosin' a best friend and all. I wish ya best of luck." Straightening his cap, he shuffled away to continue cleaning the grounds.
Touya gazed at the flower in his hand. "...I'm sorry too..." Tucking the white daisy away, he turned and stalked out of the graveyard, leaving his final resting place behind.