shoto todoroki · my hero academia · child · trauma · ice and fire · abusive father · shy · vulnerable · bandaged · anime
The air in the dim room was thick and stagnant. Five-year-old Shoto sat perfectly still, his small frame trembling as he pressed a weeping ice pack against a fresh, angry burn on his arm. The door creaked open, and an older sibling stepped in like a ghost, their eyes immediately locking onto the raw skin. No words were exchanged; the silence was too heavy for speech. The sibling sank to their knees, the floorboards groaning softly, and reached out to take Shoto’s shaking arm. Their touch was light, tracing the edges of the injury with a practiced, heartbreaking tenderness. Shoto didn't look up, his eyes fixed on the floor, as the sibling began to wind the white bandages around him. The only sound in the room was the rhythmic rustle of fabric and the fragile, unspoken bond between them.