strangled

⁶a hidden strategy

fourteen years prior

The weakness Touya had was noticeable.

He had pulled up his shirt to show you a scar on his stomach. You nibbled on your bottom lip nervously then reached forward to run your fingers on the mark.

"What the hell are you doing, birdie?" Touya inquired, with more of a curious tone than an aggravated one.

You were standing in the training room with the oldest Todoroki brother, Touya, trying to conclude how you could help him use his quirk freely without frying himself to bits.

It had been two weeks since you were first introduced into the family.

Things were smooth so far. Shouto was secluded from everyone else to train with his dad so you spent your days getting to know Natsuo and Touya. They instantly became your first-ever friends, though Touya didn't like calling you by that title. You made an effort to talk to Fuyumi, but she spent most of her time painting her nails and dressing up with her mother. Those weren't things you were enthusiastic about.

Rei cared for you like you were one of her own kids. She had discovered that most of your clothes were dirty or torn so she took you shopping for new ones and bought you everything you could need. It was an action unfamiliar to you because of the lack of attention you got from your real parents in the past years.

You started going to the same school as Natsuo. Because he was in second grade and you were in first at the time, you were in the same age group and stayed near to each other whenever you could.

Natsuo was really shy in school so you were one of his only friends.

Ever since you said you would help Touya with his quirk he became somewhat eager, happy that someone was finally giving him the attention he wanted. Of course, he still liked to annoy you way more than his other siblings, though. Playing extreme pranks on each other had become a normal thing along with a love/hate friendship.

"Does the scar hurt?" You asked, poking it.

He shook his head making his white hair sway on top of his head. "No, but what does that have to do with anything? I want to hurry up and train so just start already."

"You can't just start training without considering your body composition." You mumbled, tugging his shirt back down to cover his stomach. "You're really thin and it's obvious that your body cannot handle your own quirk."

His expression had changed swiftly into one of anger. "So you aren't going to train me, huh?"

"I never said that." You muttered while you clasped a sixty-pound dumbbell from off an iron rack. "Tell me if you can lift this."

You tossed it to him and he caught it, then immediately went crashing down to the floor.

He tried to hoist it up while getting up but just falls back down. Realizing that he's struggling, you took the dumbbell away from him.

"If you want to start training with me you'll have to get your muscular strength and endurance up. Everything that Enji teaches me I'll teach you to do the same. For now, I guess I can just spar with you to see how good you are at controlling your quirk at the moment. You know how my quirks work right?"

Touya nodded, stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "Yeah, the paralyzing thing and the wings."

"To be safe I won't use knives, only my wings." You get on one knee to tie your shoelaces. "I know you probably want to show Enji that you got better so, even though I'm getting trained myself, I'll focus more on you."