291Toshinori wasn't surprised by much.
Being Number One, he got to see a lot of crazy things. Having his Master chose him and having her quirk passed onto him- via DNA ingestion- also tended to take the number one slot on 'surprising things that have happened to me' in his head. Especially since One For All came with one's ready made nemesis.
He'd mostly seen it all really. So most things didn't really shock him anymore- not deeply. Not enough to shake him. Not enough to leave his heart pounding, his breath caught in horror or shock, or his adrenaline spiking.
But having Endeavor summon him to his hospital bed?
That was definitely in his Top Five.
He'd seen the news coverage of the incident- of course he had, it was all anyone was talking about right now- of Endeavor staggering out of the woods dripping blood and looking like a strong breeze would blow him over. It had surprised and worried Toshinori in equal measure. Todoroki Enji was Number Two. That wasn't a position lightly earned and kept over the years, no matter how young the man was when he obtained it. Perhaps especially with how young he had been when he climbed the ranks.
So that left All Might with a question: what had taken Todoroki in a fight and matched him in strength enough that Endeavor took injuries like that? Especially during what should have been a simple rescue and containment mission for nothing but a forest fire. There was no indication of villain movement nor activity, there wasn't anything that would have Endeavor look like that.
Toshinori had watched the news coverage of the event and all had appeared normal until there was an explosion of flames, ones that had very quickly shifted to a flame so hot it burned white-blue.
Which was concerning on so many levels.
Several other Pro Heroes had been dispatched to look over the scene for evidence and clues as to what happened. But, as it had been pointed out, human remains are cremated at 1800 degrees fahrenheit and Endeavor's blue flames burned much hotter than that. So if Endeavor had used his flames on a person, there would be no remains, save for the ashes.
Which, looking for human ashes in an entire forest that just burned down was an absolute waste of time. Still, with Endeavor hitting the one week mark of unconsciousness, and the investigation having found nothing, it was decided that efforts would cease until Endeavor woke up and reported.
Toshinori was deeply concerned that All Might was the first person Endeavor asked for, over his family and his pregnant wife as well. It didn't bode well. Todoroki wasn't…
Toshinori made a point to look for the best in people, even when he'd seen the worst over and over again. Perhaps that was why he looked for the best in his coworkers- to balance out the Villains he stopped so often. Still, Todoroki was not a people person, and didn't like Toshinori much if at all, if one was being honest. He wanted to be number one, he said it often enough whenever they saw each other. His attitude with Toshinori was generally as cold as his flames were hot.
For Todoroki to demand his presence in a hospital, where he would be letting Toshinori see him in a state of 'weakness'? Especially considering the last update on Endeavor's condition reported that the number two hero was unconscious and it was unknown when the man would wake up...
Having Sir Nighteye come to him about a call from an old classmate who just so happens to be Endeavor's assigned nurse, a woman who told Nighteye that Endeavor had woken up and demanded to speak to him, it was worrying. Especially when Nighteye added that Shinsou-san had told him that she thought it was serious enough that the woman skipped the business line to the All Might Agency that all hospitals had on record. The description Sir Nighteye repeated, that Todoroki looked like he'd climb out of his hospital bed himself, no matter his injuries, if Toshinori didn't come to him...
Of course Toshinori was going to go, as soon as he could get there.
Endeavor wouldn't have asked for him in anything but the most dire of circumstances.
Enji fidgets, resisting the urge to get up and pace. His injuries prevent such actions no matter how much he wants to. The exhaustion is dragging at his body but it's been years since Enji has let himself be this still. There's no paperwork, no reports on the war effort, on damages or casualties. There's nothing demanding his attention, there isn't a situation that requires his presence and while he isn't ready to confront the family situation, they're there.
He heaves a frustrated sigh, ignoring the pain the action sends up his spine. It's barely been an hour and he's spent most of that time staring at the door to his room. He wasn't usually someone that fidgeted at all, but well.
The past hours he had been awake had included a lot of firsts.
He wasn't usually someone who had the future of everyone he ever cared about riding on his shoulders either. He figured there were exceptions. Especially in this situation.
He'd been relieved enough to collapse back into his own bed when Shinsou-san had come back and confirmed that All Might would be coming to see him today. That was great. The sooner this was dealt with the better. The sooner they could get people moving to deal with the entire mess the better Enji would feel.
Enji initially hesitated before asking Shinsou-san if she could delay informing his wife of his return to consciousness, unless she asked. He also requested that should she ask, to relay to his wife that he was fine and would speak to her as soon as he reported to All Might.
There was...guilt. When he thought of his wife. Regret. His actions had been inexcusable and while he would not be repeating them, there was the fact that he had. Although, judging by the date, his daughter was only three. Fuyumi hadn't even manifested her Quirk. His second child hadn't even taken his first breath- yet Enji remembered his last.
The real question was how Enji was going to deal with explaining the whole 'I'm from a desolate future in which you die and leave your adopted son (who I am convinced is somehow actually your kid) to lead those of us who survive against the successor to All For One'.
(A desperate future that reduced places like UA into strongholds and turned what heroes remained into more of a military response team. A future that had honed and sharpened the analytical mind of Midoriya Izuku on war tactics as he was one of the few who had had regular clashes with the Shigaraki and lived-)
He twitched, his desire to pace increasing the longer he was left alone in the room with his thoughts. He could only be thankful that hospitals had a protocol for 'Hero Business' that would allow him to discuss this entire mess with Toshinori without it being recorded in any way. All rooms were soundproof and quite sturdy. Thus the impending conversation would remain between the two of them. He did not need the staff trying to put him in a psych ward or something similar.
He was going to have enough trouble convincing All Might not to put him in one, and he had personal information he should have no way of knowing without his future knowledge. He ignored the nervous flickers of flames that sparked on his shoulders as he waited. The staff had removed the gown top, leaving him in bottoms after he burned the sixth shirt with the nervous fire flickers he didn't have the mental focus to control. He was too busy focusing on what had happened (how many of his kids he had seen die-) and how he was going to explain it to worry about that.
When the door clicked open after a soft knock with a quiet, rumbling, "Sorry for intruding." Enji tensed both at the painfully familiar voice and the figure of a form he hadn't seen in years.
Toshinori had arrived.
When All Might arrived anywhere, there was, of course, a reaction.
Even at a private hospital that mostly treated Pro-Heroes. It was simply a natural reaction to the presence of the Symbol of Peace anywhere in the public. A living legend who lived up to his legend every day. (No matter how tiring.)
Still, the response to him was mild, as it mostly came from the civilian patients and the families waiting for news or simply visiting their loved ones.
Thankfully, All Might was swiftly ushered through the hallways up to the secure wards in the wing mostly reserved for high level heroes. As he was passing one of the windows that overlooked a secure indoor courtyard maintained by a nurse with a plant-based quirk with picnic tables scattered through the greenery meant for Pro-Hero families, he caught a flash of white hair and ice crystals.
He switched his attention, recognizing the woman as Endeavor's wife as she spun ice in her hands for the amusement of what, from this distance, appeared to be a smaller version of her.
Regardless of the tension between the number one and number two, Toshinori was genuinely happy for Enji. Even if he wanted a family, there was too much danger, especially with All for One still lurking in the shadows. Inwardly, Toshinori spared a moment for the grief at the thought of his mentor.
The nurse was already turning around and motioning towards the door they had stopped at, one that bore the name 'Endeavor / Todoroki Enji' on the plate to the side of the door.
The nurse gave him a professional smile, although it was honestly warm, before she turned on her heel and strolled off, a clipboard in her hand.
All Might waited a moment, trademark smile fixated to his face as he slid open the door.
His first reaction was honest concern. Even as Endeavor's gaze snapped to him, All Might couldn't help the automatic appraisal of the injuries he could see.
His face was littered with healing cuts and what looked like the beginnings of a newly acquired scar peeking out from his hairline above his temple. His chest was bare, wrapped in bandages as it was and All Might could clearly see the faded imprints of fists and hands on his shoulders and arms. As if he has been struck and thrown around by someone with great strength. He had more scars than Toshinori remembered seeing on him.
There were already flames flickering on his forearms and his face, but they were not at the level they usually would be so that meant that Enji was greatly weakened, even if he was sitting up in the hospital bed. On top of that, the flames were flickering in a way they normally wouldn't- a way Toshinori recognized from their days at UA to mean the Flame Hero was nervous.
His right arm was carefully supported in a fiberglass cast, but on entering, Enji raised it almost absently in greeting, before he grimaced and put it down.
All Might opened his mouth to speak-
"You suicidal, self-sacrificing idiot. Your kid is exactly like you, even if his version of One for All is flashier."
Toshinori closed his mouth at the rapid fire words barked hoarsely at him, before blinking as they registered in his mind. Because holy shit, what the hell was Enji saying?
Enji almost wanted to shove his own hand into his mouth. That was...blunt. And going from the way Toshinori had just tensed and then relaxed in a way Enji knew was fight-ready, rather worrying. Maybe he should have gone with the 'break it to him easy' thing. Deku said Toshinori was better with things being short and to the point, while still being easy on him. Which, how the hell was he supposed to do that?
He pulled in a slightly painful breath, before squaring his shoulders, pretending he couldn't see the nervous flickers of fire on his shoulders and across his nose and cheeks.
"Look, a lot of shit happened, okay? I got sent back in time by your kid, you died a shitty fucking death, the world went to hell in a handbasket, and only a few of us were left to deal with the fallout after the Disaster. All for One survived your first clash with him- which going by the date, you haven't had yet- chose his successor- which was your mentor's grandkid- and trained him the entire time you thought he was dead."
Enji harshly expelled his breath, reaching his good hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"You chose your successor, who basically became your son, somehow inherited your dumbass sacrificial tendencies even though he's probably not your actual kid. On top of that, your kid is an actual tactical genius and figured out how to send me back in time to save all our god forsaken asses before everything goes to shit. Again."
It was pure word vomit, and Enji hated himself just a little bit. This...was not a good way to convince Toshinori to believe him and not put him in a psych ward.
He snarled, frustration and rage causing his flames to flicker wildly.
"I know it sounds fucking crazy, okay?" Enji waved a sharp hand through the air to cut off whatever Toshinori may or may not have been preparing to say. "So sit your ass in the stupid fucking plastic chair, Toshinori, because I am about to give you information your kid trusted me with to prove I'm not crazy or lying."
He glared at Toshinori until All Might sat down, still puffed up in his muscled form, with his smile frozen somewhat stiffly on his face. Still, the man sat down and wasn't gearing up for a Smash, so…. So far so good?
Enji made no move to tell him to power down. He was already making the blonde a nervous mess with the word vomit, it would be better to let him feel like he still had some control over it. Especially when he started providing information he should not have had at this point without Toshinori ever having told him about it.
Right. Time to poke wounds and personal information of the man who could turn him into a smear on the hospital bed.
It was a good fucking thing Toshinori was such a hero about things. Even things that hurt him.
He wiped a hand down his face hard, ignoring how it trembled, even as his eyes closed. Not only was he not at his best, but he was going to be opening his own wounds and bringing things up he wanted to forget. Not that he could. Enji went back to pinching the bridge of his nose. Best start with All For One.
"Okay." he pulled in a deep breath and repeated, "Okay. All For One. Crazy fucker who can take and give Quirks to people. Been around since the very beginning of Quirks, about two hundred years- asshole has an immortality Quirk in the mess somewhere, or at least one that keeps him young. Gave his kid brother a stockpiling quirk that fused with his then unknown Quirk allowing him to pass that power down. All the way to you- the eighth holder of the quirk."
There was a look on Toshinori's face that Enji didn't even want to puzzle out exactly what emotions the man was feeling. Still, his ass was firmly on the chair, there was no pressure or a fist drawn back to Smash him, thank kami.
"Did you know the fucker was experimenting with people? He wanted to make a multi-quirk soldier. Called them Noumu, but shoving multiple quirks into one body had rather nasty side effects, as I'm sure you can imagine. Noumu are giant multi-quirk machines with an exposed brain that get pointed at an objective and will single mindedly focus in on that at the command of the one who controls them, mindless in everything but that. Should they be separated from their 'Objective' without being told to hunt it down beforehand or given a longstanding order like 'destroy the city' for example, they become docile until another Commander gets ahold of them and provides new orders."
Enji sighed, waving his good hand almost absent mindedly.
"Those came mostly after you died, but I figured I'd better fucking tell you since they had this grand plan of specifically engineering the beasts to kill you. Especially since your epic grudge match with All For One left the both of you severely injured." Enji leveled a glare to Toshinori's still smiling face, lifting a finger to point accusingly at the number one hero. "Your idiotic ass decided to keep heroing even though you lost a lung, your stomach and your hero form, save for only three and a half hours a day. Looked like a fucking skeleton when not puffed up like this."
Enji gestured to All Might's form, pointedly ignoring how Toshinori's smile seemed more of a grimace the longer he spoke. While he attended UA with one Yagi Toshinori, there was nothing to link All Might to Toshinori, other than the fact that he had set himself up to be his own secretary. All Might's age, Quirk and civilian name were completely unknown to literally everyone, save for a handful of people.
Endeavor pulled himself away from that line of memory and continued, the beginnings of sympathy creeping into his voice.
"All For One found Nana Shimura's grandson, whose Quirk was called 'Decay', and took him in. I have no idea how the asshole knew, or discovered the kid, but he raised the brat to hate you, to take his place. When you got into a fight with All For One over him taking a UA student and won, which lead to you getting him taken into custody...well the kid didn't take that well. Threw a fucking epic fit about it. I guess you could say that's where everything started going very wrong."
Enji scoffed, staring down at his blankets, eyes glazed as he fought to keep his mind in the now.
"We thought it would be alright after that. You survived the second grudge match with All For One, the man was in custody, neutralized. Shigaraki- the name Nana's grandkid went by- was loose still, but hadn't established himself yet. Seemed more a toddler throwing a tantrum then a threat like All for One was. Unstable and dangerous yes, but manageable. That's when the attacks started. Subtle, small and completely against Shigaraki's MO up to that point. We had no reason to connect the two at the start- could find no reason when we investigated."
Enji could feel his body tensing as he remembered the beginning of the end, though no one had realized it then. His flames flickered in tune to his emotions and he shoved that down, hard and fast. He clenched and relaxed his good hand over and over without thought, breathing through the encroaching panic attack, forcing it back.
He could panic after. He had a goal to complete first. Panic never did anyone any good. Most of the time. This was not that time.
"Subtle and annoying attacks grew slowly into more elaborate and dangerous strikes. We thought the attacks to be linked to the League of Villains, perhaps the one they called Kurogiri planning the strikes. He had seemed more a follower in previous encounters, but clever and subtle enough as well as high enough in the chain of command to manage what was happening. We were struggling to deal with it, as the attacks got more and more violent."
Enji shook his head, shoving the voices down, tightening his hold on the now by focusing on the alive and healthy version of Toshinori in front of him. There was something like horror and disbelief in the line of his shoulders and in the way his smile seemed to be fading the longer Enji spoke.
"We- Shigaraki's first big move, aside from the attacks we hadn't yet linked to him with proof, was an attack specifically on the top ten. Dead...murdered and left in the open like some sort of twisted show. Broken and left to live and see the horror unable to aide the way they had. Family targeted, friends killed… Shigaraki was as through as he was merciless. We couldn't save them all."
Enji had to stop there for a moment and just breathe, struggling to keep himself from setting the room on fire. He hadn't struggled this much was quirk control since he was a teen.
Enji had been out of the city when the first reports came in, about Gang Orca found dead in the city center, strung up like some kind of offering to a god. He'd been tracking a lead on Shigaraki that turned out to be a false trail.
He'd been on the way home when the next report came in, about Ryukyu found alive, but permanently out of commision for any sort of hero work.
By the next report he was coming back to the city, the entire population terrified and scrambling to figure out how to stop it all, every single one of them looking at him to stop it as their new Number One-
"-ji? Holy shit- Enji, breathe!"
Enji sucked in a pained breath as Toshinori's palm came down on his back, careful of his still healing ribs but firm enough to pull his attention outwards.
"Oh fuck," he wheezed, "Shit. Fucking hell."
He sucked in another stuttering breath, his arms curling into his chest as he trembled and breathed through the screams ringing in his ears. His training asserted itself now that he'd been knocked out of the flashback, forcing his body to automatically inhale and exhale as evenly and deep as his ribs would allow.
It was only going to get worse from here. He kept his gaze down. He wasn't going to be able to look at Toshinori. The bright blue and vibrant red of his costume couldn't be ignored as All Might was hovering by the side of his bed. But the man himself could be. Even though Enji was absurdly grateful for the large hand that Toshinori had on his back.
(How many times had he been the grounding hand to children, how many times had he listened as they reported the horrors they'd faced on the field as everything spiraled downdowndown- his children-)
"He took out most of them in one way or another. It was in the aftermath that Shigaraki broke into the 'secure' containment faculty to release All For One. We couldn't stop him. I couldn't stop him."
Enji couldn't stop his hand from moving to one of his nastier scars, five pits in the side of stomach, above his hip where five fingers had grazed him just enough. Shouto and Deku had been the ones to save him, even though they weren't supposed to be there at all.
"And once All For One was free and working with Shigaraki? With all his contacts and resources readily available?"
Enji shook his head, huffing a derisive laugh. The sound wretched itself from his chest and it hurt. So did his next words.
"You died then. Taken before we could do anything to stop it, killed and left in the open for the public, for us, to find. It...wasn't a painless death, Toshi. Not even a little. All For One and Shigaraki...they wanted you to hurt before you died, beyond what your current condition did to you. It was obvious they succeeded."
Enji was shaking. He couldn't stop it. Didn't even bother to try really, just focused on his breathing instead. On keeping his flames down and low. It would be so easy to burn the hospital to the ground. But he wouldn't allow himself the release. Talking was supposed to be therapeutic, wasn't it? (He didn't want to talk about what they had found, how They had torn at Toshi starting from his scar and working their way out-
How Deku had screamed when he saw-)
"Public morale took a hit, there was a lot of faith lost in the heroes. Your kid was devastated." Mine was too, Enji doesn't say. He can't go there. "Your students were infuriated- and heartbroken." Enji laughed and it was glass in his throat and noises he would never unhear. Memories that would haunt him even beyond death, he was sure.
"You picked a hell of a kid, I'll give you that one, Toshi. I've never seen anything like it. Izuku...once he managed to pull himself through the initial devastation….he was determined to be the pillar you intended him to be. Kid was a tactical genius with a heart of solid fucking gold, matched by an unshakable will and the loyalty and trust of his friends. He went out there, he smiled at every single civilian he saved, even when he was breaking inside, he knocked down operation after operation and his class- your students- backed him every step of the way."
My son fought by his side and kept him alive, safe, Enji doesn't say.
"He stepped up when others couldn't figure out how to work around Shigaraki and All For One working together. He pulled his friends, his classmates and Pros alike into a war council and he plotted. He was determined to see his friends make it out alive, and make sure you could 'rest in peace, because I am here'." Enji inhaled and it was more a sob then any intake of air.
All Might was standing so still by his bed. The hand on his back didn't shake.
His eyes clenched shut and he hunched over himself, his good hand rising to clutch over his heart. It had taken years of work, from the moment he had become Number One and promised his son to become a hero he could be proud of, all the way up to the shared trauma of most Pros getting killed or crippled, and All Might dying, but damn it.
The bonds with his family were being reforged into something better. UA had become a stronghold, the teachers became his friends, and the kids were his kids.
Every. Fucking. One.
He'd fought Noumu for them, and he'd do it again, cared for them, fought beside them. Saved and been saved by them. How could he not have considered them his own at that point?
The end of an era, desperation, hope, and trauma had a way of bring people together, especially when you were all that was left to protect the rest of the world.
Enji shook his head, and when he spoke it was mostly a sob. His voice cracked before he forced it flat, as if he was reciting a report.
"Everything spiraled out of control. Heroes dying faster than we could stop, which forced the students to take to the front lines, as civilians were getting caught up in villain plots and going missing. Noumu being released into bigger cities, leaving rubble in their wake and the people unable to fix any of it, because the attacks were so intense and constant with the hero presence stretched so thin it wasn't safe to...We…"
Enji covered his face with his good hand and quaked with the intensity of his emotions. The hand on his back spasmed and the pressure increased, almost in comfort. It took him a few minutes to continue.
"It was a desperate gamble really, but what choice did we have? All For One and Shigaraki were cutting our numbers down, fear ran almost out of control in the civilians, Noumu just kept getting more refined as time passed, people had their quirks ripped away, showing back up as husks of themselves. Or corpses."
Enji's voice dropped to a pained whisper.
"There were so few of us left by the time they sent me back…We gathered in one place to give me the chance. Izuku said it had to be me. I didn't- don't- deserve the chance to fix it, but here I am. He said I would be the only one of them with the clot to do something about what I knew, one of the few who could get ahold of you and actually have you come. It was too much of a tempting target for All For One and Shigaraki- we knew it would be- and a fight broke out. It's where I got all of," Enji made an encompassing motion at his own body, "this. Our desperate gamble worked."
Enji jerked his body up into a sitting position, straight backed and serious, eyes burning as he stared into deep set blue on black. His lips pulled back in a challenging snarl without thought as he finished, "Here you are, Toshi. And I swear to every fucking kami there is or was, I will not let that future happen again. I can't, All Might."
(He can't watch his daughter scream, his son- Kodai- Dabi who threw away his name- the one he'd forced out of the house though his actions- lunging to save her, can't watch Shouto scream as he gets caught in the middle of it all-
Can't watch as Uravity- Ochako- lunged forward, her hands extended and a snarl on her face as she stops entire buildings worth of rubble from crushing her friends, turning the mortar and steel against the horde of Noumu, screaming when they get to her, but holding the rubble up until she can't-
Aizawa- Shouta- screams at them all that he would deal with villains, just go, in some twisted mirror of the USJ incident before everything, and Enji has to leave, even with all the Noumu swarming because he's the one going back-
Deku- Izuku- twisting around and peeling away from his side to meet All For One and Shigaraki themselves, Ingenium-Tenya- and Present Mic- Hizashi- at his sides with the rest of his class fanning behind him. Deku screaming at him save us and shoving him forwards a promise on his lips that no one would stop Enji because 'I am here-'
Toshinori had been completely set to do- something when Enji started talking about people and secrets he had no business knowing. Perhaps if he hadn't opened the conversation with 'I'm from the future' implication and then outright saying 'I've come back' Toshinori wouldn't have heard him out.
But Endeavor said One For All.
Quirks were versatile and shocking things. It was so unlikely as to be laughable, but not...impossible.
Still...if Enji hadn't opened the conversation with dropping the name of his Quirk like it was no big deal, Toshinori would have done something rash, because the only other person besides himself and Gran Torino who knew the secrets Enji was telling him was All For One himself.
But people couldn't fake the sort of utter loathing in Enji's eyes and body language when he spoke of that man.
And as he shared information about his supposed death, successors- both his own and- apparently- All For One's, Toshi found himself utterly still.
His mentor's grandson-
Gran Torino had known Nana's kid, but as she made them promise, they had both stayed out of his life, even when All For One had dealt Nana a crippling injury. Even during her forced retirement, his mentor had refused to change her mind concerning her family. Nana had told them the day Tenko had been born, a devastated and joyous look clashing on her thin face as she choked, 'I'm a grandma now- his name is Tenko."
Toshinori thought it may have been a broken heart that took her then. She hadn't made it past Tenko's first month before she passed away. Doctor's swore it was the injuries catching up to her body, but Toshi knew. Toshi knew better, knew his mentor. If she's wanted to, she could have fought to stay, as she had been for the months after their big clash.
When Nana died, it took time to find her son and his family. Nana called in favors and did everything in her power to completely separate her son from anything connected to Shimura Nana. When Gran Torino and Toshinori had finally put enough information together, Tenko would have been nearly three. They were too late though. Nana's son and his wife had died, while their own son was put into foster care.
Gran Torino and Toshinori had looked into the child only long enough to ensure he lived, and that his existence was hidden more than his parents had been.
No one else had known about the grandson. No one but Nana, Torino, and himself.
But Enji knew.
Enji knew.
That 'from the future' bit was making more and more sense.
Which made what Enji continued to speak about even more horrifying. A second fight with All For One, students being involved- and he could not believe he was a teacher. Apparently.
Toshinori shifted uncomfortably in the tiny plastic chair as he watched Enji's face. He could see memories swirling in the Flame Hero's eyes and they were dark and dangerous things.
Toshi can feel his heart twist, and he feels the automatic smile he can't help but wear in this form shift and twist into more and more of a horrified grimace as he listens. As he hears the beginnings of open war laid out, obvious in only the way hindsight- as Enji has- can make them.
Toshi tracks Enji's flames and hands automatically. His stomach turns at the open display of flickering flames, scarred eyes, and a clenching fist. It's obvious Enji isn't even thinking about it as his nails dig into his palm and release over and over again.
He listens to Enji force his breathing even, and Toshinori can't move.
He believes him.
He believes him. Trusts in his instincts, which look at the emotion in Endeavor's eyes and body, and screams truth. Instincts that take in the information Enji has no conceivable way of knowing without Toshinori's own say so. All the things he says that he doesn't know.
(A son, a voice weeps in the back of his mind.)
Still he can't stop him.
Endeavor- Enji- looks like he needs this, and he had called All Might for help without hesitation. Toshinori can do nothing but provide it. It's only muscle memory that has even the vaguest of smiles on his face as he stares down his self-proclaimed rival.
Enji meets his gaze, and there's war in the Flame Hero's eyes. Anger, horror and a desperate, longing hope. Toshinori's stomach drops to his feet as he listens, eyes widening despite his struggle for control as Endeavor lays out the loss of hero after hero, psychological attacks on the minds of the public and his future students.
He leans back just a bit at the surge of flames across Enji's arms and shoulders, down his back and over his nose. He can hear Enji struggling to breathe evenly. It sounds painful- feels painful even to himself. It takes Toshinori a moment to register when the forced even breathing changes.
It stutters first, jerks and stalls, and then it stops.
Toshinori surges to his feet, and Enji doesn't react to it, his chest eerily still and his eyes black and staring.
"Holy shit!" The English swear slips out of his mouth without a second thought even as he rushes closer to the man.
"Endeavor? Hey, hey, Todoroki-kun come on! Breathe!"
Nothing.
Toshi reaches forward, without hesitation and rubs at Enji's back. He notes the flames lose their heat when he touches them, but otherwise Enji isn't reacting. Isn't breathing, and Toshi is starting to panic a little. What on Earth is he supposed to do in this situation?
"Todoroki-kun come on, you need to breathe! I'm going to call a nurse if you don't calm down! Come on, please?" He pats at Endeavor's back- gently, because Toshinori is still so much stronger than everyone- and still there's nothing that gives him the impression that number two can even hear him.
"Enji!" He hits the Flame Hero's back a bit harder, careful of the wounds, and he's getting ready to reach for the call button, but he tries one last time. There's a response, a breathless wheeze, but a response.
"Enji? Holy shit- Enji, breathe!" His voice is firm despite the panic edging at it, and his palm comes down on Enji's back a bit firmer than the last.
Endeavor sucks in a pained breath, and Toshi almost collapses in place as the wheezing curses escape from the man's lips. The harsh, spitting curses fall steady from his mouth and it's practiced yet Toshinori has literally never heard this man speak with anything other than the rigid, almost cold formality he's well known for.
Toshi's heart twists in place, his belief in Enji's story solidifying even farther as the proud man curls into himself and forces his breathing even, like he has practice with it. Like it's an ingrained response.
He keeps his hand on Enji's back a steady and grounding pressure on his spine. He notices immediately that Enji isn't looking at him, but he says nothing. He can let the man have this. He doesn't mention the shivers wracking the other man's frame, doesn't comment on the way he leans into the hand at his back just a bit.
Toshi is very, very careful to keep his hand steady even as he allows his face- Enji isn't looking at him, won't look at him- to twist with the horror he can feel clawing at his gut. All For One gets free as the country scrambles to recover from heavy loss.
His eyes track Enji's hand as it presses into the bare skin at his side, over a scar- there are so many scars- and his stomach heaves. He forces his face under control, just in case Enji glances up at him, even as he continues to listen and have his belief in Enji's tale grow.
He flinches subtly, his palm just as steady and still as it has been, as he hears the disdainful laugh claw its way out of Enji's throat, like everything he had ever held steady had shattered under him and he had survived the fall.
He listens to the tale of his death, and it's an odd clash of feelings. It's him Enji is talking about, but it hasn't happened, and it's the strangest combination of phantom aches, and horror, a twist of nausea- he's going to be sick- and the determination to be the anchor Enji so clearly needs right now.
He's shaking under Toshinori's palm even as he leans into it, and Toshi increases the pressure applied just a little, making an absent humming noise he's not sure Enji hears at all. He does it anyway, an effort to ground himself and Enji both.
Toshi tries not to flinch when he listens to the effects his death had on the world, but especially on the boy he had not yet met, not yet chosen. (Enji keeps calling the boy his son) He remembered well the agony of Nana dying, and he'd known it was coming, she'd died in a hospital, yes, but they had all known it was coming at some point. She wasn't alone.
His successor hadn't had that. He'd found Toshinori strug up and obviously tormented before death. Toshinori swallows hard, multiple times, on the bile that wants to crawl up his throat. He forces his own breathing even past the low hum he was still making.
He needs to focus- needs to give Enji an anchor- and he's always done his best when someone else needed him to their rock. Enji needed that, and Toshi needed to be needed right then as he listened to the living version of hell that Enji had come back from.
He feels a faint stirring of pride for the child he hasn't yet met, even amongst the horror that this Izuku had needed to lead a war, and be a tactical genius, as Enji called him. He sounds like exactly that kind of person Toshi would want to be the Ninth. (-exactly like a son he could be proud of-)
His heart breaks with the sobbed confession that sounds like a quote, of his student telling him to 'rest in peace' and he thinks he might join Enji in shedding tears-
-but not yet.
Not yet, Endeavor needs a rock, needs a steady thing to fall back against, and Toshi was the person he'd chosen for it. He could sob and scream and throw up when he was alone.
He could react when he wasn't the only person holding Enji together.
He kept his hand steady on Enji's back, pressed against the man's spine a firm grounding pressure increased when needed. A comfort as the Flame Hero broke in a way that would leave its own marks on Toshinori.
And so they come full circle, Enji laying out how his brilliant successor (-son?-) gave the man a chance to go back and make sure nothing like this horror ever happened again. There are moments when Enji pauses, as if there's something more to what happened, in this future he's lived, before he continues and Toshinori cannot help but be relieved. He doesn't want to hear how bad it was. This was bad enough, and if it was the watered-down version, Toshi will take it.
He thinks this will be taking the number one spot for 'weird things that have happened to me'.
There are periods in a person's life that shift how they define them. Moments that get labeled 'Before' and 'After'. Before Toshinori met Nana, and After she saved him. Before he received One for All, and After when he could fight to save everyone. Before Nana died and After Toshinori lost one of his own pillars.
Before and After.
Moments like this one.
Before Enji Todoroki looked him in the eye and snarled like was challenging the world-
"Here you are, Toshi. And I swear to every fucking kami there is or was, I will not let that future happen again. I can't, All Might."
-and After when Yagi Toshinori- All Might- meets Enji's stare and answers in a voice so confident and hard:
"I won't let it happen either. I believe you, and I'll help you change this future."
Enji closes his eyes and lets himself hope.