izuku and shouto’s friendship means a lot to me okay
I kind of wonder how scared Shouto was of telling Izuku about his childhood.
I was thinking about celebrities, specifically about how celebrities are so glorified that we stick them on pedestals. And sometimes these pedestals mean that our disappointment is amplified when they inevitably fail to live up to impossible standards, but a lot of times they have the opposite effect, making die-hard fans incapable or unwilling to acknowledge their flaws. So many celebrities get away with abuse because millions of people, most of whom have never met them before, decide to side with them over the victims because they’re pretty, because they have a nice smile, because they said something witty on Twitter, because they’re a good actor or writer or musical artist or what have you. And the same must be true of heroes in the BNHA world.
It’s clear that Endeavor has his critics, particularly after this whole mess with Yoarashi. I doubt he was the first fan Endeavor snubbed, and he won’t be the last. And yet, Endeavor still has fans. Of course he has fans; he’s the former Number Two, and now the Number One hero. He’s at the top, he’s always been at the top even before he reached the very top. He shoots fire out of his hands and beats up bad guys, of course everyone’s going to think he’s cool.
There’s little doubt in my mind that if Shouto were to reveal his father’s harsh treatment of his family, the bulk of the hero fans would side with Endeavor. Look how long it takes for high-profile celebrities in real life to even be called on their wrongdoings, much less to answer for them. Endeavor’s openly callous, but his track record for taking down villains probably speaks for itself, and I’m sure his publicity is pretty positive and that detractors like Yoarashi and the “anti-Endeavor people” Shouto mentioned are in the minority. It certainly doesn’t help that Shouto’s mother was the one to scar him, so she would probably be vilified if the details of Shouto’s home life ever came to light, in spite of the fact that she’s just as much a victim of abuse as he is. Shouto probably knows this, and I bet that’s a big reason why he keeps quiet about it; he loves his mother, forgives her for what she did, and doesn’t seem to hold her at fault, and considering the fragility of her mental health, the last thing he’d want to do is bring accusing fans down on her. And he can’t stand on his own as a person in the eyes of the public. They don’t see him as Todoroki Shouto yet; they still see him as Endeavor’s son. He’s under his father’s power in ways that he’s still too young to fight.
Izuku, who as we know is a huge All-Might fan, but has been obsessed with heroes in general since he was small. Izuku, who was starry-eyed over meeting Present Mic and Lunch Rush and the Wild Wild Pussycats and all the rest. Izuku, who relentlessly sees the best in people and believes that you can’t get any cooler than a hero. By all accounts, he should be a gushing fanboy over Endeavor, too. Hell, I’ll bet you anything he was, once upon a time. Then the Sports Festival happens.
Izuku and Shouto aren’t friends at this point. They don’t know each other, and the first time Shouto ever spoke to him was to call him out in class and declare him a rival. Izuku has almost no reason to think well of him, and fifteen years of hero fanaticism that ought to make him lean more in Endeavor’s favor.
Shouto opens up to him, tells him what kind of person Endeavor truly is, and Izuku believes him. He doesn’t even question it. Shouto comes to him to explain himself, to explain where he’s coming from, and Izuku listens and implicitly takes him at his word. He doesn’t think, Endeavor’s a hero, that can’t be true, how could the second-strongest hero do something like that? He thinks, that’s awful. He thinks, I want to help.
I wonder how much that meant to Shouto at the time. Was he surprised at all? Did he expect that? Was he worried Izuku would think he was lying?
No wonder Izuku seems to be one of the first real friends he ever makes.
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