Chapter Text
Dabi couldn’t move when he saw the wall of ice. He should have left the scene, but instead watched the fight with his binoculars. Part of him wished he had another bullet, to hit that man with. To then drop down and land the finishing blow himself, but this wasn’t the time for that.
Instead he took a sip from the water bottle he always carried, holding back a laugh when Deku appeared and suddenly the remaining kid started to attack Endeavor like a traitor. Could be that he was a sleeper agent all along or something.
Though Dabi found himself wondering where the other kid went.
“Perhaps I should look for him, see if Little Shoto even remembers me,” he chuckled, about to turn around until a bright fire caught the corner of his eye. Enough to have him grab his binoculars once more and look before blinking.
Suddenly he frowned, his left hand lighting on fire enough to start to melt the object in his hand as he started to seethe. Especially at the sight of horrified shock on that man’s face.
“You fucking brat.”
-
Shoto was completely speechless. Of all his thoughts about Deku, he never once believed he would ever get a true clue as to who was beneath the mask. Though now that the hint was there, it became increasingly more obvious the more he thought about it.
The attempt at distancing himself.
Being very selective on who he winds up hanging out with.
His closeness to Yagi, because Deku would recognize the benefits of recruiting Yagi to their side.
How he was able to rally people to his side so quickly, because it is in the nature of his quirk.
Even the height matched up, and it would make sense that he would pick green as his primary color.
Green instead of purple, to throw people off of his trail further.
As he watched his father knock Bakugou down, clocking him hard enough in the head to knock him clean out, Shoto brought his left hand up and locked eyes with Todoroki Enji and grinned from beneath his mask. If Deku felt this was the right time to tell the Empire who he really is, then it’s also time for Shoto to reveal himself to not only the Empire- but to his own father.
His right hand reached for his mask and removed it, tossing it to the side as he lit his whole left side on fire. “My name is Todoroki Shoto, and I refuse to be your puppet!” He shouted, feeling absolutely light and euphoric as he sent fire right in his father’s direction. His declaration may be for his father, but it was also primarily for the Emperor himself.
However, that lightness started to fade when he saw the look of pure pain and horror on his father’s face. For a brief moment he was confused, expecting to get the normal look of rage the man held whenever it came to Rebels.
But no.
His father could only stare at him, not even moving until he finally spoke.
“Shoto… Why?”
Asking this as if the answer wasn’t obvious. As if he didn’t go against everything that made someone a Hero, as if he didn’t pledge his allegiance to that monster, as if he didn’t put Shoto and Shoto’s mother through hell and abuse.
He opened his mouth, ready to shout more at his father, only to stop when he felt a hand press itself down on his shoulder. When he looked back, Shoto could see Deku have a hand on Yamada as well.
“It’s time to go, Sho,” Deku said, his voice quiet as he squeezed Shoto’s shoulder.
For some reason, his voice held a hint of disappointment.
Still, Shoto nodded as he felt the quirk of one of Deku’s hidden associates grip the three of them and pull all of them to The Green Forest.
The last thing he saw was his father reaching out for him.
---
BREAKING NEWS!
First Year UA Students Secretly Rebels?
Is Deku Actually Shinsou Hitoshi?
Deku’s Second in Command- Todoroki Shoto!
Why would someone who has such a high standing in the Empire, a promising future as an Enforcer, turn his back on everyone?
----
Eijirou felt like a knife was stabbed into his chest, twisted the more he watched the live coverage of what’s happening in Hosu right now. From what he saw, the media immediately began covering what was happening the moment Todoroki’s dad initiated a fight against a rebel who was believed to be quirkless for a long time.
That was until he used an ice quirk.
An ice quirk Eijirou knew because he had trained with it.
Then Deku appeared and Eijirou turned the volume up because, despite not agreeing with him and his methods, his speeches were enough to light a fire in his heart. To get him motivated in working his hardest to make the Empire into a better place.
Into a place where there wouldn’t be a need for rebellions anymore.
To change it from the inside.
“Well then, you might want to be careful here. Don’t want Orange to get out there now, do you?”
Eijirou could feel the same confusion that Bakugou was feeling.
Why would Deku make such an obscure reference, and to Bakugou no less? Did he know Bakugou somehow?
“Orange? The fuck are you-” Bakugou started to say, but Eijirou held his breath when his classmate completely froze.
Why would he….
Unless…
No.
No it can’t be.
“Bakugou Katsuki, I order you to stop anyone who interferes with mine, Sho’s, and Yamada’s escape.”
Eijirou could feel his heart completely shatter, especially when Bakugou wordlessly followed Deku’s orders and immediately attacked Todoroki’s father.
It only went downhill from there, with the unmasking of Deku’s right hand and then the rebels all escaping soon after.
He held a hand to his chest, resisting the urge to cry manly tears because suddenly his friend group would be shattered.
“I hope Yagi isn’t watching this.”
----
MInoru refused to watch, but he soon read what happened the morning after and nearly puked.
“Shinsou, why?” He sobbed out, lamenting the fate of his closest friend.
----
“Open up! We know you’re in there!”
Shinsou Yumeto held her breath as she tried to get her son out of bed. His fever was still present and he was delirious, but she knew she had to get him out of here.
Rebel or not, Hitoshi was still her son and she refused to let him die at the hands of the Emperor.
Hitoshi gave a cough, looking around with confusion before he got hushed by Yumeto.
“Sleep now, Hitoshi. Dream of when you are able to go back to school and see your friends again,” she whispered, not liking the idea of using her quirk on her son- but what choice did she have?
Yumeto held back another curse as she pulled Hitoshi down to the bunker she and her husband discovered when they first bought this house. Already the Enforcers were banging on the door, ready to break it open.
All she could do is pray that they would overlook the bunker when searching their house.
-----
Fuyumi tried her hardest not to cry while in the interrogation room.
All she could do was be honest with everything.
“No. I had no idea what my little brother was doing, had I known then I would have stopped him sooner.”
At least, she told them what they wanted to hear from her.
Already she lost her mother and her brothers, she didn’t want to be separated from the last of her family.
Her father who looked completely broken when he arrived home.
----
When they were brought into their base, Shoto could immediately see the rest of the crew had gathered around them. Each staring at him with complete shock, as if they weren’t expecting the son of the Second Ranked Enforcer- the winner of UA’s Sports Festival- to be one of them.
“Shoto, do you realize what you just did?” Deku asked, readily using his first name. Probably because he knows that they are one in the same, rebels who hid out at UA.
“I do. I don’t care if my identity is known to the world, I’m tired of hiding.”
Deku shook his head. “No. You went on a mission by yourself without telling me, and had I not come then you would have gotten captured. They would have interrogated you into revealing our base, and then turned you into a Noumu soon after to keep you loyal because the Emperor would find your quirk to still be useful for the Empire,” he began, though he was soon interrupted by coughs. “When I gave all of you your recruitment test, it was with the hope that you would continue to trust each other and work together. To not allow for grudges to blind you to what’s really important-”
The rest was cut off by even more violent coughing, enough to have Deku nearly fall to his knees until Ingenium and Tsubasa-kun ran over to help support him. Though it became apparent that had passed out when he fell limp into their hold.
Shoto took a step closer, suddenly remembering the day they were tested by Deku.
Why exactly they had succeeded in their missions.
He then looked down to his hands.
Did he…
Could he have possibly made a mistake?
Suddenly, the sound of something clattering to the ground followed by gasps had Shoto looking up. When he saw Deku’s mask on the floor, part of him wanted to close his eyes.
Yet another urged him to look up further, despite knowing what he would see.
So he kept moving his eyes up, knowing that he will see purple hair.
However, instead he sees green.
“Deku is…?”
No.
That can’t be right.
Deku can’t be-
Suddenly Froppy stepped forward, removing her own mask as she looked at all of them.
“I believe this is another test of trust. For now let’s pretend we did not see his true face and take this secret to our graves, kero.”
Zero nodded, removing her own mask as she gave a smile. “Yeah, I trust Deku no matter who he is beneath the mask. He cares about all of us, and we care about him. He hid his face for a reason, and I vow to do whatever I can to keep his face hidden.”
Ingenium was next to remove his mask. “He said to me that he would show his face to us at the end of summer, and I still hold him to that. Even if we know it now, it will be easy to pretend because he is still Deku. With or without the mask.”
Somehow, Shoto could feel that this also applies to him.
He found himself smiling at all of them, silently keeping to the same promise that they all held.
“I agree. Deku is still Deku.”
----
Even with the way Deku’s crew spoke, how they put Deku’s mask back on as they put them to where Deku would normally rest after a mission, none noticed how suspiciously quiet Tsubasa Yattsu went.