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coco

@a03_coco

// tw angst Thinking about baby Touya only being able to hold one of Enji’s fingers in his hand. He tugs his father’s finger to points at the picture book they were reading. “Dad, dad-“ he’s too young to say much else, but he makes Enji point at the larger loin anyway. “Raor.”

coco

@a03_coco

Enji sighs fondly, “Yes Touya, lions say roar.” “No, roar.” Touya bears his teeth. “Roar!” Like Enji would be caught dead doing something so demeaning in front of his- “Roar!” Touya’s eyes fly open, in a state of shock at the booming noise made from his father of all people.

coco

@a03_coco

Because his father didn’t yell- never. Not even when Touya split water or made Fuyumi cry. Because his father was not an angry man Touya grins ear to ear. “Roar!” Then points to the baby lion, giggling. No, this Touya would never face the fury of his father, forever innocent.

coco

@a03_coco

Until his father stopped reading him to sleep and pulled away when Touya tried to grab his finger. One day, Touya tries to roar in front of his dad, to go back to the way things used to be. When his father’s face turns red and he backhands him for being a loud unruly child.

coco

@a03_coco

His father wasn’t an angry man. But his patience was thin and no matter what Touya did, his father wanted nothing to do with him. When Enji began reading the same lion book to Shoto, acting out the same scripted show he gave Touya. Until Touya burned the pages that same night.

coco

@a03_coco

His father wasn’t an angry man. But as Touya wiped away the ashes of his past and let go of the hand only he struggled to hold- When fire burns the inside of his lungs and scars mix as a permanent reminder on his skin. That he, Dabi, was now the angry man.