In the mainstream My Hero Academia, Present Mic was mistaken when he called Endeavor a doting father. In reality, he was a neglectful parent at best, and his single-minded obsession with becoming the #1 hero destroyed his family and his wife's sanity. The man has only recently began to climb out of the hole he dug for himself with his ambition.
But what if that wasn't the case? What if Enji and Rei Todoroki really were happily married, and both pro heroes? What if the Todoroki family was not a textbook case of dysfunction? What if Touya was never injured and pushed to become Dabi? What if Endeavor really was a doting father?
Such a Doting Father
aims to answer those questions. In one trope: Amazingly Embarrassing Parents.
Tropes
- Adaptational Badass: Rei was a civilian in canon; here she's the Pro Hero Glacia and ranked almost as high as her husband.
- Adaptational Job Change: Rei in this story is a Pro Hero.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: The Todoroki family is much better off than canon.
- Endeavor has no real jealousy of All Might, and is a devoted husband and father.
- Rei is much more emotionally stable than in canon and is a pro heroine in her own right as well.
- Downplayed with Shouto, but he has far fewer issues and is less prickly since his family never fell apart when he was a kid.
- Adaptational Heroism: Touya never becomes a villain or goes by "Dabi."
- Affectionate Nickname: Enji's pet name for Rei is "konayuki", which means "powder snow".
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: The main change in the fic's AU is turning Endeavor and Rei (here the pro heroine Glacia) into these.
- Endeavor's high on the list of 'Heroes I Would Not Want to be Captured By' because he'll proudly show off his kids to the criminals he apprehends. That's exactly what he's doing in his Establishing Character Moment in the fic, and goes from rhapsodizing about his family, to scaring the pants off his captives for not listening to his rhapsodizing, to bawling Manly Tears about his son Touya striking out on his own and build his own name for himself instead of using the Todoroki name. The author outright compares Endeavor to Maes Hughes.
- Glacia, while less hammy than her husband, has been the 'most meme-able hero' for three years running. Also, when she saw her son Shouto surrounded by his female classmates, she instantly pointed it out to her husband and drew a combined Luminescent Blush from all the teens.
- Badass Family: The Todorokis.
- Battle Couple: Endeavor and Glacia are the #2 and #7 heroes in Japan, respectively.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Glacia accuses two of her sidekicks of this when their squabbling gets too much for her.
- Corner of Woe:
- When Glacia and Shouto are doing a radio interview with Present Mic, Endeavor calls in... passionately. After a few loud shouts and very quick hang-ups, Fuyumi calls in to ask why her father is curled into a ball in the corner of the living room.
- Right before the U.A. sports festival, Shouto declares he'll never use his father's flames to his face. Enji manages to keep his stoic facade until his son is out of sight, whereupon he sinks to his knees and starts sulking.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Endeavor often comes across as a standard bumbling dad, but he's still the #2 hero and is still as powerful and clever as his canon counterpart.
- Date Peepers: The Todoroki family, both with Fuyumi's date with Fatgum and Shouto's visit to the temple with Momo. The former is complete with Funny Afro disguises; the latter just involves Natsuo and his own girlfriend watching on.
- Doting Parent: Both Enji and Rei, really, but Enji's more hammy about it.
- Face Palm: Aplenty, mostly at an exuberant Endeavor. After Endeavor's entrance into Class 1-A, Glacia follows after him with her hand on his face. Shouto quickly copies his mother along with a muttered, "God dammit Dad."
- Fire/Ice Duo: Endeavor and Glacia, who are Happily Married this time around.
- Fountain of Memes: Glacia, In-Universe, is known as the 'most meme-able' hero for three years straight. Many memes exist of her confused, scolding, unimpressed, looming over her husband with an ice fist, or just simply facepalming.
- Then there's the time when a fan tricks them both into dabbing for a photo, which immediately goes viral.
- Good Parents: Enji and Rei are much more positively involved with their kids' lives than in canon.
- Happily Married: Enji's overexuberance aside, he and Rei are very happy together.
- Hidden Depths: Amazingly embarrassing nature aside, Endeavor still has all the detective skills he displays in canon. He also worries that his family is ashamed of his forthright behavior.
- Humble Hero: This version of Endeavor thinks being the #1 Hero would be great, but he'd much rather be the #1 father.
- An Ice Person: Glacia uses this for combat now.
- Large Ham: If this fic's Endeavor was any more hammy, he'd be a smokehouse. And considering how passionate he is about his wife and kids, he could make running it a family business.
- Manly Tears: Endeavor has a tendency to shed these when he expresses love and/or pride towards his family.
- Martyr Without a Cause: Midoriya falls into this during the U.A. Sports Festival, having mistaken Shouto's declaration to not use his father's fire during their match as the canon reason to stick it to him instead of the actual act of teenage rebellion and to prove himself more than "Endeavor's son". As a result, his canon actions of breaking his arm to get Shouto to use his fire fall into this trope, leading to Shouto being completely unnerved at Midoriya swinging his broken arm at him, and Midoriya's so delirious from the pain that Shouto can't explain to him his actual motives.
- Mundane Utility: Glacia at one point comments that her 'civilian' option with her Quirk was making shaved ice.
- Only Sane Man: Touya is this in his parents' operation to see who Fuyumi is dating.
- Parents as People: Enji and Rei's personal struggles as both heroes and parents are the centerpiece of the fic.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Downplayed, but Endeavor and Glacia's relationship is still partially a Quirk Marriage- it's just that in this case it's Endeavor's parents who wanted one, while Endeavor himself romanced Glacia normally, and her quirk was deemed good enough for him.
- Point of Divergence: The main Nail is "What if Todoroki Enji and Todoroki Rei are Good Parents?", this led to Touya not going to become the villain Dabi and the Todoroki family having a happier and stable household.
- Shipper on Deck: The Todorokis for Shouto/Momo Yaoyoruzu. And Fuyumi/Fatgum.
- Shout-Out:
- Endeavor is very fond of these. His combat scenarios involve him acting as villains from classic movies like King Kong and Star Wars (helped by him literally being one of the kids' fathers). He even initially introduced himself to Glacia in the backstory with a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure reference.
- It's also stated that Glacia is a huge fan of '80s-'90s anime, and her own combat scenarios include a shout-out to Fist of the North Star, complete with the "You Are Already Dead" line.
- Side Bet: When Endeavor and Glacia see an exhausted Shouto snoozing with Momo, they quickly call up their other children and bet on when Shouto asks her out or asks one of them for dating advice.
- Squee: One instance where Glacia asks to take care of a villain by herself, Endeavor is enthusiastically cheering her on, complete with teenage girl squeals.
